[Fred S]

Hi All,

hope you are all staying safe during this pandemic.

I have a very general question that it might sound stupid but really hope some one can help me here. I am wondering how many dog can a salon expect to get per day on a decent location in big cities? I am thinking to start this business in houston and asked some local groomers and i heard a range of number between 12 to 40 ( for groom or bath). My question is would expecting to get 20 for the salon be very optimistic or normal.

many thanks for your help in advance.

God bless,
Fred

 

[DaySleepers]

This is going to depend so much on the cost of living where you are and what services/qualifications you offer. For example, the cost of a basic groom in NYC or San Fran is going to be astronomical compared to somewhere like Memphis. Your best bet would be to check what your local competitors are charging for which services. Also keep in mind that cost is often highly variable based on dog size, breed, coat type, etc. and many groomers charge on a sliding scale with this in mind.

And this is a field where experience matters. Many average pet owners who just want a bath, trim, and nail clip or a deshedding treatment will probably be looking for a bargain, but your value will go up a lot if you're Fear Free Certified, or if you're certified in pet first aid, have credentials from a quality groomer training program, etc. Potentially also if you're skilled in breed specific/show grooms or creative grooming, but that will depend heavily on the demographic you're serving. You can definitely charge more if you can specifically cite what you offer that's 'above and beyond'.

 

[LeoRose]

^^ What DaySleepers said. If you can offer a special service like hand stripping, or have experience with show grooming for some breeds, then that might give you something of an edge with some clients, but most pet people will just want their dog looking neat and clean, and won't be interested in an intricate clip requiring extensive hand scissoring, nor will they care that clipping their terrier breed will result in a loss of coat texture.

It night be better to look into working for an already established grooming salon instead of just striking out on your own. Especially if you don't already have a ton of experience.

 

[Fred S]

Thank you both for taking time to help me out. Probably my question was kind of misleading, what I really want to know is if you have a good salon with experienced team(groomers, bather), does anticipating to have 20 customer per day is realistic assumption or its way off?
I am investor with tons of love for animal specially dogs, that's why I decided to start this business and hire experienced groomer and basically perhaps spend more time with creature I love a lot but for sure this should financially make sense too, that's why I am trying to find out what would be the average customer per day(guesstimate) in a high dense area(high average household income).
Many thanks and accept my apology if my question was not clear in a first place.

Regards,
Fred

 

[LeoRose]

An established urban or suburban salon, with several good groomers and a solid clientele, can easily do 20+ grooms a day. A new salon, probably not so much.

 

[DaySleepers]

Oh, sorry, I thought you meant cost of services! Thanks for the clarification.

And oof, yeah, that's probably more down to marketing, which isn't something I have much insight on. I mostly know the grooming business from the perspective of a customer. I will say that I, personally, would be eager to try a new groomer that was Fear Free certified or had superior training in handling or medical emergencies, so some of my points still stand as good things to highlight in your marketing. But I'm also not the 'average' client (I mean, most of us on this forum are a bit Extra about our dogs, haha).

 

[parus]

I think my groomer only does about four dogs per day, but it's just her and sometimes a bather, and she specializes in Maximum Effort sorts of grooming jobs, like poodles. She also only allows one client's dogs in the shop at a time. So it's a bit of a boutique service and she can charge accordingly.