Dog daycare and boarding franchise finance
The median brand here reports average revenue of $902,805 a unit. Percentage fees at the median brand come to 8.7% of sales. The median cost to open runs $667,610 to $1,373,500.
Dog daycare and boarding franchises at a glance
- Averan Franchise compares five dog daycare and boarding franchise brands, each from its own 2026 FDD.
- The cost to open a dog daycare and boarding franchise runs from $498,850 at The Dog Stop to $1,478,820 at Dogtopia.
- Camp Bow Wow reports the highest average sales of these brands, at $1,089,860, and Hounds Town USA the lowest, at $520,855.
- Franchise fees take 8% to 10.3% of sales across the five brands where Averan Franchise works out the figure.
These figures come from each brand's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, as the brand reported them, and were read by Averan Advisors.
Find a dog daycare and boarding brand
This guide covers five brands, each from its own 2026 FDD. Open one, or pick two and compare them.
All 5 brands
The brands in this group
Each brand has its own page on how its locations make money, with every figure set out against the brand’s disclosure document it comes from.
- Camp Bow Wow Full profit statement three ways - all 207 camps, top 52 and bottom 52 on profitability
- Central Bark All 36 locations with five years of revenue, plus a full percentage profit line with high and low on every row
- Dogtopia Full percentage profit line by revenue group, franchised and company side by side
- Hounds Town USA All 73 locations named with visit counts and average check, plus a full profit line
- The Dog Stop 40 locations · Rent share of revenue
The figures, brand by brand
| Measure | Median | Brands | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average sales per unit | $902,805 | 5 of 5 | Median of each brand’s disclosed average |
| Median sales per unit | $822,081 | 5 of 5 | Median of each brand’s disclosed median |
| Initial franchise fee | $50,000 | 5 of 5 | |
| Royalty | 6% | 5 of 5 | Headline rate |
| Brand or advertising fund | 2% | 5 of 5 | |
| Fees paid to the brand | 8.7% | 5 of 5 | Royalty, brand fund and other fees paid to the brand or its affiliates, as a share of average sales |
| Cost to open, low | $667,610 | 5 of 5 | |
| Cost to open, high | $1,373,500 | 5 of 5 | |
| Profit margin | 19.1% | 4 of 5 | Each brand’s own profit line; definitions differ |
| Labor, share of revenue | 43.5% | 4 of 5 | |
| Building costs, share of revenue | 14.7% | 5 of 5 | |
| Unit growth over each FDD’s Item 20 period (2025, or 2023 to 2025) | 14.3% | 4 of 5 | (End − start) ÷ start |
| Customers lost over each FDD’s Item 20 period (2025, or 2023 to 2025) | 2.2% | 4 of 5 | Terminated, non-renewed, reacquired and ceased, ÷ opening units; transfers excluded |
Each figure is the median of the brands that disclose it, and the Brands column counts them.
How we calculated this
Revenue is each brand's own reported figure on its own unit basis, so the median describes the group and no single brand. Growth and customers lost are our calculations from each brand's outlet table. Where fewer than three brands disclose a figure, no benchmark is shown.
The model
The business model the top performers in dog daycare and boarding are running
What the top performers can do that others cannot
Two of the five brands here sell a grooming or a stay. Rostering against demand is the constraint: wages run 43.5% of sales at the middle brand, more than any other line.
What the customer is buying
The customer buys a visit that repeats if the pet is happy. At one of them the model is different: the customer buys a plan they pay for monthly whether they show up or not, which asks something else of the owner. A location at the middle brand sells $902,805 a year, and the median top group sells $1,359,016. The offer is the same at both ends of that range, so the difference is volume. The product is the same.
Who the customer is, and how often they come back
This is a retention business. The money is made in the second year of a customer, not the first month, so the number that decides the year is how many stay. A median 45% of locations reach their own brand’s average, so most of the system is below the number the brand advertises, and the gap usually comes from low demand. Effort is usually not the cause. The top group sells $1,359,016 against $413,760 at the bottom. Trade area and site set that range before an owner takes a booking.
How the money works
Opening costs $498,850 to $1,478,820 across the group, and inside one brand the top of the range is typically 2.2 times the bottom. At the middle brand the cost stack runs wages 43.5%, occupancy 14.7%, cost of sales 3.5%, franchise fees 8.7% of sales. What is left runs 19.1% at the middle brand, which is $259,572 a year at the top group and $79,028 at the bottom. The percentage changes little between them; the dollars change a lot.
