Our Winners Are...

Congratulations to all of the winners in the Virtual Franchising Awards 2023, and a big well done to all of the finalists as well Every entry deserved to win and the entries made judging a really difficult decision for the judging panel. However there could only be three winners for each category – please give a round of applause for...

Best Franchisee Support

Re-watch the Premiere...

Experience the excitement over again as the winners of the 2023 Virtual Franchising Awards are announced...

Marketing Excellence

Best Adaptation to Change

Best Technology & Innovation

We Need New Pet Franchisees to Join Us!

Animals at Home was established in 2003 to provide professional pet and animal care services to people with animal companions; and pet transport and animal ambulance services to pet owners, pet professionals and veterinary and pet charity organisations via franchised operator-owned branches

Animals at Home was established to be, and proudly continues to be a family of businesses; all working together to promote the health and welfare of pets and offer first class pet care services to local clients within the franchised areas

Above all, you’ll be your own boss You’ll be able to work out your own priorities in which pets to see and when, you’ll choose your best and most efficient routes to visit pets, you’ll be able to stop and have a break when you like and take in the views (often from the best ‘office’ in the area; your van!), but most of all, you’ll be working with many different pets and animals every day You’ll build up fantastic and trusting relationships with those animals, and your clients over the years and enjoy being a professional pet carer and trusted service provider for your local community!

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Get in touch to learn more about our NEW Pay As You Go franchise option which can help get you started with the Animals at Home franchise opportunity whilst balancing your investment effectively.

Meet Ann Luffman, Co-Managing Directory at Animals at Home Franchise

1. Who are you and what is your role with Animals at Home?

I’m Ann Luffman, co Managing Director of Animals at Home, following a Management Buy Out of the business back in October 2019. This means that both myself and Iain Sherring our co Managing Director are responsible for our Franchisee’s ongoing support and further Training, as well as advertising and recruiting for new prospects interested in joining the Animals at Home family and the future growth of the brand

Prior to joining Animals at Home back in 2014 my working life involved travelling around the country as a Reseller Account Manager in the B2B Telecoms industry, this included training and supporting start up and existing telecoms companies that had agreed to resell telephone systems, lines and mobiles from my employer, ensuring good supplier relations and the growth of the resellers business

The trouble shooting experience and business knowledge gained during these 20 years has been transferrable and invaluable when dealing between senior management and Franchisee’s to maximise business productivity working as the Franchise Manager for Animals at Home It also helped that I could talk about pets all day.

Part of my role is to ensure success of the New Starter along with building their confidence in their business and brand to enable them to reach their goals and longevity of their business, by way of the Franchise Agreement renewal at the end of their initial term This will then naturally lead to the success and growth of Animals at Home the brand.

2. What does Animals at Home do?

We provide premium bespoke pet care services to owners who are looking to have a professional pet carer to replicate the daily routine and care for their pet. This includes home visits for cat and pet feeds, this can include hamsters, ginnea pigs, rabbits, snakes, and other exotic pets to filling feeders up for wild birds, hedgehogs and other wildlife

Dog Walks which are always completed following the terms of the Professional Dog Walkers Guide, along with many of our Franchisee’s having completed the City & Guilds Level 2 Technical Competency in Dog Walking for maximum awareness of how to walk a dog safely and avoid situations that may cause the dog any stress.

We also ensure all our Franchisee’s and helpers are Pet First Aid trained, this allows us to deal with any eventuality whilst out on a walk or whilst transporting any pets in our care House Sitting is self-explanatory and allows the owner with multiple animals or pets that would prefer to stay in their own environment with having someone stay in their house with them, this also offers added security for the homeowner.

Home Boarding and Doggy Day Care are provided either at the Franchisee’s home or suitable licensed hosts that will have been recruited within their localised area. Personalised Cremations are more and more popular nowadays, and we are involved from the collection of the pet, to delivering the guaranteed individual ashes back to the owner, with some of our Franchisee’s working with mobile vets who can provide a home-based service to owners who would like their pets passing to be completed at home, making the service even more personal.

The Animal Ambulances (pictured above) have been our USP for twenty years and their services have recently been discussed in an article in the Guardian newspaper. The ambulances are not only the Franchisee’s transport to get to owner’s properties to provide the pet care services or dog walks, but they are also there to respond to emergencies, transport pets for Rescue Centres, transport puppies for the Guide Dogs charity, transport to the vets for Streetvets and Street Paws, helping people suffering from homelessness Along with airport runs and general transport for new owners, breeders or people moving house.

