How to open a beauty salon for animals from scratch

Project concept

Grooming is the hygienic care of an animal in all directions: cleaning and cutting fur, trimming nails, bathing, brushing teeth, ears, eyes, nose, treating glands.
This can be either a one-time procedure for a pet or regular comprehensive maintenance. In addition, as additional services, the salon can offer its clients nail polish, tattooing, massage, and various decorations. Opening a grooming salon in a small or medium-sized city with up to 1 million people may turn out to be ineffective or unprofitable for a number of reasons:

• The presence of direct competitors who have already won consumer recognition.
• Indirect competitors are private individuals involved in caring for animals at home.
• Grooming services are offered in veterinary clinics or other non-specialized establishments.
• The population is too low or the economic situation in the city is difficult.

When starting a business related to pet services, it is important not to make a mistake with the location of the salon, select qualified personnel, formulate an offer that is optimal in terms of quality and price, and add a twist to the project idea. In order to increase the traffic of visitors to the establishment and the average check, we will open a small store within its walls where accessories for pets will be sold. Alternatively, you can combine a grooming salon with a veterinary clinic, pet hotel or pet lounge. However, it is worth considering the demand for these types of services from the population.

Since we are opening a salon in a large city where there are direct competitors, it is necessary to choose a premises with the maximum distance from them. The place should be passable, in particular for owners walking their pets. It will be a busy park on the outskirts of the city next to a shopping center and a residential area with new buildings. The room chosen is 70 square meters in size. m. The target audience of the grooming salon is the middle and upper class population, whose families have pets, as well as breeders.

In the future, clients will be received by appointment, and in the first stages - according to a live queue. Opening hours: from 11:00 to 20:00, seven days a week. The salon premises require repairs and installation of equipment, so our task is to organize the groomers’ workplaces correctly and introduce details into the design of the establishment that will highlight its specifics. These will be paintings with images of funny neat animals, applications in the form of bones and paw marks.

Salon employees will wear special branded aprons. As a bonus, each client will be able to receive a delicious gift. UV lamps will be used for disinfection. Some dog breeds, as well as almost all cats, require the presence of an owner nearby. Therefore, it is necessary to take care of comfortable chairs for each workplace.

Groomer services

Animal grooming

The main task of the groomer is to make the animal beautiful and clean. Grooming salon services:

1. Cleaning of eyes, nose, ears, teeth (removal of tartar), treatment of glands.
2. Combing.
3. Washing with special shampoos and balms.
4. Masks for wool.
5. Regular grooming for cats and dogs.
6. Exhibition haircut.
7. Manicure (trimming and cleaning of nails).

The list of additional services will include:

• tattoo;
• manicure with varnish;
• decorating your pet with sparkles and other fashionable attributes;
• creative haircut;
• consultation with a veterinarian, trainer;
• delivery of goods and provision of services at home;
• massage;
• photo and video recording of the haircut process or photos before and after procedures;
• sale of accessories - clothing for animals, food and caring cosmetics for every day.

Accessories and related products:

1. Bows, hairpins, elastic bands, combs and brushes.
2. Clothes for dogs.
3. Collars.
4. Leashes.
5. Harnesses.
6. Muzzles.
7. Carrying bags.
8. Cosmetics for animals made from natural materials.
9. Stern.
10. Medicines for animals.
11. Books and DVDs with tips on caring for animals.
12. A specialist groomer will visit your home.

Dog grooming

You will also need furniture and some tools (a professional groomer, like an ordinary hairdresser, must have his own set of tools). In addition, you will need an assortment of caring cosmetics and safe natural products for dyeing wool.

Competition in this type of business is very high. Many beauty salons for animals, veterinary offices, hotels (centers) for animals offer haircut and manicure services. Others open salons for exotic species of animals - Achatina and mini-pigs.

You need to come up with your own feature that will distinguish your salon from many others - this way you can quickly recoup your investment in the business and start making money.

For example, cat cafes were opened in Japan, and the level of sales in such establishments increased greatly. One of the car washes began to provide washing services for pets while the owner’s car is being washed.

To avoid the theft of cosmetics by visitors or staff working past the cash register, it is necessary to take care of high-quality remuneration and a bonus system for staff, as well as install CCTV cameras.

