Aussie Pooch Mobile Dog Wash founder Christine Taylor has retired and sold the business to long time franchisee and general manager, Paul Walters.
Speaking to Inside Franchise Business Executive Paul Walters said “It’s been in the making for six or seven months, but Covid got in the way. Chris used to joke that my general manager role was my five year apprenticeship.”
Walters took on the GM role in 2015, previously area manager for Canberra after joining the network as a franchisee in 2009.
“It was great to be able to work so closely with Chris these past five years, and pick up on all the knowledge she has gained over her 29 years running this great company,” Walters said.
Now as owners of the Aussie Pooch Mobile franchise, Paul and his wife Megan are happy to start their new chapter.
“I am very excited at the prospect of leading Aussie Pooch Mobile Dog Wash as it continues to grow,” Walters said.
Throughout the Covid-19 period so far the dog washing business has “done really well” he added.
“We’re selling franchises, I don’t really need to tinker with the model. What I am doing is looking at where we can take the business away from metro into other areas and have a few satellite franchises in New South Wales and Queensland.”
Many of the franchise enquiries are coming from existing customers, he revealed.
“We’ve seen in the past four months, people have been able to access funds through redundancy or super and are looking for something a bit different. We have seen good quality enquiries, people with funds already ready to go.”
The sales and recruitment team is right now researching expansion options.
“We are looking at having a support team nearby, although with Zoom meetings that’s less important now,” said Walters.
The current network has 195 franchisees, and within 12 months the goal is to reach 215.
Walters believes the $46,000 franchise investment is accessible, and he’s observed a shift in the franchisee profile over the last months.
“One of the things we’re seeing is it’s not the traditional mum returning to work, or a certain age group, we’re getting franchisees from their early 20s to late 50s.
“We had been female-dominated for many years but people are looking for a change of lifestyle now.”
Chris Taylor started dog washing as a part-time job when she was just 16. She founded the mobile business at the age of 23 in 1992, franchised the concept and as the business grew decided to explore international expansion.
Taylor took the mobile concept to New Zealand, the UK, the US, Malaysia and New Caledonia as The Pooch Mobile before returning to focus on the domestic business. The international brands now operate independently.
Chris Taylor was inducted into the Franchise Council of Australia’s Hall of Fame in 2012.
