How This Family Business Went from Bankruptcy to Becoming a National Franchise

JDog Brands, the home services franchisor behind both JDog Junk Removal & Hauling and JDog Carpet Cleaning & Floor Care, was created in 2012 with a unique mission to help Veterans achieve the American dream of entrepreneurship by creating a clear path to successful business ownership. Today, JDog Brands has grown to feature over 260 Veteran-owned franchise locations across the United States.

The JDog Brands story is one of family, first-and-foremost, with the Flanagans sticking together to follow their passion and grow the brand. Now, the Flanagans’ family-oriented mission has translated into an even larger, nationwide family of passionate and community-driven Veteran franchise owners helping bring the JDog name to every zip code in the country.

The Story of JDog

Jerry Flanagan, the founder and CEO of JDog Brands, served four years in the military prior to joining the business world, including two years of active duty in the Army and two years in the National Guard. When he returned home, Jerry worked in the retail sector for about 20 years. Jerry and his wife Tracy decided to follow their entrepreneurial dreams and start a retail business in 2006. Tracy, co-founder and senior vice president of JDog Brands, came from a background in the medical field and retail business ownership prior to starting the company with her husband.

“Jerry couldn’t really find a job interview, and everything that was available was way below his qualifications,” said Tracy. “They wouldn’t hire him because he decided to serve his country instead of getting a degree. We knew we could take the entrepreneurial route, and we worked together, hand-in-hand and side-by-side, to make it work.”

America is home to 19 million military Veterans, an alarming 6.5% of whom are unemployed. The military encourages a lifestyle of honor, courage and service, which can unfortunately be the opposite of many modern work environments. That is why many Veterans — particularly those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders — may find it jarring when trying to relate to civilian coworkers or find fulfilling work post-service.

The Flanagans’ original business was a concept that sold children’s swing sets by hosting birthday and pizza parties. Unfortunately, the Great Recession hit shortly thereafter and forced them to declare bankruptcy. Fueled by this experience and the support of his family, Jerry didn’t give up — he set out to design a recession-proof company that could provide lucrative work opportunities that aligned with the skills, needs and values of Veterans.

Jerry decided on the junk hauling industry. “I was looking for work, and I didn’t want to get burned by another economic downturn, so I googled ‘recession-proof industries,’ and waste management was one of the results,” Jerry explained. “I had a Jeep and a trailer, so I figured junk removal was something I could get into pretty easily.

When Jerry came to her with the idea for JDog, Tracy helped him with everything, including hauling junk during the very first job. Right away, Tracy could tell the business was catching on as a welcoming space for Veterans and a trusted brand in their local community. She was the one who originally introduced the idea of franchising.

“The customers started to recognize our professionalism — we branded ourselves as Veteran-owned, and it was clear people wanted to know they were supporting Veterans,” said Tracy. “As we got our business off the ground, we started to see more and more Veterans struggling to find employment. I looked at Jerry and said we had to franchise the concept. Wouldn’t it be great to have a Veteran come into this business model and control their own destiny? This is a simple business model: I have the back-office covered, and Jerry can train in the field. It's not rocket science, it's junk removal. I knew we had something.”

The Flanagans designed the JDog Brands business model with several Veteran-centric benefits in mind, including low startup costs without the need for inventory or retail space, a proven and operationalized business model that taps into the common skills developed during service and the opportunity to leverage a community of supportive and like-minded Veterans. The company also launched a second concept, JDog Carpet Cleaning & Floor Care, to expand the brand’s offerings and provide another concept Veterans could invest in.

“Overall, first-time Veteran franchisees don’t need any specific industry experience in junk removal or even business ownership to thrive with JDog,” said Jerry. “Instead, owners need to connect with JDog’s core values of respect, integrity and trust — three staples of the military lifestyle.”

That Veteran-exclusive franchise model proved to be a hit. Since franchising in 2012, the brand has expanded to include 262 franchises and has built an infrastructure that allows the affordable business to succeed in any market across the country.

A Family Affair

Even though the brand is now a nationally recognized franchise, Tracy says the family-owned spirit of JDog Brands remains strong to this day. “We have several franchise owners who are building this business as husband-and-wife teams, just like Jerry and I did,” she said. “By only hiring Veterans and military family members, we’ve been able to maintain a tight-knit community of families working together to build their own JDog businesses.”

And that community includes several generations of Flanagans as well. Jerry’s nephew Steve, for example, opened his own JDog location in Pennsylvania alongside his father (Jerry’s brother) in 2020. “I’ve been around JDog since the beginning — I’ve seen it grow from just an idea my uncle had to where it is now,” Steven said. “I love that family-owned aspect of the business.”

Steven wasn’t the only youngster driving around with Jerry during the early days of JDog. Cora Flanagan, the daughter of Jerry and Tracy, has also been surrounded by the brand since she was a pre-teen.

“The company started around the time I was 11 or 12, and every Saturday my dad would take me out on jobs. I'd help with my sister and my cousin,” said Cora. “It was a great experience to have all the family together every Saturday, It didn’t really feel like work at the time. It was great to see what started off as a small, family-owned business grow into a large, national business.”

Today, as JDog’s marketing coordinator, Cora helps oversee all communication between franchisees and the corporate team, including the planning of grand openings, ramping up businesses and handling marketing requests.

“Franchisees tell me all the time about how much easier JDog makes it to transition to civilian life,” said Cora. “A lot of our franchisees say it is like a family at our corporate headquarters, and being part of that supportive environment is so great. All of our staff want all of our franchisees to succeed, and we are all looking to grow the company together.”

Now, with an estimated 200,000 Veterans transitioning out of the military every year, the Flanagans say they are excited to continue building the JDog Brands family.

“Our goal has always been to lower the Veteran unemployment below 1% and open a JDog in every zip code,” said Tracy. “We are really looking to close the civilian-military divide in the country. We seek to hire military Veterans and family members, while also giving civilians a chance to support those who have served their country. Being able to achieve that mission as a family has really been the most rewarding aspect of this journey so far.”

The total investment necessary to begin operation of a JDog Junk Removal & Hauling ranges from $30,000 to $110,000, including a $35,000 franchise fee. For more information on franchising with JDog Brands, visit: https://www.jdogbrands.com/.