Paperwork

The organizational and legal form of the grooming salon is individual entrepreneur. Since we do not plan to attract co-founders, registering as an LLC does not make sense. In the future, if the establishment gains serious momentum and is able to expand its offering beyond the city limits, it will be possible to change the OPF. The tax regime for the salon will be the simplified tax system with a rate of 15% of the difference between income and expenses - the costs of materials and employee wages are quite high.

To start operating a grooming salon, you need to collect a number of documents:

• Permission from Rospotrebnadzor to conduct business activities.
• Agreements for disinfestation, deratization, garbage and wool removal.
• Permission from the fire inspectorate.

No special licenses or certificates are required to open. However, evidence that your employees are professionals in their field will not be superfluous. To begin with, the founder can undergo training himself in order to know a lot about his activities from the inside.

When registering, the OKVED code must be specified as 96.0 “Activities for the provision of other personal services.” This is due to the fact that the concept of grooming salons does not yet exist in our country. The OKUDN code is 018 317 “Pet grooming”.

Relevance of the business idea

Owners of dogs and cats face various difficulties in keeping them. For example, washing, cutting and preparing for exhibitions, if the animal is purebred. All these things can be done by yourself, but due to inexperience, the owners risk harming the pet. Therefore, the most obvious, simple and effective option is to visit a special beauty salon for pets.

There is no risk of harming your pet in a pet beauty salon

Choosing a room and decorating it

As practice shows, a groomer needs 5 square meters to work. m; 3 sq.m – for washing animals. Planning to place 3 workplaces of 5 sq.m. in the establishment. m, a counter for selling accessories for animals with an area of ​​15 sq. m, a sink with appropriate equipment with an area of ​​3 sq. m, an administrator's desk, a locker room with a shower for staff and a place for keeping pets, we rent a room of 70 sq. m. m on the 1st floor of a residential building. The monthly rental cost is 14,000 rubles. The relatively low price is due to the establishment’s remoteness from the city center.

To begin work, the premises must be brought into compliance with certain requirements:

• It should be enough for the comfortable simultaneous work of all masters (we expect a large flow of clients at once).
• A place for washing animals should not only be convenient, but also complete. It is supplied with sewerage, cold and hot water (you can install a water heater), filters, and drains to trap wool.
• Forced ventilation in the room must be installed. Otherwise, all the work will be ruined by high humidity and an unpleasant odor. In addition, ventilation will allow the animals to dry faster, and in cold weather you will not have to open the window and expose your pets to colds.
• In addition to the locker room, it is necessary to install a shower for the staff (if it was not there initially). After working with animals, hygiene procedures are required.

The premises we rented were previously a small gym, so there is already a locker room with a shower there. No finishing of the walls or ceiling is required; the ventilation system is already installed. To save on repair work, the layout of the main room will be based on the successful location of the future animal wash. The closer it is to the system already existing in the project, the smaller the area of ​​floors and/or walls will have to be opened and the less material purchased. In total, about 90 thousand rubles will be required for repair work and decoration of the premises.

The landlord does not return the money invested in the design and renovation of the premises, so it is in our interests to sign an agreement with him for a period of at least 3 years, preferably 5 years. According to the terms of the agreement, the initial rental payment is paid 3 months in advance - that’s 42 thousand rubles. Don’t forget about utility bills, which will amount to about 12 thousand rubles per month. Costs for the premises are planned monthly at an average of 26 thousand rubles.

Business profitability

The time frame for achieving the desired profitability depends on the scale of the business. There is no point in opening an elite studio in a small town. You can carry out procedures at home. This will reduce the cost of repairs and rental premises.

During the first months of work, the master gains experience, creates a portfolio, and attracts clients with low prices. Under normal workload, the business pays for itself within a year. If you provide additional services (tattooing, manicure, nail polish, massage) and sell related products, you will be able to recoup your investment in six months.

The most popular service is washing and blow-drying the animal, and curly haircut. It takes about three hours for one “patient”. The cost of a set of services is 1,500 rubles. If there are 5 clients per day, the monthly profit will be about 225 thousand rubles.

