FranchiseMarketingSolutions.com – Pet waste removal franchise Scoop Soldiers aims to help pet owners and their four-legged fur-iends by taking on the dirty work of pet ownership while capitalizing on a growing demand for residential and commercial waste removal services. With a proven business model, a low-cost investment and a high-margin opportunity, Scoop Soldiers has become a premier player in the growing “pooper scooper” services segment. Now, the brand is gearing up for growth in markets across the country.
“The demand for services in pet waste removal has increased dramatically,” said Josh Cahill, CEO of Scoop Soldiers. “People want their time back, and they don’t want to worry about menial tasks like cleaning up dog poop. Our services allow them to spend time with their family and friends. And we are well-positioned in the franchise world, because our biggest priority is making our franchisees happy, helping them make money and providing them with support.”
Why Now Is the Time to Join Scoop Soldiers
As many workers return to offices and readjust to pre-pandemic schedules, the demand for pet waste removal services is growing. And according to Scott Oaks, vice president of franchise development for the brand, that shift is just one element that makes the Scoop Soldiers franchise ownership opportunity one of the most attractive in the industry. Another critical factor, Oaks says, is that prospective franchisees can opt to purchase corporate-owned locations.
“We are the only brand in our segment currently doing that,” he said. “Our corporate locations have an existing client base, which means franchise owners will see revenue from day one.”
New Scoop Soldiers franchisees who want to build their own stores can still benefit from an existing customer base by establishing their store in an existing territory, or, Oaks says, they can opt to establish a new territory and introduce the brand to a new customer base.
“So far, all of our franchisees have opted for territories where we have already planted ourselves. But we also sign franchisees who are prime candidates from elsewhere,” he said. “It’s a hybrid of both strategies.”
Looking ahead, the Scoop Soldiers team has a goal of signing four more franchise locations by the end of 2021 and another 15–20 in 2022. To that end, the brand recently launched its new website in August and is looking to expand in growing markets across the country, including Texas, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina and Ohio.
“We’re looking for entrepreneurs who want to run a successful business and also have freedom to live their lives,” said Cahill. “The most rewarding thing is being able to put our franchisees into a place where they have a healthy work-life balance. My goal for the company is of course to reach our revenue goals and unit goals, but really what it all comes down to is providing a great opportunity for success for our franchisees. We can tie numbers to it, but we really want to build a family of Scoops Soldiers franchisees who are all doing well, succeeding and making money.”
According to Oaks, Scoop Soldiers’ operational model was designed specifically to allow the kind of ownership flexibility he and Cahill say is central to the franchisee proposition.
“One thing our model does perfectly is it allows new franchisees to go out and do the work themselves or hire someone else to do it,” Oaks said. “It’s entirely up to them. They just have to work it into their initial investment costs. That allows franchisees to be as hands-on or hands-off as they want. Ultimately, the majority of our franchisees are working less than 40 hours a week.”
Why a Former Lawn Care Business Owner Invested in Scoop Soldiers
Cahill first entered the home services industry when he decided to help his business partner, E.J. McCoy, build a lawn care company. As they worked on customers’ lawns, the duo frequently came across existing yards that desperately needed pet waste removal. That’s when they started Scoop Soldiers, offering services to the existing client base they had built with lawn care.
“In our first year, it was a very humble business,” said Cahill. “We ended our first year with around 30 clients. But the demand kept growing, so we expanded to Austin and Houston.”
In 2019, Cahill and McCoy decided to make the most of those growth prospects, introducing a franchise model. By the end of that year, Scoop Soldiers had brought on its first three franchisees. Throughout 2020, the brand focused on supporting its existing franchisees through the pandemic. Now, Scoop Soldiers has 14 franchise territories and 12 corporate-owned locations open and operating.
“We are really excited about the future,” said Cahill. “We made the transition from a corporate organization to a franchise-minded organization, and we are ready for the next phase of growth.”
How Scoop Soldiers Positions Franchise Owners for Success
Scoop Soldiers was created with the explicit goal of providing entrepreneurs low operating costs, comprehensive support services and a simplified business model. “Our front-end support allows franchisees to be able to operate in multiple territories a lot easier, which sets us apart from the competition,” said Oaks.
Cahill says that the brand takes its support services to the next level, and it frequently receives franchisee feedback applauding that support.
“We do everything we can so our franchisees don’t have to deal directly with client needs on a regular basis,” said Cahill. “We’re able to tailor the channels of communication to their leadership team, their managers, to wherever their involvement is, so they don’t have to deal with updating credit cards, changing schedules, customer service issues, etcetera. We do billing and invoicing daily for them. We also collect all of the payments for them. We handle all of the leads and sales processes in getting clients converted. We build their schedules in the most efficient way. We also handle marketing for the franchisees — both paid and organic. We’re doing all the website management. We take care of all of it so they can focus on managing their team members and making sure the work in the field is going well.”
Today, Oaks says the brand is looking to add even more markets to the growing list of communities it calls home.
“We have a very flexible model that will allow franchisees to focus on what they want to focus on, whether it’s their lifestyle, revenue or whatever else. And it’s not a very complex model,” said Oaks. “We see bright prospects in markets across the country.”
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