Fetch! Pet Care

Every day, more than 85 million U.S. households own at least one pet, and a growing share of those pet owners are working professionals, dual-income households, and frequent travelers who need trusted, reliable care for their animals when they cannot be home. That daily anxiety — will my dog get walked, will my cat be fed, will someone notice if something is wrong — is the exact consumer problem that Fetch! Pet Care has built its franchise model to solve since 2002. Founded in Berkeley, California by Paul Mann, Kate Zavala, and Barbi Embody, Fetch! Pet Care entered the professional pet services market with a focus on insured, background-checked, trained pet sitters and dog walkers operating as franchised local providers. The company began franchising in 2003, expanding rapidly enough that by December 2011 it reported over 150 franchises servicing more than 1,800 cities and towns nationwide. A pivotal ownership transition occurred in March 2020 when Phoenix Franchise Brands, co-founded by Greg Longe and Maria Longe, acquired Fetch! Pet Care, with Greg Longe stepping in as CEO and Harry Loyle joining leadership, relocating the corporate identity to Livonia, Michigan. That acquisition catalyzed a significant expansion phase: the network stood at 54 franchise locations at the time of purchase, grew to 134 units within two years, and as of 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document data, operates 153 franchised locations across 32 U.S. states, serving over 1,500 communities. The South represents the brand's largest regional presence with 69 franchise locations. This independent analysis is provided by PeerSense as part of its franchise intelligence database and does not represent marketing materials from the franchisor.

The pet care services industry has become one of the most resilient and structurally advantaged sectors in American franchising. The U.S. pet industry surpassed $136 billion in total annual spending in recent years, with the pet services segment — which includes grooming, boarding, training, dog walking, and pet sitting — representing one of the fastest-growing subsectors. The humanization of pets is not a trend but a generational behavioral shift: millennials and Gen Z pet owners routinely report spending more on their pets than on personal healthcare, and premium pet care services are increasingly viewed as non-discretionary expenses rather than luxuries. Remote work dynamics, which reshaped American households beginning in 2020, created unexpected layered demand for pet services, as people who adopted pets during lockdowns subsequently returned to offices or began traveling for work again, creating an entirely new cohort of dog owners with daily walking and daytime pet-sitting needs. Within the pet services sub-sector, the dog walking and pet sitting segment remains meaningfully fragmented — dominated by independent solo operators and app-based marketplaces rather than scaled, professionally branded franchise networks — which is precisely the market gap that a franchise system like Fetch! Pet Care is positioned to capture. The secular tailwinds here are durable: pet ownership rates remain near historical highs, the share of pet owners purchasing professional services is growing annually, and trust-based local service brands with national backing hold structural advantages over anonymous gig-economy platforms. Franchise investors evaluating this category are responding to a combination of low capital requirements relative to brick-and-mortar formats, recurring revenue from repeat service clients, and the demographic certainty that pet ownership in the U.S. is not declining.

The Fetch! Pet Care franchise investment positions the brand at the accessible end of the pet services investment spectrum, which is a meaningful competitive distinction for first-time franchise buyers and career-transition candidates. The current initial franchise fee is reported at up to $62,500 for a target area, with additional target areas available for purchase at $62,500 for one, $100,000 for two, and scaling to $185,000 for five target areas and $20,000 for each additional beyond the fourth. The total initial investment range for a Fetch! Pet Care franchise runs from approximately $88,567 to $103,667, with some sources citing a range of $75,067 to $140,667 depending on territory configuration and working capital assumptions — a figure that falls below the pet services sub-sector average minimum investment of $96,325 and is dramatically lower than food service or fitness franchise categories that routinely require $300,000 to $1.5 million in total capitalization. Liquid capital requirements include working capital of $15,000 to $25,000, with a minimum cash requirement of $20,000, making this one of the more accessible entry points in franchising for qualified candidates. The ongoing royalty structure is 7% of weekly gross sales for the preceding week, or a minimum payment, whichever is greater — and for franchisees whose weekly gross sales fall at or below $1,923, a franchisee operations fee of 15% of gross sales or the minimum applies weekly. The advertising fee structure is structured as a fixed monthly payment rather than a straight revenue percentage: $3,800 per month for the first target area, an additional $1,000 per month for the second target area, and $500 per month for each additional target area beyond the second. Other material ongoing costs include a renewal fee of 25% of the full, undiscounted then-current franchise fee per target area, a late royalty payment fee of $25 plus 1.5% interest per month, and a credit card processing fee of 3% of the total amount debited. Phoenix Franchise Brands' ownership of the system provides corporate infrastructure and multi-brand franchise management experience that independent operators or early-stage systems typically cannot offer prospective franchisees evaluating long-term brand stability.

