For Sale Operating Business and Real Estate Offered at $350,000 (Inclusive of land, building and equipment) 1
Table of Contents: Description of Business Pages 3 5 Photos of Business Pages 6 9 Financial Results and Projections Page 10 Growth Opportunity Page 11 Customer Testimonials Pages 12 13 Appendix Property Tax Assessment Page 14 2
Description of Business Summary Thank you for your interest in All Creatures Short and Tall, Inc. Since opening in August of 2010, we have grown from a one-person grooming operation to a fully staffed grooming and daycare facility which offers the only dog park in the area. This is a profitable turn-key operation as it stands today, but has tremendous growth potential should one choose to add overnight boarding to the list of services. Our reputation is excellent and our customers appreciate the individual care and supervision we provide. In fact, our growth over the past 7 years has come almost exclusively from word-of-mouth advertising. We receive referrals not only from our happy customers, but also from other professionals such as local veterinarians, pet store owners and managers, and the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce. Our reviews on social media and search engine sites such as Google consistently rank in the 4.5 to 5- star range. Facility and Property Our location is one that is easily accessed from several directions. We are just a few miles from downtown Murphy, NC, and only a half mile from the local hospital, community college, two veterinarians, and Moog Components, which is one of the largest employers in Cherokee County. We have extensive frontage on a busy two-lane highway and have excellent visibility from the road. Our parking lot is large and level, making it easy to navigate for our customers, particularly the seniors who make up a large portion of our clientele.* We are situated on 7 beautiful acres of rolling open land in front and slightly steeper wooded area in the back of the property. The wooded space has a perfect home building site with hundreds of linear feet of frontage on Peachtree Creek (which is about 30 feet wide), mature hardwoods, easy access to water and power service, and a spectacular view of pristine pastureland with mountains in the distance. This is a mixed-use area with no zoning restrictions. The property and building were recently assessed at $224,490 for tax purposes. *This link has helpful demographic data showing that retirees make up nearly ⅓ of the county s population and grew by almost 5% from 2010 to 2016. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/cherokeecountynorthcarolina/pst045216 Competitive Position ACST was recently honored with the Readers Choice Best Pet Groomer / Pet Services award from the Cherokee Scout and Andrews Journal newspapers. While we do have competition from a few skilled groomers, most of them work alone and no longer take new customers. In fact the largest competitor we have had in recent years has decided to start a mobile grooming service and will be sending many of her existing customers who do not want to use a mobile service to us. We have a number of recurring 3
grooming customers who have already booked their appointments for 2018 and have more than $40,000 worth of work scheduled at this point for next year. Our dog park is the only one of its kind in a four-county area. As many of the residents here have come from cities and towns that offer the safety and convenience of an enclosed area for their pups to run, we have received an enthusiastic response from the people who have joined so far. Members are issued a proximity card that allows them access to the park seven days a week. The enclosure is divided into two parts, the smaller of which is dedicated to small dogs. We have water spigots on both sides and a pavilion which straddles the shared fence line, offering shade and shelter. We have planned for future growth of the park, and in the first several months of operation we planted 3 maples (close to 20 feet tall now) which will provide shade and a natural aesthetic in the years to come. Our daycare services include closely supervised socialization, play, and exercise activities. We take advantage of the wonderful resource the dog park offers and pups go home tired and happy to their grateful owners. This revenue stream has not been as lucrative as we anticipated, but we still feel it is worth keeping, as will be explained in more detail below. Finances and Operational Performance Upon review of our financial data, you will see the strong growth we have experienced in a relatively short period of time. We have a Compound Annual Growth Rate of approximately 22% in revenue but only 4% growth in profit. This is a clear reflection of the learning curve that many small businesses go through. Questions of when to expand, how much to expand, when and where to relocate, how much additional staff to hire all have been asked and answered in the time up to the end of this summer. Ultimately, we were overstaffed for the better part of a year. We offer a lot of specialized and individual attention for the animals in our care and we did not want to be caught unprepared or understaffed. But as described below we have now found the balance we need and are producing more with less. As a result, our projections for 2018 look to keep revenue about the same but increase profits. In July of 2016 we moved to our current location. It was then that we expanded our services to include daycare and the park. Although we had surveyed our customer base about the services and amenities they would support, it was a bit of a shot in the dark and we were unsure of what to expect in regard to new revenue generation. The second half of 2016 provided a modest increase in revenue which included more grooming dollars, as we hired a second full time groomer, in addition to what the new services contributed. We had hired in anticipation of greater and faster growth than actually developed. But since we were toward the end of the tourist season here, it seemed sensible to maintain that level of staffing until we saw what happened in the spring and summer of 2017 when the part-timers returned from Florida. Here is what we discovered. The daycare coordinator had several duties outside of that job description, which included monitoring the condition of the dog park and receiving and discharging dogs that were there for grooming. While these were important tasks, they did not specifically generate revenue. As a result, the days when we were short on daycare dollars, we were losing money on that employee. In August, we engaged in a review of revenue vs. payroll and determined that the daycare person would need to help with some of 4
