We Just Awarded our 100th Pet Care Franchise Territory! Meet our Newest Franchise Owners

The Hounds Town USA family just hit a PAW-some milestone by awarding our 100th pet care franchise territory! Meet Jim and Holly Garland, who plan to open the first of their three East Dallas, Texas locations in early 2022.

Holly and Jim brought some unique skills and perspectives to the world of franchising, as they both shared experience in finance and corporate management.

“I am from Huntington Beach, California and we moved here in 2015, currently working for a bank in the auto finance world,” said Holly in a recent interview, “We have three little dogs and two children, and we really saw this opportunity and fell in love with Hounds Town culture, saw a need for it in the community. With everyone getting back to normal and traveling, we saw people needing to book pet care and we saw the demand was growing but there wasn’t a lot of people providing.”

“I’ve been in the corporate world for twenty plus years, grew up on a farm in Louisiana and grew up with animals my whole life,” said Jim in the same interview. “The corporate world is challenging and it can wear you down after a while, so we wanted to do something for ourselves more. We did a lot of research with Franchisors and when we met Jackie [Bondanza, Hounds Town USA CEO], Mike [Gould, Founder], corporate folks, and Franchise Owners, everyone was great. ”

Taking Control of Their Careers With a Pet Care Franchise

Jim and Holly are certainly not the first Franchise Owners to feel this way in the Hounds Town USA family. So many of the Franchise Owners we meet have some background in the corporate world or come from a completely different line of work, motivated to start franchising by their love of dogs and desire for community. That’s part of what makes Hounds Town so different – our goal is to create doggie daycare facilities that serve pet owners and improve the surrounding community. Our Franchise Owners make it all happen.

When asked why they wanted to start franchising, Holly noted that there was significantly better support for first-time Franchise Owners when compared to starting a business or brand from scratch.

“We asked ourselves: Where do we start? After doing research, we saw that franchising offered that support. There’s ongoing learning, things are built out for you, it’s not just a shot in the dark hoping that something works. Hounds Town USA has made it work since 2000.”

Other than our great reputation for Franchise Owner support, we asked Holly and Jim why they chose Hounds Town USA specifically. Their answer was one we’ve heard plenty of times before: We focus on the dogs, rather than shaking pet owners down for needless add-ons and services.

“They really go dog-to-dog,” said Holly, “They have so much focus on individual dogs and their well-being.”

“We knew Mike was a former canine person in NYC,” Jim chimed in, “And it was clear he could really relate to animals. You want to make money and provide and give back to the community, but Mike is pretty much all about the dogs. That is a little bit different from the competition.”

Giving Back to a Growing Pet Community

Holly and Jim went on to discuss their goals for their new Dallas-area location and what services they plan to provide the local pet-owning community. Holly was all about supporting local rescues and working with non-profit organizations through Hounds Town.

“The fact that there is a high demand is great,” said Holly, “We also hope to spotlight rescues in the facilities. We saw another franchisee do that, so that would be a great thing to do. In terms of community, we think there will be a clear track of upward mobility for employees. There is a lot of turnover in this industry traditionally, so I think having that outlook could provide a lot of service to the community.”

Jim agreed, but also noted that his goals involved building up their customer base of loyal pet owners and taking advantage of the surging pet market.

“The growing market, especially in Texas in general, there are not a lot of professional outfits, and they are starting to pick up,” said Jim, “We are early enough to really build a loyal customer base and get ingrained in the community to hopefully open more than one, maybe two more overall. Population growth, lack of supply, this will take it to the next level.”

So how do Jim and Holly feel about becoming the 100th Hounds Town USA franchise location? Jim noted that when they met with Jackie and found out that they would be the franchise’s hundredth unit, it was clear that reaching that golden number meant a lot to the Founders.

“Jackie was so passionate about Hounds Town USA reaching that milestone and hitting that vision they’ve had for years, it was very special for us,” said Jim, “We don’t take it lightly.”

Here’s To the Next 100 Franchises!

Holly and Jim have some serious plans for their new Hounds Town doggy daycare units. While the pair signed for three locations, they are focusing mainly on opening up the first location in Dallas. Many of our Franchise Owners who are interested in starting a pet business with Hounds Town will opt to open multiple locations, one at a time.

This milestone has meant so much to the Hounds Town team. Back in 1982 when our Founder Michael Gould began his canine police training career, nobody knew how far his work with dogs would take him, Jackie, and the soon-to-be Hounds Town franchise. We can’t believe Hounds Town USA has grown from a single store in Port Jefferson, NY back in 2001 to one hundred national franchise locations since we first started franchising in 2015! We’re very excited to welcome Jim and Holly to the Hounds Town USA family, and we also can’t wait to hit more milestones in the years to come.

Interested in becoming one of our NEXT 100 Franchise Owners? Now’s the time to act- we’re selling out fast in major U.S. markets. Visit our franchise website for more information.