Farmingdale Hounds Town USA Franchisees Open Second Location In Hicksville

Growing up on Long Island, Maria Gillen always loved dogs. These days, she’s Dog Mom to two sweet pups named Skyy and Briggs. It was Skyy, in fact, who led Gillen to discover Hounds Town USA, a franchise that she now co-owns twice over—one location in Farmingdale, New York, and another opening soon in Hicksville.

“I never knew about doggie daycare until I got my new puppy Skyy in 2011,” said Gillen. “I was working full time, and just newly divorced. My youngest son, who was watching her during the day, joined the Navy. I didn't want her sitting home alone, so I visited Hounds Town USA and didn't need to look anywhere else.”

Gillen took Skyy to the Farmingdale Hounds Town USA location regularly for around five years before learning that its current owner, NYPD and Nassau County Police canine handler and Hounds Town USA founder Mike Gould, was putting the facility on the market. Gillen had gotten to know two of the location’s employees, Candice Lorenzana and Jennifer Jung, and as it turned out, the two women were interested in joining forces with Gillen and her husband Terry to buy the Farmingdale location they all knew and loved.

“Terry was actually good friends with Jenn’s father and knew her as a kid,” said Gillen. “Before we knew it, we were all business partners.”

Lorenzana and Jung work at the location nearly every day while Gillen handles much of the paperwork, accounting and marketing. Before becoming a franchisee with Hounds Town USA, she worked in direct marketing and commercial printing for over 30 years. “I did a lot of the Hounds Town material designing myself, which was nice because we didn’t have to hire anyone,” said Gillen.

From the start, the co-owners grew the Farmingdale location exponentially and generated an impressive amount of revenue. In four years, it was the top-performing sales unit in the system.

“We made improvements to the facility, including adding two more indoor playrooms and three outdoor play areas,” said Gillen. “We added additional kennels, and by year three, we were hitting capacity. We had waiting lists for boarding. It made sense to expand.”

Thus, the co-owners decided to open a second Hounds Town USA location in Hicksville, New York, the ninth location in the interactive doggie daycare franchise system.

Gillen said that the Hicksville location is conveniently located on a main road. “There aren't too many doggie daycare facilities in Nassau County,” she explained. “It isn't too far from the Farmingdale location, but far enough to attract new customers.”

The Hicksville location is hosting a grand opening on April 14, which will include fun raffles and plenty of prizes to be won. The celebration will also feature tours of the facility, which is a rare chance to see the inside of the doggie daycare as tours are not available once the pups start romping around. The team has also begun doing onsite evaluations such as temperament tests with potential dog guests. New referrals from existing customers can even receive a free day of daycare.

“We are thrilled that the Farmingdale team chose to expand,” says Founder and CEO Mike Gould. “Their first location has been hugely successful, they took what we started and ran with it, and built an empire they are now scaling. That is always our goal for our franchisees: to provide them with our business model on training wheels that gets them to an at-capacity facility, and then move on to build another.”

Gillen said that the turnkey nature of Hounds Town USA, coupled with Vogel and Jung’s years of experience, has set them up for success. The team is now focused on making their two Hounds Town USA locations as profitable as possible. Gillen said their goals for the rest of 2019 will be bringing in new customers to the Hicksville location, smoothly transitioning current customers from Farmingdale to Hicksville if it is more convenient for them, and replacing those moving customers with new clients.

“It's rewarding to take care of these pups,” said Gillen. “We make sure they have fun in a safe environment, and at the end of the day, we hand them over to Mom and Dad happy and tired.”