Kristen Risby with Wag N’ Wash Natural Pet Food and Grooming

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Lee Kantor: [00:00:32] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today, we have with us Kristen Risby with Wag N’ Wash Natural Pet Food and Grooming. Welcome, Kristen.

Kristen Risby: [00:00:44] Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] Well, I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to tell us about Wag N’ Wash. How are you serving folks?

Kristen Risby: [00:00:51] Its fantastic. Wag N’ Wash Is in our communities. Just that one stop location for cats and dogs and their parents to come in for food, for suppliments, treats and biscuits, but also toys, self services and full service grooming.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:14] So now how did the idea come about?

Kristen Risby: [00:01:17] It came about back in 1999, our founders and partners in business and in life, Jeff Strauss and Dan Rima’s, they were both with fruitful corporate careers, doing really well for themselves and as many pet loving parents encounter in life, their aging Dalmatian. Jenny was just going through some tough times, some struggles, and they really just felt so guilty leaving her at home every day. And so they wanted to find a career that they could basically bring Jenny with them and be available to her with her aging needs. So Wag N’ Wash started in the Colorado Springs, Colorado area market as a very simple self service with a bakery, with some bakery items.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:12] Bakery for humans or pets.

Kristen Risby: [00:02:15] Well, you can eat them, but a little dry for humans. But bakery items for four pets. Yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:22] So that’s just interesting by itself. Had they had that kind of get added on to the mix?

Kristen Risby: [00:02:27] Well, they really just super savvy. They they really just went with consumer demand, you know, and what was available in the area and something like that just wasn’t. And so they were really thoughtful about it. If people were coming in to wash their pets, what better way to have them leave them with a cupcake or to have birthday cakes? And so it started with their own recipes, all natural ingredients, no byproducts, and that are just specifically made for companions.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:00] And then when they were building this out, was it think were they thinking, oh, well, one day we’ll franchise and take over the world? Or was it something that this was just for them and their dog and they were just trying to, you know, live a nice life for themselves?

Kristen Risby: [00:03:13] Absolutely. No, they I don’t think it ever crossed their mind as obviously intelligent men. They knew that there was an opportunity to grow and they actually opened five total stores in Colorado. And so at that point, then they really thought, you know, we’ve got something here and we need to talk about how do we continue to grow it beyond these five corporate stores. And so that’s when looking at growth opportunities. They really narrowed in on the franchise growth model now.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:47] So how did you get involved?

Kristen Risby: [00:03:49] Well, I, I have a two hundred pound Saint Bernard teddybear and I am a just a pet lover, grew up with animals. It’s been my life. But I’ve been in franchising my entire career definitely on the health and wellness side for adults and children in different categories. But this position came up a few years ago and I couldn’t believe it. It just it was a vice president of marketing position for Wagon Wash. So it was franchising, marketing and for pets and for a brand that I was aware of. I wasn’t actually a customer yet, which was interesting, but it just seemed too good to be true. And so, yeah, I was hired on and I’ve never worked for a brand that I’ve been so incredibly passionate about and believe in so much. So it’s been a wonderful experience.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:46] So now when you got involved and you were, I guess, had all this background in franchising and had seen other systems work and have kind of the expertize that maybe the that the founders, why were you able to just take what they had and then just starting adding your jazz hands to it and make it kind of a more robust franchise friendly system? Or were they pretty much were they pretty close?

Kristen Risby: [00:05:14] Well, they had invested in senior franchising talent a couple of years before I started, but the marketing still had some work to do. I’ve been with emerging franchise brands before, and so it really it wasn’t. Something that was, you know, like, oh, shoot, you know, look at all this stuff I have to do, it was, oh my gosh, how amazing. Look at all these great things that can be opportunities for the brand to add in. So I came in and, you know, some simple fixes that, you know, if you weren’t in Franchise Marketing Radio, you wouldn’t be aware of. And so we’ve made some huge changes and one of which in the pandemic, you know, just using the brand fun differently than we had been in the past just was a game changer in turn in terms of how we were doing digital marketing and how that can just take that brand awareness to another level to really drive that brand funnel to consideration for the franchisees to really just get them in the door. So, yeah, it’s simple things for an emerging brand to get started, but nothing that was too crazy or broken, that’s for sure.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:30] So now, as part of the culture of the organization, community involvement is not just kind of lip service. That’s an important component, I guess, when you’re serving a community, No. One, but also when you’re attracting franchisees.

