Wild Birds Unlimited vs Just Dogs! Gourmet Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of Wild Birds Unlimited vs Just Dogs! Gourmet including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees
	Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise	Just Dogs! Gourmet Franchise
Investment	$170,382 - $281,606	$75,000 - $125,000
Franchise Fee	$30,000	$25,000
Royalty Fee	4%	3%
Advertising Fee	1%	-
Year Founded	1981	2001
Year Franchised	1983	2003
Term Of Agreement	10 years	10 years
Term Of Agreement	10 years	10 years
Renewal Fee	-	$2.5K
Business Experience Requirements
	Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise	Just Dogs! Gourmet Franchise
Experience	* Enthusiastic about nature and backyard bird feeding * Interested in owning your own business and working for yourself * Willing to work with others who share the same interests * Committed to building a Business Enterprise Committed to delivering the ultimate WBU customer experience Committed to following WBU 'Best Practices' to operate your own WBU store *Comfortable with the needs associated with running a business	-
Financing Options
	Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise	Just Dogs! Gourmet Franchise
	In-House/3rd Party	In-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees	No/Yes	No/No
Start-up Costs	No/Yes	No/No
Equipment	No/Yes	No/Yes
Inventory	No/Yes	No/Yes
Receivables	No/No	No/No
Payroll	No/No	No/No
Training & Support
	Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise	Just Dogs! Gourmet Franchise
Training	On-The-Job Training: 40 hours Classroom Training: 40 hours Additional Training: Ongoing	Our qualified field staff will be there during store construction, set-up and your Grand Opening to make sure your staff is fully trained to do it the Just Dogs! Gourmet way. Home Office Business Training Bakery and Treat Decoration Training Store Operations Training Just Dogs! Administration System Point of Sale (POS) Systems Training
Support	Purchasing Co-ops Newsletter Meetings/Conventions Toll-Free Line Grand Opening Online Support Security/Safety Procedures Field Operations Site Selection Proprietary Software Franchisee Intranet Platform	Newsletter, Meetings, Toll-free phone line, Grand opening, Internet, Security/safety procedures, Field operations/evaluations, Purchasing cooperatives
Marketing	Ad Templates National Media Regional Advertising Social media SEO Website development Email marketing Loyalty program/app	Ad slicks, Regional advertising
Operations	25% of all franchisees own more than one unit Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 4 Absentee ownership of franchise is NOT allowed. (100% of current franchisees are owner/operators)	Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 4 - 6 Absentee ownership of franchise is allowed. (100% of current franchisees are owner/operators)
Expansion Plans
	Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise	Just Dogs! Gourmet Franchise
US Expansion	Yes	-
Canada Expansion	Yes	No
International Expansion	Yes	Yes

Company Overviews

About Wild Birds Unlimited

Jim Carpenter opened the first Wild Birds Unlimited store in Indianapolis in 1981. In 1983 he began franchising. The privately owned company is based in Carmel, Indiana. Each store sells bird-feeding and bird-watching supplies, including birdhouses, feeders, food and binoculars.

We support you all the way:

Rated #1 or #2 in Retail for Franchisee Satisfaction for 14 years
Rated in Top 10 Overall for Franchisee Satisfaction for more than 6 years
Proven, 35+ year business model
Our pre-opening support covers business planning, site selection, lease negotiations, classroom and in-store training, store design and layout
Our on-going support includes marketing, merchandising and purchasing, store operations, nature and hobby education, financial and information systems
Strong customer loyalty by providing an exceptional customer experience and the highest quality bird food and bird feeding products in the industry
Many US and Canadian markets are still available for development

The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Wild Birds Unlimited Store is from $170,382 to $281,606 for a new franchisee ($145,382 to $256,606 for an existing franchisee who is purchasing an additional Wild Birds Unlimited franchise). This includes an amount of $52,860 - $54,260 that must be paid to the franchisor by a new franchisee (or $27,860 - $29,260 by any existing franchisee).