The #1 Dog Grooming Franchisee in America - Jacob Lee

🎙️ Guest:
Jacob Horton, Multi-Unit Franchisee at Scenthound and Co-Founder of SBA Source

📍 Location:
Birmingham, AL & Nashville, TN

If you’re a multi-unit franchisee considering selling your locations, get in touch https://www.fdcapitalgroup.com/ 

Interested in buying a franchise? Reach out here: https://www.frandawgs.com/buy-a-franchise 

Jacob Horton went from PowerPoint presentations to puppy baths, and built the #1 Scenthound location in the country.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Why Jacob left nuclear engineering and consulting to dive into franchising
  
  
• The turning point that made him abandon a traditional acquisition search in favor of building a pet grooming empire
  
  
• How he evaluated over a dozen franchises before choosing Scenthound
  
  
• The systems he built to drive over 1,000+ active members at a single location
  
  
• What he’s learned from scaling to 6 stores (on the way to 20)
  
  
• How a homegrown call center and sales CRM became his unfair advantage
  
  
• His new startup: SBA Source, the software platform simplifying SBA loans for franchisees
  
  

Jacob’s business is proof that boring, recurring revenue models—paired with operational excellence—can create serious compounding growth.

• Opened 6 Scenthound locations in 3 years
  
  
• Averaging $185K in four-wall EBITDA per location
  
  
• Built a 5-person in-house sales team + call center
  
  
• Generated 1,000+ members at his top location
  
  
• Recently launched SBA Source to fix the broken SBA loan process
  

• SBA Source
• Jacob's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-lee-9803a480/ 

• [00:00] Jacob’s journey from nuclear engineering to franchising
  
  
• [06:00] Why he abandoned the ETA path
  
  
• [09:00] The business case for pet grooming (vs. daycare)
  
  
• [13:30] Building trust and loyalty through health-focused grooming
  
  
• [15:00] Opening a Scenthound: real estate, pre-sale, and staffing strategy
  
  
• [19:00] How many members to break even (and to thrive)
  
  
• [20:00] The secret weapon: a custom-built call center + CRM
  
  
• [27:00] Evolution of store ops: from 2 units to 6 and beyond
  
  
• [33:00] His labor strategy—and how he built the best grooming team in town
  
  
• [39:00] The playbook for local marketing + Facebook lead gen
  
  
• [44:00] Why he started SBA Source and how it works
  
  
• [54:00] His long-term goal: 20 stores + building a legacy