The Fetch! Pet Care franchise operates as an owner-operator or semi-absentee home-based business model, meaning franchisees do not require a commercial retail lease, physical storefront, or substantial equipment investment — a structural characteristic that explains the low end of the investment range and creates a meaningfully different cost profile compared to grooming salons, veterinary practices, or pet retail stores. Daily operations center on managing a network of trained, background-checked, insured independent contractors or employees who deliver dog walking, pet sitting, overnight stays, and related services to clients within the franchisee's designated territory. The labor model is fundamentally one of talent acquisition, caregiver quality control, client relationship management, and local marketing execution. Fetch! Pet Care provides an initial training program totaling 98 hours, comprising 56 hours of classroom instruction and 42 hours of on-the-job training — a ratio that reflects the service-intensive nature of the business and the importance of operational competency in pet handling, customer service, and business management. Historically, new franchisees received four days of hands-on training at corporate headquarters covering operations manuals and training materials on Basic and Advanced Pet Care Techniques, Marketing, Customer Service, Operations, Human Resources, and Financial Management, supplemented by field training alongside experienced pet sitters and dog walkers. Ongoing corporate support under the Phoenix Franchise Brands umbrella includes access to the brand's established operational systems, marketing programs, and field support resources. Territory structure at Fetch! Pet Care is defined by "target areas," and franchisees can acquire single or multiple target areas, with the fee schedule for additional territories clearly outlined in the FDD — an important consideration for investors evaluating multi-unit growth potential within the system. The service-business model also means franchisees can begin generating revenue relatively quickly after signing, without the protracted build-out timelines that characterize restaurant, fitness, or retail franchise categories.

Item 19 financial performance data is not disclosed in the current Fetch! Pet Care Franchise Disclosure Document, which means prospective franchisees must conduct independent due diligence to estimate unit-level revenue and earnings potential. However, publicly available data from prior FDD filings and industry sources provides material context. One set of reported figures from FDD disclosures indicates yearly gross sales of $87,485 and estimated owner-operator earnings of $12,248 to $15,748, implying owner earnings margins of approximately 14% to 18% on reported gross sales. A separate reported gross revenue figure from another FDD data source states $195,211, which falls modestly below the pet services sub-sector average of $205,135 — a meaningful benchmark suggesting that Fetch! Pet Care franchisees operate within range of category norms but have room to grow toward and beyond the sub-sector median with effective local marketing and client retention. The Franchise Payback Period based on the lower revenue scenario is estimated at 7.4 to 9.4 years, which is longer than many investors prefer but is contextually consistent with a home-based service business with low initial capital deployment. For reference, in 2010, 82% of Fetch! Pet Care franchisees reported growth over the previous year, with an average growth rate of 156% — a historical data point that, while dated, illustrates the compound growth potential available to franchisees who invest consistently in client acquisition during their early years. The spread between the $87,485 and $195,211 revenue figures across different reporting periods suggests that unit performance varies significantly based on territory density, franchisee engagement level, local marketing investment, and time in operation — all variables that prospective investors should interrogate directly with existing franchisees through the required validation process outlined in the FDD. Franchise profits in service categories like this are also meaningfully shaped by local labor costs, caregiver retention rates, and the franchisee's ability to convert one-time clients into recurring weekly or monthly service arrangements.

