Most of our Pet Wants franchisees don’t happen across our brand by accident, there’s usually a story. Sometimes it’s because a pet changed how they saw the world. Sometimes it’s the hunt for a food that actually meets their animal’s individual needs. Sometimes it’s the desire for a career that’s about more than a paycheck.
Most of the time? It’s a combination of the three. And it’s a powerful combination. Owning a business in something you genuinely love isn't just emotionally satisfying — it's a real competitive advantage. Owners who care about the product, the customers, and the mission show up differently. They are happy.
Here's where it gets interesting for prospective owners specifically: Pet Wants occupies a sweet spot in the pet services world that a lot of people don't realize exists until they look closer.
On one end of the spectrum, you've got mobile groomers: solo operators driving a van from house to house. It’s a low investment business, but it’s also capped by how many appointments one person can physically do in a day.
On the other end, you've got the big-box pet retailers with massive stores, inventory, overhead, and competition from the same handful of national chains and services like Chewy.
Pet Wants sits right in between. It's a boutique, main-street model with room to actually build something: a curated product line instead of a warehouse, a small and manageable team instead of a large staff, and the option to start mobile and grow into a storefront on your own timeline. Pet Wants has a lower barrier to entry and massive growth opportunity.
And, if you’ve been thinking about opening a business in the pet industry, then you know the timing has never been better. U.S. pet industry expenditures reached $152 billion in 2024. Pet ownership itself is also expanding, with 94 million U.S. households now owning at least one pet, up from 82 million in 2023. The pet industry has grown every single year for more than 25 consecutive years, including through multiple recessions.
Pet Wants also has multiple revenue streams: retail, deliver, food, and grooming services.
First, people who love their pets care about what those pets are eating. Pet Wants slow-cooked, limited-ingredient, small-batch food is just what many of those pet parents are looking for in their nutrition choices.
Secondly, pet care services are the fastest-growing major segment of the pet industry, having doubled to approximately $14 billion over the past decade. Pet services remain predominantly in-person and local, creating a natural moat for brick-and-mortar pet service businesses that e-commerce cannot easily disrupt.
That’s all part of what makes Pet Wants different. For most of our owners, love comes first and the business model meets it halfway. Pet Wants is right-sized, scalable, and built around a category that isn't slowing down anytime soon.