Top performers
These are the things that separate top performers in dog daycare and boarding
Across the dog daycare and boarding brands that publish both figures, the median top group of locations sells $1,359,016 a year and the median bottom group sells $413,760. Across these brands, a median of 45% of locations reach their own brand’s average.
Decided before you open
- Opening cost against sales.The top group sells $1,359,016 a year against a build that tops out at $1,478,820, so at the heavy end of the range a location sells $0.92 for every dollar it cost to open.
- Rent as a share of sales.Occupancy runs 14.7% of sales at the middle brand, which on median sales of $902,805 is $132,712 of rent a year. That same $132,712 is 9.8% of sales at the top group and 32.1% at the bottom. Top-group locations put more sales through the same square footage, with longer earning hours, a second daypart, and a site picked for traffic.
Live operating levers
- Two of the five brands here sell a groom or a stay.
Business model attribute
- Service
- Grooms, daycare and boarding stays
- Unit economics
- Pets served a day times the spend for each pet
- Three of the five brands here publish how a new location builds up.
Business model attribute
- Service
- The FDD’s month-by-month build-up of a new location
- Unit economics
- Months until sales cover costs
- Wages by brand.Wages run 43.5% of sales at the middle brand and 37.2% to 44.5% across the four that disclose it. The levers are scheduling against booked demand hour by hour, sales per paid hour, and keeping part of pay variable. On the top group’s $1,359,016 of sales, a point of wages is $13,590 a year; on the bottom group’s $413,760 it is $4,138.
- Cost of goods by brand.Products and materials take 3.5% of sales at the middle brand, 1.5% to 8.6% across the four that disclose it. The levers on this line are buying on the brand program, holding the price list instead of discounting to close, and counting waste weekly.
- Profit margin.Of the four brands that publish a profit line, the middle one keeps 19.1% of sales, from 18.5% to 21.0%. The cost lines above move by a few points between the highest-selling and lowest-selling locations while sales move by multiples. At a 19.1% margin, the top group earns $259,572 a year and the bottom group $79,028.
- Fees as a share of sales.Fees run a median 8.7% of sales across five brands, from 8.0% to 10.3%. Where a minimum applies, lower-selling locations pay a higher effective rate. At $1,359,016 the fees cost $118,234 a year; at $413,760 they cost $35,997.
Context you underwrite around
- First-year build-up.Three of five filings in this group show how a new location builds up. The others do not show it.
Operating levers
What each brand’s top performers actually work on
These are the levers each brand's filing supports. Each brand has three to five, read from its own 2026 FDD. Filter by type of business, or open a brand for the figures underneath.
5 brands
Camp Bow Wow
Dog daycare and boarding
- Wages. Wages take 42.6% of sales, against 18.5% kept at the end. The levers are staff productivity, scheduling against demand hour by hour, and the balance of base pay to commission.
- Occupancy cost. Rent and building costs take 15.7% of sales here. The rent is fixed when the lease is signed, so this share falls only as sales per square foot rise.
- Sales depend on pets served. The owner counts how many pets come through in a day and how many come back within the month.
- Fees and the minimum. Fees run about 8.0% of sales. A minimum fee also applies, so lower-selling locations pay a higher effective rate. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum.
Central Bark
Dog daycare and boarding
- Wages. Wages take 44.5% of sales, against 19.7% kept at the end. The levers are staff productivity, scheduling against demand hour by hour, and the balance of base pay to commission.
- Occupancy cost. Rent and building costs take 10.8% of sales here. The rent is fixed when the lease is signed, so this share falls only as sales per square foot rise.
- Sales depend on pets served. The owner counts how many pets come through in a day and how many come back within the month.
- Service and retail mix. Retail sales and the share of customers on higher service tiers raise revenue per hour without adding hours or rooms.
- Fees and the minimum. Fees run about 8.7% of sales. A minimum fee also applies, so lower-selling locations pay a higher effective rate. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum.
- Cash needed in the first year. This filing shows how a new location builds up: the month sales cover costs, and how much cash you fund before then.
Dogtopia
Dog daycare and boarding
- Wages. Wages take 44.5% of sales, against 18.5% kept at the end. The levers are staff productivity, scheduling against demand hour by hour, and the balance of base pay to commission.
- Occupancy cost. Rent and building costs take 14.7% of sales here. The rent is fixed when the lease is signed, so this share falls only as sales per square foot rise.
- Membership drives the model. Track how many members join, how many cancel, and what each member spends beyond the plan.
