What if there was another revenue stream sitting inside your pet resort that could generate thousands of dollars every month?

What if you already have the space, the customers and even the potential staff members to make it happen?

And what if the answer to the groomer shortage isn’t finding the perfect experienced groomer… but creating your own?

In this week’s episode of the Pet Boarding & Daycare Podcast, Dom is joined by Brandy Reese from Paragon School of Pet Grooming to explore the huge opportunity grooming represents for dog daycare and pet resort owners, and how businesses can overcome one of the biggest obstacles standing in their way: finding reliable, qualified groomers.

Brandy has more than 30 years of experience in the grooming industry as a Certified Master Groomer, salon owner and educator. She explains why the current shortage of skilled groomers is causing many pet businesses to leave serious money on the table, with each grooming table potentially worth $12,000–$15,000 a month in revenue.

Rather than endlessly advertising for experienced groomers, Brandy shares a different approach: hire for culture and fit, then develop the technical skills. She explains how daycare and resort owners can identify reliable employees already inside their business, upskill them through structured grooming education and create their own pipeline of talent instead of becoming dependent on one difficult-to-replace employee.

Dom and Brandy also explore why grooming is such a powerful addition to an existing daycare or boarding operation. Not only can it increase average customer spend and create regular recurring revenue, but grooming clients can become daycare and boarding clients too, creating a service ecosystem where every department feeds the others.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The Hidden Grooming Opportunity – Why every unused grooming table could represent thousands of dollars in lost monthly revenue.
• Why Finding Groomers Is So Difficult – The staffing and management problems that cause many otherwise successful pet resorts to give up on grooming altogether.
• Hire for Culture, Train for Skill – Why your next great groomer could already be working in your daycare, kennels or bathing department.
• How to Build Your Own Grooming Pipeline – Why continually developing talent protects your business from becoming dependent on one key employee.
• The Power of Recurring Grooming Revenue – How grooming creates customers who return every four, five or six weeks for years.
• How Grooming Grows the Rest of Your Business – Why grooming clients become boarding and daycare clients, and vice versa.

Huge thanks to our sponsor, Focus Answering Service. Remember, every missed call is a missed revenue opportunity; protect your reputation and scale your business with 24/7 live call support: focustele.com

Remember, registration is now open for the biggest Pet Boarding and Daycare Expo on the planet, which is happening at the famous Hershey Lodge. Click here to grab your ticket now!

Want to plug the Enrichment University program into your facility? Click here to enroll now

Want to work with the World Leading Pet Business Coach?  Add your name to the waitlist for Dom’s Exclusive coaching program The Dog Daycare Success Academy now by clicking here.

Episode Highlights

[00:52] – Dom introduces Brandy Reese and explains why the shortage of qualified groomers represents a major lost-profit opportunity for pet resorts.
[02:04] – Dom shares some of the huge wins from his latest DDSA Immersion, including one member who has built an entire grooming department across six facilities.
[08:08] – Brandy introduces Paragon Pet School and its evolution from a traditional brick-and-mortar grooming school into online education.
[11:07] – Why there’s a shortage of good groomers and the huge amount of demand many pet businesses are unable to serve.
[15:02] – The unique challenge of managing groomers and why some business owners end up feeling held hostage by their grooming department.
[16:46] – Brandy explains why businesses should hire for culture and fit, then train the grooming skills afterwards.
[19:43] – Why grooming creates incredibly valuable repeat customers who can stay with the same groomer for 15 years or more.
[23:03] – Brandy breaks down Paragon’s different training levels and how someone can progress from basic bathing skills to full-service grooming.
[30:32] – How businesses can calculate the return on investment from training their own groomers.
[32:23] – Why grooming doesn’t just generate grooming revenue—it can drive more daycare and boarding business too.