Fetch! Pet Care's unit count trajectory tells a story of acquisition-fueled acceleration followed by measured organic growth. The system operated over 200 franchise units as early as 2008, then reported over 150 franchises servicing more than 1,800 cities and towns in December 2011 — figures that suggest a period of contraction or consolidation between 2011 and 2019, when the brand had over 70 franchised locations across 24 states prior to the Phoenix Franchise Brands acquisition. The March 2020 acquisition at 54 units, followed by growth to 134 units within two years, represents a net addition of roughly 80 units in approximately 24 months — a growth rate that signals strong franchise sales execution under Phoenix Franchise Brands' leadership. As of 2025 FDD data, the system operates 153 franchised locations, with the largest concentration in the South at 69 units and a national footprint spanning 32 states. The brand serves over 1,500 communities, and in September 2019, the company identified 170 additional geographic territories available for franchise expansion — suggesting meaningful white space remains in the system for new unit development. The competitive moat for Fetch! Pet Care is built on brand recognition in the professional pet care space, a trust-based service model anchored by background checks and insurance requirements that app-based competitors cannot easily replicate at scale, and the operational infrastructure provided by Phoenix Franchise Brands, which brings multi-brand franchise management experience to the system. Greg Longe's leadership since 2020 has maintained an expansion trajectory that contrasts favorably with the flat-to-declining unit counts observed in the pre-acquisition period, and the 51 to 200 employee corporate structure suggests an organization with meaningful resources deployed in support of franchisee growth.

The ideal Fetch! Pet Care franchise candidate is a motivated owner-operator with strong interpersonal skills, an affinity for the pet care space, and comfort with managing a service workforce in a home-based business environment. Prior experience in pet care is helpful but not required — the 98-hour initial training program is designed to bring candidates from any professional background to operational competency. Candidates with backgrounds in sales, marketing, operations management, or human resources tend to perform well given the talent acquisition and client relationship demands of the business model. Multi-unit growth within the system is explicitly supported through the tiered target-area pricing structure, where buying two or more territories at the time of initial investment carries volume pricing relative to acquiring them individually, incentivizing ambitious operators to build a larger geographic footprint from the outset. The South, which already accounts for 69 of the system's 153 locations, demonstrates that high pet ownership density and suburban sprawl create favorable operating conditions, while the 32-state presence and 170 identified expansion territories suggest that underserved markets remain available across multiple U.S. regions. The franchise agreement includes renewal terms with a fee set at 25% of the full then-current franchise fee per target area, a standard mechanism in franchising that prospective buyers should model into their long-term cost projections. Transfer and resale considerations are governed by the FDD terms, and buyers evaluating an existing location acquisition should factor in the renewal fee structure when calculating total ownership cost over a multi-decade horizon. The timeline from signing to active client service is shorter than almost any other franchise category, given the absence of build-out, equipment installation, or permit timelines.

For investors evaluating the Fetch! Pet Care franchise opportunity against the full landscape of pet care and service-based franchise options, the investment thesis rests on several converging factors: a low total initial investment range of $75,067 to $140,667 that sits below the pet services sub-sector average minimum, a recurring-revenue service model in a category supported by secular pet humanization trends, an acquisition-driven growth trajectory that added roughly 99 net units between 2020 and 2025, and Phoenix Franchise Brands' operational infrastructure backing a system with 20-plus years of brand history. The Fetch! Pet Care franchise carries a PeerSense Franchise Performance Index score of 57, indicating a Moderate rating — a data point that reflects the balanced picture of accessible entry costs, meaningful unit count growth, and the absence of current Item 19 financial performance disclosure that makes independent verification of earnings claims a critical step in the due diligence process. The pet industry's $136 billion annual market and the continued fragmentation of the professional pet services segment create real upside for a scaled, branded franchise network — and the 153-unit Fetch! Pet Care system has demonstrated it can recruit, train, and support franchisees effectively across 32 states. PeerSense provides exclusive due diligence data including SBA lending history, FPI score, location maps with Google ratings, FDD financial data, and side-by-side comparison tools that allow investors to evaluate Fetch! Pet Care against comparable pet services franchise systems with precision and confidence. Explore the complete Fetch! Pet Care franchise profile on PeerSense to access the full suite of independent franchise intelligence data.