It was a typical Saturday morning back in 2006 as Dr. Sam Meisler sat reading the New York Times in bed with his morning coffee. “In fact,” Dr. Meisler recalled, “it was my wife who turned to me and showed me an article on the Walgreen’s Take Care Clinics and asked me why couldn’t we do that for veterinary care?”
At the time, it seemed there were plenty of reasons for why it wouldn’t work. Vet clinics needed large footprints and carried high overhead costs for staffing and equipment. They couldn’t easily fit into a strip mall.
But during a marketing class for his MBA at the University of Florida, Dr. Meisler read Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, the book that came to define PetWellClinic®’s franchise strategy. For his class, Dr. Meisler had to create a ‘Strategy Canvas’ to carve out a niche business. Applying a ‘Strategy Canvas’ to parts of the veterinary industry and specifically the attributes of a PetWellClinic® made sense to Dr. Meisler and further validated the idea.
“I envisioned a solution that would make primary veterinary care both affordable and accessible for dog and cat owners,” Dr. Meisler recalled.
Originally, Dr. Meisler intended to open up a clinic in 2009 that included preventive care, minor ailments care, and chronic condition management — the kinds of services that PetWellClinic® provides today. Opening such a clinic, however, would require the full cost of being open at least 5-6 days a week. Such a decision was not affordable at the time.
“No one would come to a clinic only open once a week for ear infections,” Dr. Meisler said. “So going with offering only items, like preventive care, that a pet owner could put off until the weekend was where we started.” Dr. Meisler opened the first PetWellClinic® in January 2010, working the clinic himself on Saturday afternoons after completing the morning shift at his traditional veterinary hospital.
PetWellClinic®, from its infancy, was built around the client. “I wanted it to be very focused on customer choice,” Dr. Meisler said of the clinic’s design. An innovative client flow involved pet owners picking what they wanted first by looking at an overhead pricing board, paying for it ahead of time at the counter, and then the veterinary team delivering it.
For such a different design to work, PetWellClinic needed their own veterinary software. They chose to create one from scratch and put it in the cloud. “No other veterinary management software company offered such a product at the time, so we created our own, and it was a disaster,” Dr. Meisler recalled. “The first program was completed by one of my MBA classmates, and it was unbelievably slow,” he continued.
Dr. Meisler, having a B.S. in physics from Harvey Mudd College , had some familiarity with software programming. After one more failed attempt with another software programming company, Meisler — using his own programming experience — created the first usable product in mid-2010 with the help of a third programmer out of Indiana, Stephen Doucette. By then, business was really picking up.
“Clients thanked us for just being there,” Dr. Meisler remarked. “It was all about efficiency. We had other professionals wondering how we could stay afloat paying the rent for the other six days we were closed.” But Dr. Meisler was not unfamiliar with people questioning his ideas and processes. “When I opened my traditional veterinary practice from scratch in 2004, colleagues couldn’t believe I would make the structure so open,” he recalls. “We had glass windows everywhere so clients could see what we were doing. One of my veterinarian friends even asked me, ‘Where can you hide from clients?’ My thoughts were, why would you want to? Pet owners see their pets as children and don’t want their child being taken into a back room to be worked on. They were only allowing it because in the past they had no choice.”
Dr. Meisler was always on the alert for ways to apply other business ideas to make his clinic more efficient. “I remember quizzing the Chick-fil-A employee in the drive thru where they purchased the iPad handles they use.” The first PetWellClinic® had lines of up to 30-40 people some Saturdays and pre-loading orders on an iPad made a lot of sense. “I eventually created an iPad check-in system so that pet owners could line up virtually. This made a lot of sense because dogs and cats do not understand the concept of an orderly line,” Dr. Meisler said.
In 2013, Dr. Meisler decided to go “all in” on his original concept of offering minor ailments and chronic condition management in addition to preventive care. The first PetWellClinic® location was going so well that he wanted to try the bigger concept as a separate identity. Learning from lessons the Great Recession had taught him, Dr. Meisler wanted to use sweat equity and bring in others to invest. He recognized that he had a great idea and in order to go big, he would need to bring in others — or so Dr. Meisler thought.
“Initially, it was difficult to explain the concept to investors” said Dr. Meisler. “I had to push back against doing dentals and surgeries. I had to explain why we don’t answer the phone. I had to explain the open concept. I firmly believed that you need to base your business on some principle, some idea, some concept — and then stick to that framework as you grow. Otherwise, your business is just an amoeba branching out in so many ways that it is difficult for customers to know what or who you are and connect with your business.”
Dr. Meisler stuck to his principles. By 2019, the original PetWellClinic® location in Knoxville, TN had an annual revenue of $1 million, and the brand had three affiliate locations. But Dr. Meisler saw the potential to reach an even bigger audience through franchising.
The franchise model is a relatively new concept in the veterinary world, but it’s quickly gaining traction. For veterinarians, opening a PetWellClinic® location offers a significantly lower initial financial investment and a more predictable work schedule. For entrepreneurs, the proven PetWellClinic® model creates a semi-passive operation entrenched in the growing pet care and wellness vertical.
“Our entire team is dedicated to providing excellent wellness, preventative, and sick care for dogs and cats on an on-demand basis. There is no need for pet owners to make an appointment, and our technology, design, and operational systems provide customers with a modern-day experience in an antiquated industry,” Dr. Meisler said.
As a future franchise partner, you have the opportunity to bring this innovative approach to vet care to your very own community.
The PetWellClinic® system has been tested and fine-tuned for more than 10 years. We provide initial training and ongoing support to our franchise owners. Whether you’re a seasoned business professional or a veterinarian seeking a better work-life balance, if you’re interested in learning more, complete a franchisee application to set up a no-obligation introductory call with a Franchise Support Specialist.
Apply for your PetWellClinic® franchise today!
Join the nation’s fast-growing franchise opportunity for walk-in pet care clinics. PetWellClinic® is actively seeking applications from veterinarians and business operators passionate about making pet wellness care affordable and accessible.
PetWellClinic® is dedicated to being here for pet owners. We have locations and services built with convenience in mind. No appointment necessary.