We’re excited to welcome a brand new member of our Hounds Town doggie daycare franchise family- meet our new Franchise Owner, Michael DeMatteo! Michael’s Dutchess County, NY Hounds Town facility is slated to open in 2021, and we’re already looking forward to celebrating his success!
Raised in Orange County, NY, Michael DeMatteo knew he wanted to get into the professional field of finance thanks to watching the success of his parents – two entrepreneurs who built a two-person investment advisory that as of today employs more than 15 people and “has nearly a billion dollars under management.”
From the age of six, Michael watched his parents run their business. Seeing their hard work reap major rewards had a profound effect on DeMatteo, who said it “instilled the entrepreneurial spirit in me at a young age.” He went to college with the hopes of pursuing a similar field to his parents and studied finance, economics, and Russian at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
“I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I was born into a family of entrepreneurs and have always wanted to emulate what I grew up seeing. It is the only way to be truly in control of your own financial fate,” DeMatteo states. “This comes with a lot of responsibility, but if done with care and planning can be all the more rewarding.”
Since graduating, DeMatteo has been working in the role of financial advisor and analyst in New York’s Orange and Westchester counties. He is now taking his expertise out of the financial services industry and into the franchise universe – and joining the Hounds Town USA family.
Choosing to become a Franchise Owner aligns well with DeMatteo’s existing skills and expertise. Over the course of his career, DeMatteo states that he has “handled payroll, billing, HR, and had a book of business of over 200 clients,” – all skills he believes will be key in helping him to run his own Hounds Town.
Doggie daycare was already the industry that DeMatteo had decided upon entering before he landed at Hounds Town. He discovered us through searching the internet and comparing different doggie daycare franchise opportunities within the industry, ultimately deciding that Hounds Town stood out as the best in his eyes.
“Hounds Town has a proven system that allows you to achieve success if you simply follow the system they’ve put in place and trust the process. This is exactly what I was looking for in a franchise and what others should as well.,” DeMatteo said. “Hounds Town is big on keeping things simple and not complicating things for no reason. This really aligns with the way I try to operate in my current role, making it a great fit for me.”
When it comes to animals, dogs and cats “mean the world” to DeMatteo and he says that “they truly are members of my family.” Aside from hiking, hitting the gym, and playing basketball, DeMatteo’s main hobby is spending time with his wife and pets – a dog named Russell and a cat named Sebastian.
In fact, part of what sets Hounds Town USA apart from other franchises in DeMatteo’s eyes is the fact that there is no breed discrimination, which he says is “a huge deal to many owners” within the dog community. He additionally praises Hounds Town’s practice of grouping animals based on temperament and views Hounds Town Founder Mike Gould as a “bona fide dog expert” that “really had me buy into the systems Hounds Town had in place.”
After engaging in our Franchise Education Process with Hounds Town’s Director of Franchise Development, Rob Taylor, the choice became clear for DeMatteo and his wife that this was the right doggie daycare franchise for them. They later met Mike Gould, along with Hounds Town President Jackie Bondanza during a Hounds Town Discovery Day.
“The thing I like most is the one-stop-shop aspect of the business model,” says DeMatteo. Mike and Jackie have created a place where customers can come and have all their needs met. This in turn creates multiple revenue streams.”
The point of entry for investment in our doggie daycare franchise was another major factor in DeMatteo’s decision to franchise with Hounds Town. “I also really like the low-cost aspect of Hounds Town,” he says. “They allow Franchise Owners to control costs while still building beautiful spaces.”
DeMatteo reminisces on Discovery Day as being one of his best experiences with the Hounds Town USA team so far. He states that it was “a really great experience between getting to meet Mike, Jackie, Corey and Korrine and also seeing four different locations and meeting their respective Owners.”
“It was our first in-person introduction to Hounds Town and they were all great. In addition to that, since officially becoming a Franchise Owner, it has been great to see that corporate shares my motivation to get the ball rolling and get started,” DeMatteo says. “Within days [Operations Manager] Korrine [Deignan] had put me in touch with everyone I needed to speak to and got me set up in their system. It was great to see how organized and efficient corporate is.”
With the combination of his existing skills and expertise paired with the Hounds Town business model and structure, DeMatteo believes that he will be successful as a Franchise Owner and looks forward to opening his Hounds Town USA franchise.
“I am very much ready to transition out of the financial services industry and am excited for Hounds Town to be my new passion. It really feels like something I can go to do each day and be fulfilled by, which I cannot wait for,” DeMatteo stated. “I am also really looking forward to going to work each day and being around like-minded people whose goals are to provide care for the animals who walk through our doors.”
As a new Franchise Owner, DeMatteo considers research to be the most important thing other potential Franchise Owners can do. The two factors he said should be researched first and foremost are whether a franchise is a good financial fit for you and whether the franchise shares a similar philosophical mindset about management with you.
“In my case, these were both easy to figure out as both Mike and Jackie were extremely transparent the whole time and have a family-oriented environment that shows how much they care about their brand and the continued success of their [Franchise Owners],” DeMatteo says.
Here at Hounds Town USA, we are happy to welcome Michael DeMatteo, his wife, and their furry family to our doggie daycare franchise family. We look forward to seeing his location open and begin thriving and wish him an abundance of luck and success!
If you are interested in becoming a Hounds Town Franchise Owner, please visit our website to learn more about owning a doggie daycare franchise and stay in touch through social media! Like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest Hounds Town USA news!