3. Why is Animals at Home a smart investment for entrepreneurs?

Animals at Home is a smart investment for someone looking to set up a Pet Care business, utilising the twenty years of knowledge in how to do this correctly after gaining twenty years of experience of what doesn’t work. This is a tried and tested method of setting up a successful Pet Care and Animal Transport Franchise, which only requires someone able to follow the template supplied by the Franchisor and willing to work hard at making the business a success

One of our Franchisee’s told us at a review meeting that ‘Her worst day whilst owning her Animals at Home Franchise, was better than her best day in her last job. ’*

Starting any business is not easy, but we can provide the tools to enable a new start up to be able to concentrate on finding their clients from day 1 as opposed to setting up their office and IT

•Animals at Home Merseyside, Nicola Flattery.

4. What do you look for in a potential franchisee?

Someone who is an animal lover, can network well, someone with an understanding for business and can be impartial and sympathetic with their clients and their requirements It is important that the Franchisee understands the Franchise concept and can follow a Business Plan. Experience in dealing with people and a drive to be succeed are crucial

5. How many franchisees do you currently have?

31 Franchisee’s, covering an area across the UK from Scotland down to Cornwall of approximately 5 million households

6. Please tell me how Animals at Home supports its franchisees?

From initial introductory call following their enquiry to start date, we have a very transparent process, ensuring the prospect is fully aware of their role and responsibility within the Franchise. We provide an extensive training programme on Pet Care but also on social media and advertising. We work with a company who provide software to help with CRM, scheduling, invoicing, and taking payments for bookings to reduce the time spent completing admin for the Franchisee. With our IT and Google accounts outsourced to external companies who appreciate the Franchise and understand the needs of a new starter compared to an existing mature Franchise. We also provide independent contacts who can help with accounting, legal etc as part of our membership with the QFA.

We complete ‘Grand Tours’ around the UK throughout the year to do face to face review meetings with all our Franchisee’s, as well as more regular visits if the Franchisee requests them or if we feel there is a training issue, and we can provide some advice and suggestions to help their Franchise. All Franchisee’s have direct contact with our Support Team as well as both Managing Directors at any time, during their first 6 months a group WhatsApp will be set up for all these parties, so that the slightest query can be asked and answered immediately

7. What are your plans for growth over the next 5 years?

The aim would be to maximise the growth within the UK and ensure that all populated areas within the licenced areas of our Franchisees are providing professional Pet Care to the 13 million Dogs, 12 million cats and many more fluffy, feathered or scaled pets. We believe it is important to ensure that we assist the UK pet population and their owners before looking to take our Franchise international. Our fleet of Animal Ambulances will therefore grow and provide a wider UK coverage and enable us to build on new relationships.

8. Do you have any discovery days upcoming?

We have individual discovery meetings with our Prospects, as they are generally spread across the country. We will meet with the prospect twice within our process, one to get a feel for what their about and for us to cover what a Franchise is about and an overview of the Franchise Start Up, Training and Finances, with our second meeting going into great detail under an NDA, we also invite an existing Franchise to answer questions the prospect has without us present. We are very busy with these meetings at the moment following the Guardian article and we are expecting a surge in interest when ITV’s This Morning air our day with Dr Scott Miller that will be filmed next week. We will forward a link once we’ve got a link to the video footage

9. What has been your best achievement in the past year?

Since buying the business in October 2019 and then having the Pandemic strike in March 2020, then a war in Ukraine in 2022 and a world-wide financial crisis more recently, we have had our fair share of challenges since we have been owners. So, I would say my highlight of 2022 was the ‘Grand Tour’ where we went to see our Franchisee’s for our first face to face meeting since before the pandemic as the new owners and reconnect with them again. We have a wonderful bunch of Franchisee’s, who each run their Franchises slightly differently, but all love the pets they look after and regularly tell me there is nothing else they would rather be doing

10. What are your interests and hobbies? What do you do to relax?

I’ve been married to my husband Mark for 36 years, I’m a mother to two grown up boys and a grandmother to four wonderful grand-children so family is very important to me, I spend as much time as possible with my grandchildren, which is a little less since we moved to the North Pennines during the pandemic from East Anglia, slight change in scenery there! I walk with my husband, who is heavily involved in the Animals at Home business and our dogs as often as we can, although our 12 year old Labrador is willing, she is suffering with the hills, so sometimes stays at home and looks after the house for us while we’re out. I’m a keen open water swimmer and we’re very fortunate to have bought with our property a disused flooded quarry, so warmer months we will be found swimming and paddle boarding in the quarry, often accompanied by friends with the day ending with a barbeque and some light refreshments With friends and family based from north Scotland down to Looe in Cornwall we are quite used to travelling and try where possible to combine business with pleasure

Discover the Animals at Home Franchise

Animals at Home is the UK’s leading pet care franchise With franchises opportunities across the UK, find out if your territory is available Get in touch to learn more about our NEW Pay As You Go franchise option which can help get you started with the Animals at Home franchise opportunity whilst balancing your investment effectively