Snobby Dogs eyes nationwide expansion

Entrepreneur Katie Anderson hopes to create a nationwide chain of pooch parlours after her first venture proved its pedigree.

Katie set up the Snobby Dogs Grooming Parlour, in Woodley, Stockport, in 2009 and has just sold her first franchise.

The business has been crowned grooming business of the year at the Pet Care Trade Association Pet Industry Awards.

Now, Katie wants to build on that success by finding more franchisees across the country.

The former legal executive said: “We hope this is the start of a chain of grooming businesses in the UK and would love to sign up more franchisees, but it all depends on finding exactly the right people. They have to be great with people as well as loving dogs.”

Katie was inspired to start the business after being disappointed with other grooming parlours. She said: “My dog Noodle and I grew up together and my experience with groomers wasn’t always great.

“It can be quite stressful for dogs to be groomed, but we do everything by hand with no cages and an outside area for them to have a run around. It make the whole grooming experience much more relaxing.”

Snobby Dogs also offers day care, cat grooming, a mobile grooming service and home-made natural pet treats.

It even offers nail varnishing and hair tinting for dogs, which has proved popular on Manchester derby days with City and United fans dying their dogs red or blue to show their allegiances. Turnover has almost tripled the the firm’s first three years and it now employs four staff.

The Stockport salon has just been extended, which increased capacity from 90 to 140 dogs a week, cutting customer waiting times in half from three weeks to a week and a half.

Snobby Dogs also offers dog grooming training courses, and it was through one such course that Katie recruited her first franchisee.

Pamela Dobson initially signed up to attend the course, but was so impressed with the business she decided to invest in her own outlet.