Kristen Risby: [00:06:46] Absolutely. Yeah. You know, having that mentality of you’re not just working behind a counter, you are a face in the community. You’re a brand ambassador for Wagon Wash. You’re a friend, you know, and so our franchisees are out and about. They’re supporting local rescues, adoption groups and various other local organizations that are important to them. But that is one of the big differentiators with wagon wash. Too many of our competitors is we’re locally owned and operated. And I think, you know you know, big brands are obviously very important. But there’s something so beautiful about a locally owned business. People, consumers just want to do business with those people they know and trust. And so, absolutely, our franchisees deliver on that.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:38] So now when you’re talking about community involvement, you mentioned the rescues and the and the different kind of probably non-profits that are in the area that are serving that same group, what are some other ways where wagon wash folks get involved locally and what some of the activities are doing to kind of help support those local non-profits?

Kristen Risby: [00:08:00] So as a as a brand, we have been supporting Freedom Service Dogs for several years now. Freedom Service Dogs developes canines into support, support for people with disabilities, some of our veterans, and just a beautiful organization based here in Colorado as well. And we also have gotten involved with the Trevor Project. You know, obviously being a very inclusive brand, it was important for us to give back not just in June for Pride Month, but throughout the year to really just, you know, not just say we’re inclusive and and live those values with our employees and customers, but to also give back to those organizations that are supporting our youth. But other activities, one of which that I just thought was so beautiful, was at the beginning of the pandemic when everyone was trying to understand this new world we were living in. Our stores were delivering. We didn’t have delivery services at the time, but our stores were packing up bags of their, you know, their customers favorite treats or supplements that they knew that their animals needed. And we’re just delivering those personally to their customers homes. And it was such an amazing thing just because everyone was just sort of locked down. And there was the Amazon and the Chili’s of the world. But again, you know, our customers trust us. They know us. We’re local. And so we wanted to make sure we were delivering for them, especially those who maybe they’re older and didn’t have it wasn’t as easy for them to buy things online. So that was one of my favorite moments of how we were kind of servicing our communities.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:45] Now, during the pandemic, were you able to help the franchisees that maybe were struggling and didn’t know how to handle kind of the disruption? Was there something that as a franchise owner you were able to do to kind of make their life easier to help them through this?

Kristen Risby: [00:10:01] Yeah, you know, it was all hands on deck as everyone every business was. We completely took over marketing, you know, the brand fund. We stopped. We we paused certain activities that weren’t beneficial for taking marketing off their hands. You know, maybe they were just extra things we were doing. So we immediately did that. We really refreshed our brand, to be honest, in the midst of a pandemic, you just kind of this clean. Fresh looking brand presence, which is amazing that that happened during a pandemic, we added an e-commerce site again, we were not delivering, we didn’t have online shopping, but we knew that we absolutely had to have that for our customers in the midst of this. And we also needed it, obviously, for our franchisees to remain open. We were deemed an essential business based on our food and supplements and treats. But, you know, we needed a way to get it into our consumers hands, especially in those early days. And so, yeah, we launched e-commerce very, very quickly. And it was just so impressive, the resilience of our franchisees that they knew they had to make it happen. They had to figure it out. And the ones that were delivering on top of that, that’s a quick you know, how do you figure this out with us, the franchisor and you locally with your teams? But we did it together. And I just can’t say enough about our our franchisees in our system to to go through that figure it out together very, very quickly. And then a year plus later, we’re up eleven point eight percent for the year so far. And it’s just such, again, a testament to, number one, our brand and our customers, but our franchisees especially.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:51] So now I know you’re an emerging brand, but do you have kind of a good feel of what that ideal franchise candidate looks like right now?

Kristen Risby: [00:11:59] Yeah, absolutely. We you know what I love about our founders, Jeff and Dan and our team is we really want a responsible growth. We’re not going out and selling to just anyone, you know, based on the needs of being very hands on operator needs to be very consumer facing in the community. They need to be a personality, but they need to love pets all. They need to love their pets and animals just as much as we do. But they need to know about the retail world, the services world. So it’s it’s definitely not something that you can say, I’m going to come into this and be an absentee owner. You know, we want you to be the brand ambassador in your community. So we’re a little particular. But what happens when when you sell that way is you ensure that that culture and those core values are are cemented into your organization

Lee Kantor: [00:12:58] And then is is something where you expect the owner operator to be the one like clipping the nails of the dog, or is this something that they can hire out kind of the people to do that kind of work?

