How Scoop Soldiers Unique Enhanced Territory Opportunity Accelerates Franchisee Growth

Scoop Soldiers, the 35-plus-unit pet waste removal franchise, has always aimed to provide franchisees with in-depth support in every aspect of the business, whether it be billing and invoicing, lead generation or marketing assistance. As part of that mission, Scoop Soldiers recently rolled out an innovative enhanced territory opportunity, which grants incoming franchisees access to a previously established market that has already been built out by the corporate team. Now, that unique model is proving to accelerate franchisee growth across the board.

“This is a concept that is pretty rare in the service-based industry,” said VP of Franchise Development Scott Oaks. “Basically, there are two paths to Scoop Soldiers business ownership. One is the more traditional startup path, building up a business from scratch, and the other way is through an enhanced territory — converting an existing corporate market into a franchise-owned market.”

By converting one of these locations into a franchise through an enhanced territory, new Scoop Soldiers franchisees can leverage an existing infrastructure that allows them to see a quicker return on investment and avoid the typically slower and time-consuming challenges that come with entering any new market for the first time.

“We are spending money on marketing, building customer bases, establishing teams,” said Oaks. “That is how Scoop Soldiers was originally founded — we ran the operations ourselves before we started to franchise. Our corporate operations are where we test everything so we don’t have to run new programs through our franchisees as guinea pigs. We can test it out ourselves and make sure the idea is fully baked before going systemwide. This also gives us the opportunity to evaluate the market before the franchisees come in, proving out our business model in different geographies and climates.”

Currently, Scoop Soldiers has 12 corporate operations across the country, including territories in Georgia, Colorado, Oklahoma City, Florida, North Carolina and Texas. All of these, Oaks says, are available to convert via the enhanced territory program.

“If a candidate is looking to bring Scoop Soldiers to Oklahoma City, for example, we can look at how many clients are already in the territory and convert the business into a franchise for an additional charge per client, along with the typical franchise fee and the other start-up costs,” said Oaks. “If there is a significant amount of customers, we can waive traditional marketing spend and also give them the option to hire employees in the area and acquire the vehicles in the area. This is really a hybrid of a start-up and the purchase of an existing business, which is why it is called an enhanced territory.”

And this enhanced territory model isn’t just a theory. The brand has already proven it out in markets across the country. John Armoufi and Ron Battaglia, for example, originally signed on as Scoop Soldiers' first franchisees in 2019, opening two territories of the pet waste removal franchise in the Dallas area. From there, they went on to invest in two additional enhanced territories in Dallas. Now, after seeing the quick scalability of that model, they are already expanding into Tampa with another enhanced territory.

“When Ron and John started seeing how successful they were becoming with their original locations, they were eager to expand,” said Oaks. “They came in and bought two territories in the greater Dallas area that were enhanced territories, and now they are bringing the brand to Tampa.”

For franchisee candidates looking to follow that path, Oaks says the operations team will be with them every step of the way. “We are very involved with franchisees going through the transitioning process,” he said. “If the new franchisee decides to hire the current employees, for example, there are a lot of steps on the backend that come with that and our support is part of the investment.”

Looking ahead, Scoop Soldiers is planning to target another 30 additional franchise territories, not only in established corporate markets, but also brand new markets as well, including Seattle, D.C., North Carolina and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Overall, Oaks says the Scoop Soldiers enhanced territory model isn’t just a way for new franchisees to get started with the business, it is also a way to ensure scalability long down the road.

“Many candidates want to find existing businesses that can provide them with immediate revenue,” said Oaks. “When an enhanced territory comes along, they can see the amount of revenue they are going to drive, which also allows them to determine their best course of action for the future. Now, perhaps they can buy two territories and build those themselves, while relying on that established revenue coming in from the enhanced territory to leave their current job. It allows you to really dip your toe in the water. Our goal is to give those options so we can open up this great franchise opportunity to more people and help them achieve their entrepreneurial dreams.”

The total cost to invest in Scoop Soldiers ranges from $61,300 to $111,300 per territory. To learn more about franchising with Scoop Soldiers, visit https://scoopsoldiersfranchise.com/.