Let’s make sure we cover the basics before we start throwing numbers at you.

Revenue = the money generated from normal business operations, calculated as the average sales price times the number of units sold. In the grooming world, it’s average grooming price times the number of dogs groomed plus tips, add-ons, other services, etc.

You get the gist.

According to the data, a typical grooming salon does around $300,000 to $500,000 in revenue per year.

• Max: $2,484,232

• Top 75%: $640,471

• Average: $489,959

• Median: $346,011

• Bottom 25%: $187,750

• Min: $19,824

The top response did nearly $2.5M a year in revenue. I must add that although they do offer grooming, they also offer pet boarding which usually is a more lucrative service so we’ll take that with a grain of salt.

It’s important to note that most salons who took part in this survey have 5-6 employees so use that as a reference when viewing these survey results.

“But Alex, if I had a large team of groomers, I’d make more money too.”

But…. when you have more groomers on your staff, your expenses are higher and your net profit will decrease. (Revenue - Expenses = Profit)

This brings us to our next metric - profit!

This is the number that salon owners really care about because any profit a salon generates goes to its owners usually at the end of the year.

According to the data, a typical grooming salon does around $100,000 to $120,000 in profit per year with a 28-33% profit margin. (profit divided by revenue equals profit margin)

• Max: $530,000

• Top 75%: $146,837

• Average: $119,052

• Median: $100,000

• Bottom 25%: $59,044

• Min: $0 or unprofitable

Profit margin is a better apples to apples benchmark since it’s calculated as a ratio to your business revenue of what’s left after all of your expenses.

If your falls below the 28-33% profit margin range, they’re probably ways to optimize your business’s profitability such as:

• charging more per service

• selling add-on’s

• grooming more dogs

• reviewing groomers’ pay and commission structure

• optimizing your grooming team’s utilization

• streamlining operations with software

• renegotiating your lease, van or real estate arrangements

• monitor spending on supplies and salon materials

Anything that affects the inflows or outflows of cash in your business could be something to look at.

We will turn this deep dive into a full comprehensive report only shared with FB group members so make sure you join to get a copy when it’s released.

If you want to learn about the economics of running a dog salon, check out our podcast episode with Jesse Coslov who has built 25+ salons under The Dog Stop franchise → From Flagship to Franchise with Jesse Coslov

Alright, that’s enough with the numbers. I need a nap, have a Happy New Year everybody!!