Kristen Risby: [00:13:12] Well, I will say we absolutely expect for them to hire out. We have obviously training and there’s training available for those services. But I tell you, you walk into a wagon wash and you’ll see an owner in the back because someone has a dog who is really nervous or they only like the owner. And they’re they’re the ones clipping the dog’s nails so that they are special, intelligent, wonderful people who own the wagon wash locations and they go above and beyond. And nail clipping is a beautiful example.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:44] And so then they got to be dog lovers. They have to, you know, kind of really enjoy that environment, just like the founders did when they started this. They have to kind of that’s just who they are.

Kristen Risby: [00:13:56] Absolutely. Yeah. It’s you know, if someone was interested and they didn’t have a dog or a cat, it would be somewhat of a red flag, you know, for us.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:06] Right. It’s definitely a yellow flag. It’s so hard.

Kristen Risby: [00:14:09] Yellow has a hard yellow. So, yeah, you know, we you walk into our stores and the first thing that happens is our team just gets down on the ground with the smaller dogs and loves them and the cats that come in, we know that they’re nervous. So, you know, we’re protective of them. This is definitely someone who has a heart of gold for our dogs and cats.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:34] So I know you start out in the Colorado area. Are you targeting certain territories right now or are there certain markets that you’re, you know, more aggressively going after than others?

Kristen Risby: [00:14:44] Yeah, you know, it we’re again, going back to what we’re looking for the right candidates, first and foremost. That’s always our first goal. I would love to see us open additional stores in the markets that we’re already in just because we built that early brand awareness have goodwill in the communities. And to be quite honest, our customers can make the best franchisees just because they’ve already created the passion and love for the brand. But we’re looking at new markets, Atlanta, Dallas, you know, we’re opening our new store, our newest store in Missouri, in the St. Louis market. So we’re definitely open. But again, it comes back to we just want to make sure we have the right individuals living our brand day in and day out.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:29] Is there kind of a. Hypermarket that’s better than others, like does it do better kind of in the suburbs exurbs that have to be a big city?

Kristen Risby: [00:15:37] That’s a great question and one that is just baffling to us. We talk about it a lot. We have a store and the queen and Seattle market, just very urban foot traffic and it’s just killing it, doing so wonderful. But then we have a store out in California, Maryland, very rural, where you would expect maybe more feed supply stores to be the norm. But Wagon Wash is doing so incredibly well there as well. So we’re very right now I’ve been with brands before, whether it’s your your rural, your urban, it’s a very specific and this is, you know, pet lovers live everywhere. Maybe the size of the dog is different from an urban location to a rural, but the needs are the same.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:24] So now what’s next? It’s just kind of pedal to the floor. You’re just trying to find best fit franchisees.

Kristen Risby: [00:16:32] Yeah, we were really focused on ensuring that our current stores continue on this path of excellence, that they have just been demonstrating through the worst of the worst times. But we’re also really excited to start being a little bit more aggressive with our growth in terms of franchise development and sales, just because we know that’s where we want to go. We want to serve more communities and more pets. And so, yeah, we’re really focused on hitting the ground running with our first opening coming up in a few months in Missouri. And then hopefully, you know, just continuing that into twenty, twenty two.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:13] And then if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, is there a website for franchise.

Kristen Risby: [00:17:20] Absolutely. You can visit franchise dot wagon, wash dot com, obviously be happy to take calls myself. So feel free. But to learn more about our brand wagon match.com. But again for franchising its franchise dot wagon, match.com

Lee Kantor: [00:17:36] And wagon washes and a H dot com.

Kristen Risby: [00:17:41] Correct. Yep.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:42] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. It’s an amazing story, an exciting journey. And please keep us posted as new things happen.

Kristen Risby: [00:17:50] Awesome. We’ll thank you again for having me today, Lee, and letting me share our Wag N’ Wash story.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:56] Good stuff. Well, thank you for being a guest and we appreciate all that you do. This is Lee Kantor rules here next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.