How to Value a Pet Care or Pet Services Business in 2026

Pet care is one of the most compelling sectors I've worked in over the past five years, and the M&A activity reflects it. What was once a fragmented collection of mom-and-pop groomers and boarding kennels has become a serious acquisition target for private equity and strategic consolidators. The underlying thesis is simple: Americans spent over $150 billion on their pets in 2025, that number grows every year, and it barely flinches during recessions.

Our transaction data is still building in this sector — we have 10 pet store transactions showing a median EBITDA multiple of 8.85x and a revenue multiple of 0.8x — but the real story is in the broader pet services market where grooming, boarding, daycare, and veterinary-adjacent services are attracting aggressive buyer interest and premium valuations.

The Pet Humanization Thesis

Every buyer looking at pet services right now is underwriting the same macro trend: the humanization of pets. Americans increasingly treat their dogs and cats as family members, spending on them accordingly. This isn't a fad — it's a generational shift driven by Millennials and Gen Z who are delaying children, working from home (and bonding more deeply with pets), and willing to spend on premium experiences for their animals.

What does this mean for valuation? It means pet services businesses benefit from secular tailwinds that buyers will pay a premium for. Unlike many consumer-facing businesses where growth requires stealing market share, pet services is growing because the addressable market itself is expanding. More pets, higher spending per pet, and rising willingness to pay for premium services.

I've watched this play out in real time. Five years ago, a pet grooming business was valued like a personal services company — 2-3x SDE. Today, well-run multi-location pet grooming businesses with recurring revenue are attracting 5-7x EBITDA from PE-backed platforms. The same business, the same services, but a fundamentally different buyer perception of the industry's growth trajectory.

Pet Services Sub-Sectors and How They're Valued

"Pet services" covers a wide range of businesses, and each sub-sector has different economics and different valuation drivers.

• Pet grooming: Recurring by nature (dogs need grooming every 4-8 weeks), labor-intensive, and constrained by the number of groomers you can hire. Grooming revenue is highly predictable — once a customer finds a groomer they trust, switching is rare. The bottleneck is always talent: skilled groomers are scarce, and turnover is the biggest operational risk.
• Pet boarding and daycare: The highest-growth sub-sector. Dog daycare memberships create recurring revenue that looks almost subscription-like. Monthly membership models with auto-billing can generate 50-70% of total revenue from recurring sources. Boarding (overnight stays) is seasonal and event-driven (holidays, summer) but high-margin.
• Pet training: Lower ticket but high margin. Training creates customer relationships that cross-sell into other services. Many successful multi-service pet businesses use training as a customer acquisition channel for daycare and grooming.
• Specialty pet retail: Independent pet stores are under pressure from Chewy, Amazon, and big-box retailers for commodity products. The survivors are specialty-focused: raw/fresh pet food, boutique accessories, and experiential retail that combines shopping with services (grooming, self-wash stations, puppy socialization).
• Veterinary-adjacent services: Pet rehabilitation, dental care, urgent care. These sit between standard pet services and veterinary practice and attract interest from both pet services consolidators and veterinary platforms like NVA and Mars.

Recurring Revenue: The Key to Premium Multiples

The single most important factor driving pet services valuations higher is the recurring revenue model. Businesses that have implemented membership or subscription programs — monthly daycare packages, grooming maintenance plans, wellness programs — trade at meaningful premiums over businesses selling individual services ad hoc.

I tell every pet services owner I work with: measure and maximize your recurring revenue percentage. A pet daycare with 60% of revenue from monthly memberships and 85% retention is a fundamentally different asset than one with 100% drop-in revenue. The membership business has predictable cash flow, lower customer acquisition costs, and better capacity utilization.

The math is straightforward. If your business does $1.5M in revenue with $300K EBITDA, a buyer might pay 5x EBITDA ($1.5M) for a drop-in model. That same business with 55% recurring membership revenue and 80%+ retention might command 7-8x EBITDA ($2.1-2.4M). The recurring revenue premium can represent $600K-$900K of additional enterprise value. That's not theoretical — I've seen these premiums in actual transactions.

Capacity Utilization and Unit Economics

Pet services businesses are capacity-constrained by physical space, and buyers analyze unit economics at the facility level with precision.

For daycare and boarding, the key metrics are: runs/kennels per facility, average daily census, peak-to-trough utilization, and revenue per square foot. A daycare running at 80%+ average utilization with a waitlist signals to buyers that the demand exists to support expansion — either extending hours, adding capacity at the existing location, or opening a second location.

For grooming, it's all about revenue per groomer per day and groomer utilization. A skilled groomer generates $300-600 per day depending on market and service mix. If your groomers are averaging $200/day with significant downtime, there's upside a buyer can capture through better scheduling and marketing.

