Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/158781
COURTESY OF BARK 'N' BEAN I n 2004, John Mutlu's brother Joe approached him with the to grow to at least $55.53 billion this year, "There's no arguing idea of opening a dog wash in Annapolis, Md. "Those were that this industry continues to grow," says Andrew Darmohraj, starting to come to the East Coast, but I didn't see the poten- APPA senior vice president and trade show director. tial in doing just a dog wash," John recalls. What's particularly interesting about the recent survey on pet Not deterred, his brother then suggested opening a coffee shop. spending is that the largest percentage growth within the indus"It was that simple question—'Why can't you get a cup of coffee try is the pet services category, which grew almost 10 percent in with your dog?'—that inspired me," John says. So he decided to 2012 over 2011. "Increased high-end grooming services are fuelinstead open a dog wash and coffee shop. ing new growth in the high-income end of the category," explains While the idea was simple, the implementation was any- Bob Vetere, president and CEO of APPA. "We are noticing several thing but: The health-code challenge of pairing foodservice and trends contributing to the growth of the industry. These trends animals led to a yearlong opening process. He hired a design engineer who had worked on the National Institute of Health's headquarters to design his shop, and it went through four full designs before it was approved. "As far as dealing with the health department, it took some convincing," Mutlu says. "Everyone went, 'It's a neat idea, but it's safer to say no,' and we had to work with the city, county and state levels of health departments." He persevered, and when Bark 'n' Bean (first named Muddy Paws Wash) opened in spring 2005, it became the first dogwash-and- coffee- shop business in the country. "It's really struck a chord, and we have found our niche," Mutlu says. The FOR THE DOGS: Bark 'n' Bean in Annapolis, Md., appeals to its target demographic by being located across the shop has been busy ever street from a dog park. since—Mutlu says some customers drive more than an hour to visit—and a handful of include the positive impact of pet ownership on human health, other dog-wash/café combination businesses have opened in the which we expect to continue to fuel pet industry sales for years to ensuing years. come. And as the pet industry proves to be 'recession resistant,' we're confident that this upward trend in spending will endure." While there's definitely a market for coffee-drinking, dogTHE PRIMED PET MARKET washing customers, mixing such different businesses presents One of the reasons such an unusual coffee business works is some unique challenges. "When you're combining two disparate that the pet market is growing, with 56.7 million U.S. households business ideas, you have to make sure that the customer for one owning at least one dog. According to the American Pet Products business is also a customer for the other," says Dr. Alex Stewart, Association (APPA), overall spending in the pet industry rose to professor and Coleman Chair in Entrepreneurship at Marquette an all-time high of $53.33 billion in 2012. That's a 4.7 percent University's College of Business Administration. "Your customer increase from $50.96 billion in 2011 and is also up from $43.22 is part of the product in that type of place." billion in 2008 and $32.4 billion in 2003. The number is expected As such, a coffee shop/dog wash is suited to an independent continued on page 46 freshcup.com September 2013 45