Selling your dog daycare
or boarding business?
You built more than a building. Your value comes from three things working together: the box you operate in, the team that runs it, and the trust the owners down the street put in you. Buyers price all three, and the site economics quietly make or break the deal. We know how they underwrite it, where it goes sideways, and how to run a process that gets you paid for all three. Both of us on every call. Nothing owed unless the deal closes.
Demand is real. A good roll-up
still has to earn the margin.
Pet ownership supports the category, but buyers have gotten pickier about which locations they will actually pay up for. The numbers are strong. Not every site is scalable, and buyers know the difference.
Sources: APPA, March 2026; Grand View Research; Capstone Partners, April 2026. Deal count covers the broad pet sector. Figures cover the full U.S. pet economy, not pet services alone.
inside a specialized box.
Three things have to work at once. Demand: recurring daycare and memberships, boarding for the peak weeks, grooming to bring them back. Care: the labor, the safety, the playgroup design, and a manager who can actually run the floor. And the facility itself: how much of the space you can use, the rent, and what you have to put back in. Site-level cash flow is occupied pet-days times yield, plus grooming, training, and retail, less direct labor, occupancy, and maintenance. Line those up and the multiple follows.
The property is not always
the investment.
Pet care is location-dependent. Buyers need control of the site, enough usable capacity, and a path to reinvest without breaking the site-level economics. These are the diligence points that move proceeds, and they are the same things buyers look for in any acquisition target, sharpened for a facility business.
Site Control
Term, renewals, assignment consent, and market rent with coverage matter more than ownership. Buyers need to know the lease survives the sale.
Business vs. Property
If you own the real estate, the business and the property are two decisions. Normalize a market rent charge and value the property separately. Owned real estate can become a second check.
Usable Capacity
Floor plan, rooms, yards, zoning, HVAC, drainage, parking, and deferred capex set the physical ceiling on throughput. Capacity you cannot use is not capacity.
Site Diligence
Zoning and permits, utilities, waste and drainage, noise and neighbors, and deferred maintenance can each change the check. We get ahead of them before a buyer raises them.
One company's criteria, not a category rule.
One national franchise publishes its own site criteria: roughly 4,000 to 7,000 square feet, $120K to $165K in gross annual rent, around 50,000 people within a 15-minute drive, and commercial zoning that allows both daycare and boarding. That is one brand's box, not a universal benchmark, but it shows how specific the facility math gets. A better box does not just look nicer. It lets the business run better before you ever talk price.
Three playbooks, chasing
the same local operators.
Multi-brand owners, selective networks, and franchise developers all value your business differently, and they treat your real estate differently too. It pays to understand how strategic and private equity buyers think before you pick one.
Multi-Brand Owner
Acquire and operate, keeping local reputation and manager depth. PRHG reported 40 resorts in 2026, Village Pet Care launched with 17 locations, and WagWay combines PUPS Pet Club and Pawville.
Selective Network
Rebrand where it helps without erasing the local equity that made the acquisition attractive. Frontenac-backed Digs reported 17 acquired resorts across Digs-branded and partner facilities.
Franchise + Development
Scale the system through site selection, build-out, and unit economics. Dogtopia lists 275-plus locations and expected to cross 300 in 2026, alongside Camp Bow Wow, K9 Resorts, and Scenthound.
Where You Fit
Each buyer treats brand, manager depth, and real estate differently. We map your site and your goals to the playbook that pays for what you actually built.
Why an early childhood advisor
understands your business.
Our flagship practice is early childhood education and preschools, where we have worked more than 40 transactions. A dog daycare is a remarkably similar animal: a multi-unit, facility-based, licensed service business that runs on recurring memberships, careful staffing, safety and trust, and site-level real estate economics. The diligence that decides a preschool deal, capacity, licensing, staff retention, lease terms, and deferred capex, is the same diligence that decides a pet-care deal. That is why we built a real roll-up thesis for this space, and it is why we can speak to your buyers in their own language, then separate the business, the box, and the check so you get paid for each.
What we actually do
for a pet-care owner.
Split the Business From the Box
We normalize a market rent charge and value your real estate separately, so owned property becomes a second check instead of a discount folded into one price.
Lock Down Site Control
Lease term, assignment consent, estoppels, and usable capacity, proven and organized before a buyer's diligence surfaces them and slows you down.
Match Your Site to the Right Playbook
Multi-brand operator, selective network, or franchise developer. Each one pays for brand, manager depth, and real estate differently, so we point you at the fit, not just the highest bidder.
Run the Competition
All the right buyers at the table at once, competing for the business, the box, and the trust you built. Our target is first offers within 30 days.