The only drawback is the seasonality of the business. The main influx of clients is observed in the spring and summer. The rest of the time, the grooming salon may be idle or bring minimal profit.

Purchase of equipment and materials

To operate a grooming salon, you need to purchase special equipment. Workplaces for craftsmen must be equipped with scissors, brushes, hair dryers, tables, nail clippers, clippers and other tools. You also need to arrange a corner for washing animals - this is a bathtub, a hanger or shelves for towels, cosmetics, etc.

To wash uniforms and towels, you need to buy a washing machine with a spin cycle, since constantly sending them to the dry cleaner will be expensive and time-consuming. Moreover, most dry cleaners do not accept towels with wool. It is necessary to purchase a counter for displaying goods in the store, a stand and a laptop for the sales administrator, a hanger for visitors’ clothes, and consumables. Let's reflect the costs in the table:

Organizational plan

Taking into account the schedule of the grooming salon from 11:00 to 20:00, 10 people will be hired on staff with a total wage fund of 186 thousand rubles. An 8-hour working day with a lunch break allows you not to break it up into shifts. Since in the morning the number of clients will be less than in the evening, the staffing table is drawn up taking into account the availability of employees. The table shows the work week for one of the shifts:

The technicians will arrive half an hour before the start of their work shift to change clothes and prepare their place to receive clients. After each pet, instruments and the working surface of the table are sterilized. The animal washing area is designed for 3 masters, so the cleaning lady’s responsibilities will include regular disinfection of the bathtub and drain after rinsing each furry client. The sales administrator registers clients, receives them and sells products from the store.

For each workplace, 2 employees will be hired to work every other day. At the first stage, the founder of the business will act as director and accountant. The monetary remuneration of all employees will consist of salary and bonus parts.

Requirements that groomers must meet:

• Friendliness and sincere love for animals.
• Professionalism. A document certifying completion of a grooming master's course is required.
• Availability of a health certificate.
• Ability to work well in a team.

The founder of the salon will conduct the assessment and selection of personnel independently.

Marketing plan

Promotion of the grooming salon will occur mainly through the Internet and social networks. It is also planned to spend some money in the printing house on business cards and leaflets. It is important to attract the target client, so one option would be cross-marketing in collaboration with veterinary clinics and specialized cafes in the city. Investments in advertising are reflected in the table:

About 15 thousand rubles will be spent monthly on targeting on social networks and contextual advertising in Yandex.Direct and Google Adwords.

In addition to one-time advertising and word of mouth, the grooming salon will have a cumulative system of discounts and promotions:

• Pensioners receive an additional 5% discount, which can be combined with accumulated bonuses for visits.
• Starting from the 2nd visit, the client receives a 1% discount for each new request, which is added to the already accumulated interest. The maximum discount is 15%.
• Payment for comprehensive pet care services in excess of 2,500 rubles entitles you to a 30% discount for any teeth cleaning or free nail polish of your choice.
• A client who brings a friend with a pet to the salon receives a one-time discount coupon of 500 rubles.

How to choose a supplier

The salon will require a lot of cosmetics and tools for caring for animal hair. The easiest way to order funds is on the Internet: discounts will be provided for wholesale orders, and you can also get advantageous promotions. However, please note that it is not possible to check the quality over the network. Please review all possible offers before ordering. Find reviews, read them carefully and evaluate whether they were written by real people. It’s great if an online store has groups on social networks - in them you can see how loyal the audience is to it. Carefully ask where the supplier brings the goods from and whether there are certificates: justify your curiosity with the fact that you are responsible for quality to customers.

Income and expenses

A business plan for a grooming salon with calculations of income and expenses will show what the profitability of the planned project is and its payback.

Start-up costs

We present in the table a list of initial investments in opening a grooming salon:

Funds for start-up investments will be taken from the personal savings of the business founder.

Monthly expenses

The costs for the monthly operation of the project are presented in the table:

Income

Grooming time is 1-4 hours, depending on the breed. Based on this, we calculate the approximate number of procedures that the specialists will have time to perform under an average workload. In addition to the main comprehensive offer and model haircuts, the grooming salon will have an assortment of additional services and products for sale in the store. An example of the cost of services and revenue from their sales for a month is reflected in the table:

Let's calculate gross profit by subtracting monthly expenses from monthly income:

Income – expenses = 404,200 – 294,000 = 110,200 rubles.