the grooming work by bathing dogs to at least equal things out. This provided an opportunity to offer same-day service to our customers for dogs who only needed baths, while generating the income needed to create profits, not deficits, for that position. A second, but much shorter-lived experiment this summer was hiring a bather for the second groomer, who had prior to this time bathed all the dogs she groomed. The hope was that she would be able to groom enough extra dogs each day that we would keep up with the demand from new customers as well as generate new profits. Unfortunately, we found that we could not produce enough extra work for that to happen. So the extra bather position was eliminated. These lessons learned have us on the right track for a more profitable final quarter of 2017 and justify our expectation of relatively flat revenue growth in 2018 but with increased profit. The Future You will find three projections for 2018, one for keeping things as they are now and two for if a new owner decided to incorporate boarding services. One scenario uses the existing building while the other imagines new construction dedicated to boarding. There is absolutely no doubt that a nice boarding facility would be fully and completely supported in this location. There is very little competition in the area but huge demand. We are asked by our customers every single day about boarding places we could recommend. And when we first opened the new facility, the Chamber of Commerce director encouraged us, at the request of a representative of the Cherokee-owned Valley River Casino, to offer overnight boarding. They had opened their new hotel which does not allow pets and were enthusiastically looking for a place to send people to. One quick phone call to them would set up a steady chain of referrals. Conclusion In summary, we offer a profitable, turn-key operation with a great reputation, beautiful facility, and a sound plan for future growth options in both revenue and, more importantly, profit. We've done the most difficult work already with completed and fully functional facilities and a strong and recurring customer base. The business of helping people care for their pets has its own intangible reward. With this venture you get the best of both worlds. *Links regarding future growth potential for the industry: http://www.multibriefs.com/briefs/exclusive/pet_businesses_will_prosper.html#.wd9al7pfziu https://www.bls.gov/ooh/personal-care-and-service/animal-care-and-service-workers.htm#tab-6 5
Photos of the Business Happy Customers: 6
Facilities: 7
Dog Park: Daycare: 8
Home Site: 9
Financial Results Available following execution of a nondisclosure agreement. 10
Growth Opportunities We have considered a number of options for growth including training and overnight boarding. Training for dogs is something that some customers have consistently asked us about. Most of those people are interested in simple obedience training or in "therapy" certifications for their pets. There are a few trainers around the area, but none that we are aware of who have an actual facility. Our building and park offer a great opportunity to fill that void. A second venture would be to offer overnight boarding. As mentioned earlier, there is tremendous demand for a place that people can feel good about leaving their pets and there are few options of any sort in the area. As with the daycare service we offer, the dog park is the best tool in our toolbox to offer a "camp" feel instead of a "jail" feel to the boarding experience. The revenue and profit forecasts below include adding boarding services but not training services, as we are unfamiliar with how training prices are set and the payroll requirements that would accompany those services. Financial forecasts available following execution of a non-disclosure agreement. 11
Customer Testimonials November 8, 2017 We Love All Creatures Short and Tall Daycare Service! In 2016, we were pleased to hear that ACST was opening in Murphy, NC and would offer Daycare for our dog Callie. Callie has had experience at other daycare facilities and has always enjoyed her playtime with her canine friends. However, we have always been very careful to make sure she was safe and well cared for during her stay. We were very impressed with our first visit to ACST. They are conveniently located in the Peachtree area of Murphy and the facilities and the grounds are clean and beautiful. They have large and comfortable indoor and outdoor kennels and the outdoor dog park is very large, clean and well maintained. The fencing is secure, and the double gate system provides a safe entry and exit. The park is sectioned off to allow similar sized dogs to be grouped together. The ACST staff makes the daycare pick up and drop off process quick and convenient and they are always sincerely happy to see Callie and she is always ecstatic to be there. The staff is also very adept at learning a dog s physical and emotional requirements and they take great care to group the dogs with the most suitable playmates. Activities are always expertly supervised, and the dogs receive the perfect amount of play, rest and love. This is the fourth daycare facility that Callie has experienced, and it is by far our (and her) favorite. We not only have the utmost confidence that Callie is safe and secure at ACST but the love and care that she gets from the staff is unmatched in our experience. Callie loves her time there so much that we frequently take her for daycare even when our schedule may not require it. We cannot recommend ACST highly enough! Eddie, Juli and Callie Mills 12
November 11, 2017 Since the beginning when it started out in a little hotel building, we have been with ACST. There have been many changes through the years but by far the best is the new facility. The new building is large and bright, always clean. Now that my dog is a senior I like the fact that the groomers have their own quiet rooms, so as not to put extra stress on her. We also take advantage of the daycare every week with our puppy. Plenty of indoor and outdoor fun for her. It's her favorite day of the week. We hope that Anna can grow up at ACST just like Marina did. The outside dog park is so pretty...always so nicely maintained. This park was laid out right. We especially like the safety entrance gate. Anna always enjoys playing in the park with all her doggie friends she has made at ACST. The way Katherine and her staff work hard to help the rescues is also dear to me. Thank you to Katherine and Staff for giving such love and care to our critters. Karen Haas 13
Appendix Property Tax Assessment: 14