Hounds Town USA Hires New C-Suite Executive To Support Growth

Rob Flanagan is a bit of a renaissance man when it comes to franchising. He has decades of experience growing emerging brands into top-of-class franchises with international reach and does so by creating positive relationships between franchisor and franchisee.

Hounds Town USA, the 20-plus-unit doggie daycare franchise, home to the happiest dogs and franchise owners on earth, has already signed 34 new units this year, breaking into five new states. Flanagan joined the Hounds Town USA team in June of 2021 as COO to help the brand grow nationwide and increase profitability with a pragmatic and strategy-driven approach.

1851 spoke with Flanagan about how he came to Hounds Town USA and what the future holds for the brand.

1851 Franchise: Tell us how you joined the Hounds Town team.

Rob Flanagan: I’ve been in franchising for 20 years, mostly working with emerging, founder-led franchise brands. I worked with Jackie Bondanza [CEO of Hounds Town USA] for a few years as a consultant, helping answer questions and providing general guidance. The Hounds Town USA brand is growing incredibly fast, so Jackie reached out to me about coming on board, and the rest is history.

Both Mike [Founder of Hounds Town USA] and Jackie recognized the opportunity and the need to build up the corporate team. In order to take things to the next level, the brand has to have a core group of people who resonate with the culture and have franchise experience to help support the franchise owners.

1851: What about your previous experience, in particular, do you think will be helpful in your new role?

Flanagan: My relationship with the founder is a huge asset. Not only do I better understand what their vision is, but I also understand how that vision fits within the growing franchise business. For a founder, franchising is a growth strategy. Identifying what the core characteristics of a brand are is essential because although many things will evolve, the heart of a business should never change. So, the fact that I have that background experience with Hounds Town means I can better protect that and continue to grow the brand effectively.

1851: What are you most excited about in your new role as COO?

Flanagan: The core unit economics of the brand are incredibly strong. To be partnered with a brand that has this foundation in place is really exciting for me. It frees me up to focus on other things like improving our systems, generating and maintaining relationships with franchisees and increasing profitability. Often, with an emerging brand, you’re spending a lot of time building those things, but Hounds Town USA has no tweaking needed. It already has solid marketing and operations systems, and doors are opening regularly.

1851: What are the biggest challenges the brand, and the industry as a whole, is currently facing?

Flanagan: There is nothing Hounds Town-specific. There are economy-wide challenges with real estate, supply chains and construction timelines that are causing some ripples at the moment. But we’re already making adjustments to get around these things such as approaching real estate brokers and construction firms to expedite processes as much as possible. It’s an executive’s job to read the tea leaves, so I need to anticipate these challenges early and clear the path for Hounds Town to tackle them effectively.

1851: Looking forward, what are Hounds Town’s biggest opportunities?

Flanagan: The sky's the limit. Hounds Town has a much stronger return on investment than our competitors, which gives us a tremendous advantage when it comes to franchise development. There are a lot of factors we’ll be watching over the next 12 months, such as changes to the supply chain and an overall increase in demand in daycare needs, that will help raise the average check and help franchisees increase their ROI even more.

1851: What are your overall goals with the brand? Where would you like to see things a year from now?

Flanagan: The ultimate goal is that 10 years from now, every dog in America has access to a Hounds Town location. Within three years, I see us being at 100 locations, and we are well on our way to hitting that target. Beyond that, I’m motivated by our franchisees’ overall feeling of success.

Franchisees are recognizing their dreams with Hounds Town, and it’s our obligation to help them continue to do that. My personal goal is to make it so that when a franchise agreement is up for renewal, that franchisee has two great options. They can either sell the business for a great return, or they can renew and continue to have positive cash flow coming in.

Right now, our pipeline is absolutely bursting with prospective franchisees. It’s a great indicator that our unit economics are strong, and our franchisee validation is through the roof. Some markets are already selling out, which is very exciting for everybody involved.