- Fees. Fees run about 10.3% of sales. No minimum royalty applies, so the charge rises and falls with sales.
Hounds Town USA
Dog daycare and boarding
- Wages. Wages take 37.2% of sales, against 21.0% kept at the end. The levers are staff productivity, scheduling against demand hour by hour, and the balance of base pay to commission.
- Occupancy cost. Rent and building costs take 13.5% of sales here. The rent is fixed when the lease is signed, so this share falls only as sales per square foot rise.
- Visits. Track how many visits happen, what each one is worth, and how many customers book the next one before they leave.
- Fees and the minimum. Fees run about 8.5% of sales. A minimum fee also applies, so lower-selling locations pay a higher effective rate. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum.
- Cash needed in the first year. This filing shows how a new location builds up: the month sales cover costs, and how much cash you fund before then.
The Dog Stop
Dog daycare and boarding
- Fees and the minimum. Fees run about 8.8% of sales. A minimum fee also applies, so lower-selling locations pay a higher effective rate. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum.
- Occupancy cost. Rent and building costs take 18.4% of sales here. The rent is fixed when the lease is signed, so this share falls only as sales per square foot rise.
- Membership drives the model. Track how many members join, how many cancel, and what each member spends beyond the plan.
- Cash needed in the first year. This filing shows how a new location builds up: the month sales cover costs, and how much cash you fund before then.
Dog daycare and boarding cost lines as a share of sales
All five dog daycare and boarding brands in Averan Franchise disclose what their locations spend on wages, rent and space, or cost of goods. Each figure is a share of the average location's sales, from the brand's 2026 FDD. Rent and space covers rent and the other costs of the premises.
| Brand | Wages | Rent and space | Cost of goods |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Bow Wow | 42.6% | 15.7% | 8.6% |
| Central Bark | 44.5% | 10.8% | 1.5% |
| Dogtopia | 44.5% | 14.7% | 2.9% |
| Hounds Town USA | 37.2% | 13.5% | 4.2% |
| The Dog Stop | Not disclosed | 18.4% | Not disclosed |
How fast new dog daycare and boarding locations build sales
The pages for one of the five dog daycare and boarding brands in Averan Franchise show how a new location's sales build after opening, by month or by years open, in dollars from each brand's FDD. The months before sales cover costs are the ones to plan cash for, and the minimum fee calculator shows what the fees cost during them.
Common questions
How much does a dog daycare and boarding franchise cost to open?
Among the five dog daycare and boarding brands in Averan Franchise that publish it, the cost to open runs from $498,850 at The Dog Stop to $1,478,820 at Dogtopia, according to their 2026 FDDs.
Which dog daycare and boarding franchise costs the least to open?
The Dog Stop has the lowest starting cost of the dog daycare and boarding brands in Averan Franchise, at $498,850 to $1,373,500.
Which dog daycare and boarding franchise has the highest average sales?
Camp Bow Wow reports the highest average sales of the dog daycare and boarding brands in Averan Franchise, at $1,089,860 in its 2026 FDD.
What do dog daycare and boarding franchise fees cost as a share of sales?
Across the five dog daycare and boarding brands where Averan Franchise works out the figure, franchise fees take 8% to 10.3% of sales.
Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- At what level of sales does a minimum fee stop costing me more than the percentage?It works out the sales level where a minimum fee stops applying.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?It builds a 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?It shows how to tell whether payroll is rising or revenue is falling.
- At what point do spreadsheets stop coping?It explains what changes at around ten units and why lenders care.
- I run several locations. Which ones actually make money?It shows each location's contribution to profit and the reporting it takes to see it.
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Numbers Check runs the same checks on your own numbers. It scores where you stand and compares you with Item 19 of your brand’s FDD. It works out what one location earns and spends, and builds a 13-week cash forecast. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →What revenue releases your brand’s minimum?
We review your unit economics and cash forecast and build your reporting around the crossover point where a percentage overtakes your minimums, occupancy cost read as a percentage every month. A profit line that shows your own pay as a cost.
Talk to AveranWhere these figures come from
Every figure here comes from the brands' 2026 FDDs and is unaudited by us. We are unaffiliated with the brands. The medians, growth and customers lost figures are our own calculations. The figures describe past performance at other businesses. They are not a projection of your results. This page is an educational summary and is not an offer to sell a franchise or financial, legal or tax advice. All trademarks belong to their owners. How Averan reads a Franchise Disclosure Document.