Buyers love businesses where the unit economics are proven and the path to growth is clear. "We're at capacity and turning away customers" is the best possible sentence you can say in a management presentation.

The Consolidation Wave

Pet services is in the early-to-middle innings of a PE-driven consolidation wave. National Veterinary Associates (NVA), Mars Petcare, and several PE-backed platforms are actively acquiring pet services businesses across the country. This is similar to what happened in veterinary practice M&A over the past decade — fragmented industry, sticky local customer bases, recession-resistant demand, and clear synergy opportunities from scale.

For pet services business owners, this consolidation creates a favorable selling environment. Platform buyers pay 6-9x EBITDA for well-run multi-location operations. They're looking for businesses with strong local brands, proven unit economics, and management teams willing to stay on through a transition period.

Bolt-on acquisitions — single locations being acquired by an existing platform — trade at lower multiples (4-6x EBITDA) but the deals are simpler and faster to close. If you own a single-location pet services business with $200K+ EBITDA, you're an attractive bolt-on target for at least two or three active consolidators in your market.

What Hurts Pet Services Valuations

Owner dependency. If you are the head groomer, the face of the business, and the person every customer asks for by name, your business is worth significantly less than one with a strong management team. Buyers know that when the owner leaves, some customers leave too. Building a team of skilled groomers or facility managers who have their own client relationships is essential to de-risking the transition.

Labor fragility. Pet services lives and dies by its people. Skilled groomers, experienced kennel managers, and reliable caregivers are hard to find and hard to retain. If your staff turns over every 6-12 months, buyers will model higher recruiting and training costs and lower their offer. Investing in compensation, training, and workplace culture isn't just good management — it directly supports your valuation.

Facility risk. Leases matter. If you're in a facility with a short-term lease and no renewal options, buyers face the risk of losing the location entirely. A 10-year lease with favorable terms is a real asset. Additionally, facilities that are purpose-built or well-renovated for pet services (proper drainage, ventilation, soundproofing, separate play areas) command premiums over makeshift conversions.

No online presence or reviews. Pet services is a local, trust-based business. If you don't have 200+ Google reviews averaging 4.5+ stars, you're at a disadvantage relative to competitors who do. Buyers view your online reputation as an asset — or its absence as a risk.

The Franchise Question

Pet services has a growing franchise presence — Camp Bow Wow, Dogtopia, Wag Hotels, and others. If you're considering building a pet services business with an eventual exit in mind, the franchise vs. independent question is worth serious consideration.

Franchised pet services businesses benefit from brand recognition, proven systems, and potentially a built-in exit through the franchisor's resale network. But they also carry royalty fees (typically 6-8% of gross revenue) that reduce margins and a franchise agreement that limits your operational flexibility and buyer pool.

Independent pet services businesses have higher margins, more flexibility, and a broader buyer pool. But they need to build brand recognition from scratch and develop their own systems and processes. For single-location businesses, the franchise premium is modest. For multi-location operators, independence typically produces better exit outcomes because the buyer pool includes both PE platforms and strategic acquirers without franchise restrictions.

Maximizing Value Before a Sale

Implement membership programs. If you don't have a daycare membership or grooming maintenance plan, create one. Even converting 30% of existing customers to a recurring plan meaningfully improves your revenue predictability and valuation.

Build your team and reduce owner dependency. Hire and develop managers who can run the business without you. Cross-train groomers so no single person holds all the key client relationships.

Invest in your facility. Purpose-built or well-renovated facilities with webcams, climate control, separate play areas, and modern aesthetics signal professionalism that supports premium pricing and premium valuations.

Track and optimize unit economics. Know your revenue per groomer, revenue per square foot, average daily census, and customer acquisition cost. Buyers will ask for these numbers — having them organized demonstrates operational sophistication.

Build your online reputation. Systematically collect reviews, maintain active social media, and invest in local SEO. Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a buyer evaluates when assessing your local market position.

The Bottom Line

Pet services is a sector where the tailwinds are real, the consolidation opportunity is significant, and well-run businesses are commanding multiples that would have been unthinkable five years ago. The humanization of pets is not a trend that reverses — Americans are spending more on pet care every year, and the businesses that capture that spending through recurring relationships, professional facilities, and excellent service are positioned for premium exits.

The businesses I see commanding the highest multiples share common traits: recurring revenue above 50%, strong management teams that don't depend on the owner, multiple locations (or clear expansion potential), and a local brand reputation backed by hundreds of positive reviews. If you own a pet services business that fits that description, you're in a strong position in the current M&A market. If you're not there yet, every one of those attributes is buildable over 12-24 months with focused execution.