From the amount received you can find out the amount of tax deductions at the rate of 15% of the simplified tax system:

Gross profit x 15% = 110,200 x 15% = 16,530 rubles.

Since we have the right to deduct from the tax payment for employees paid to the funds (no more than 50%), its amount is 8,265 rubles.

Let's calculate the monthly net profit:

Gross profit - tax payments = 110,200 - 8,265 = 101,935 rubles.

Now let’s find out what the profitability of our business is:

(Net profit / costs) x 100% = (101,935 / 294,000) x 100% = 34.7%.

One of the most important indicators is the payback period of the initial investment, since we invest only personal funds in the project. It is calculated by the formula:

Starting investment / net profit = 608,000 / 101,935 = 5.96 months.

It is worth considering that the proceeds will not only cover the start-up investments, but also invest in development, go to unforeseen expenses and the personal account of the founder. Therefore, the payback period with all costs will be about 1-1.5 years. Its reduction will occur due to intensive improvement of the quality of services, loyal attitude of clients and their pets, as well as through material incentives for staff (this cost item is already included in the wage fund).

Capital costs for setting up a business

Equipment:

1. Sink (2 pcs.) at a price of 6,000 rubles.
2. Hairdryer (2 pcs.) for RUB 3,600.
3. Grooming table (2 pcs.) priced at RUB 10,000.
4. Email trimming machine (2 pcs.) priced at RUB 3,500.

Calculation of the cost of fixed assets and depreciation

Staff

Calculation of fixed costs

Cost of consumable products

Minimizing risks

The work of a grooming salon is influenced by a number of external factors. They can be both positive and negative. The main points that can negatively affect the activities of the establishment:

• Lack of control over the remaining consumables. This can directly impact customer satisfaction. If there is not enough shampoo for his pet or shoe covers for himself, most likely he will not return again and will not recommend the salon to his friends.
• The staff's careless attitude towards their work. This factor can arise in the absence of motivation or due to personal reasons.
• The stated level of professionalism of the craftsmen does not correspond to reality.
• Bad weather conditions. They can have both a bad effect on attendance (the owner will be too lazy to take the pet to the salon) and a good effect (a dirty animal requires care).
• Dissatisfaction with the service or range of services on the part of the client.

To reduce the identified risks to a minimum, a number of measures must be taken:

• Personnel selection is carried out with a trial period in order to identify shortcomings and make a final decision before official employment.
• Take a responsible approach to the issue of staff motivation. Encourage employees not only with material benefits, but also with intangible ones: praise, approval, corporate parties, certificates for work, friendly attitude.
• Introduce daily monitoring of consumable balances. This function is assigned to the administrator-seller, who is entrusted with purchasing if necessary.
• Conduct regular surveys among visitors regarding the quality of services, their range and overall satisfaction.
• Provide for days with lower attendance and introduce additional promotions for them.

The influence is often exerted by the state or the population itself. These could be new laws regarding animal care, inflation, rising prices for rent or utilities, or a decline in the general economic situation in the city. In this case, it will be almost impossible to influence the results of your activities. You will have to change your job profile or sell your business.

Eventually

The analysis and calculations showed that a grooming salon in a large city is an interesting and profitable project. Its profitability in the first stages will be 34.7% and can be increased in the future by expanding the range of services and slightly increasing prices. Now they are at a level lower than their competitors in order to attract their first customers. An initial investment of 608 thousand rubles will pay off in 6 months if the net profit is directed only to completing this task. Taking into account the error, this period can be increased to one and a half years.

Having chosen a successful premises for a grooming salon, you need to pay great attention to the selection of personnel. It may be worth contacting specialized training centers for new personnel - there will be an opportunity to receive detailed feedback about each applicant with examples of work. It is planned to motivate the formed team with bonus payments and pleasant non-material bonuses. Much attention will be paid to advertising, in particular, promotion on the Internet and distribution of leaflets in park areas, where the salon’s target audience spends a lot of time.