However, if you run the largest full-service Pet Franchise in the UK, you have every reason to feel that way.

The company is owned and run by former lawyer Jo White who founded the business in 2008 and her husband, animal expert Ryan, who she married in 2017. 

We Love Pets has 112 individually selected franchisees who own and run branches of the brand in 187 locations across the UK, caring for all pets from cats and dogs to guinea pigs and reptiles.

The highly successful franchise, a member of the BFA (British Franchise Association), awards on average 20 new franchisees a year with none (who adhere to the operational model) failing. We Love Pets counts a veterinary surgeon amongst their 10 members of staff, who advises on policies, guidelines and runs in-house workshops for franchisees. Before opening, all franchisees must complete a CPD training course in pet care, through the company's own training company, Novabright.

The franchise has just revealed the results of their first anonymous franchisee survey which 84 (75%) of their 112 franchisees responded to, comparing favourably to an approximate industry standard response rate of 30%.

Alongside questions such as ‘what areas of the business do you think we could improve upon' which required a ‘free text' response, franchisees also answered three benchmarking questions, which received the following responses:

  • 91% said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘I love being part of the We Love Pets Family.'
  • 90% said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘The We Love Pets culture is supportive, and I feel like part of a family.'
  • 88% said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘If I need help, I know where to get it.'

Action points taken from feedback included: enhanced engagement for year one franchisees, more educational webinars, increased updates on technology issues, new monthly insight updates and ceasing the production of the monthly newsletter.

Matt Davey, director of strategy and operations said: "We are very pleased with the results of this anonymous survey, which has given our network a voice and created a space for total honesty. Surveys are not just about identifying what we do brilliantly but also hearing about the things we need to pay more attention to and not shying away from fixing them. We take a ‘co-creational' approach, a ‘you said, we did' stance, bringing the network into the equation on what we need to do. The survey also provides an important internal satisfaction benchmark that allows us to pull on a powerful data set and steer the ship in an ever-improving direction. We have shared the results with the network so there's total transparency about what we're going to improve, which in turn generates trust and honesty and encourages improved engagement as we move forward."

Tracey Alexander, franchise owner of We Love Pets Reading East who has owned her franchise for 10 years said: "I think the response and actions they have taken since the survey have been brilliant; they've clearly taken into account everything that people said. We Love Pets has always been a very supportive company where I've always felt able to raise any issues, I wouldn't still be here 10 years later if I didn't, but it's good to have the option for the network to give anonymous feedback."

Founder and co-owner Jo White said: "As the largest and most successful full-service pet care franchise in the UK, it is important that we monitor our network and the support we give them closely.  Naturally, we want to continually improve, which requires honest feedback to keep us on track. We decided to make this survey anonymous to encourage franchisees to be brutally honest, to get the feedback we need to help us make the right decisions based on data and facts."

She continued: "We're delighted to hear how happy our franchisees are to be part of the We Love Pets family and we've already begun addressing issues brought to our attention. 2024 is going to be a big year for us, with some exciting announcements due in the next few months and we look forward to taking We Love Pets to new heights with a fully engaged network in the very near future."

For more information about joining the largest and most successful full-service pet care franchise in the UK visit We Love Pets