Success Stories

In 2012, the Massons bought a building and opened their new location of All American Pet Resorts. “It was such a great business. It was extremely profitable and was easy to sell, as far as someone having an interest in it,” he said.

In hindsight, Chris thinks the franchise was the right way to go originally but probably wouldn’t choose that path if he had it to do over again. “I didn’t want a cookie cutter type of thing. I really wanted to manage the business and make business decisions,” he said.

The Masson family appreciated the freedom and flexibility they found in their ownership role, but it was also a 24/7 responsibility that never let up. “It was kind of a joke in our house, of how long a stretch can we go when someone doesn’t call out or when there’s not an issue at night?” he said.

“Since 2020, the whole landscape has changed, from sensitivity of owners, to challenges with workforce [such as] lack of effort and a lot softer work ethic,” Chris said. “I can’t stand negativity. It’s just not what I wanted to surround myself with. So I had to find a solution.”

He was having to run the business side and manage the daily operations of the pet resort at the same time, which was very challenging. “That also drove me to make a change because I was in attendance at all the things I wanted to be at, but I wasn’t truly present.”

In August of 2023, Chris met with his CPA to run the numbers to determine whether a possible sale was realistic. They agreed that it was, and Chris already had a buyer in mind. She was a fellow franchisee who was ready to take on a second location. “It was a perfect fit. I left knowing the business was in good hands … She knew the franchise. She knew the policies and procedures – she knew everything.”

Around the same time, he reached out to Teija Heikkilä of PET|VET M&A, Sales & Advisory. Since he already had a buyer lined up, Teija’s network of attorneys, accountants and lenders proved to be the most valuable in his case.

“I knew I was going to go with Teija because I had been following her for a couple of years,” Chris said. “Knowing that she was the number one with selling kennels … I just knew that she was the person I wanted to work with. There’s a lot of stuff that’s involved. Why risk messing that up?”

“It would have taken us easily twice as long without her. She got me in touch with the right people. Unfortunately, we had to get attorneys involved, and there was some negotiating. She was honest with me,” said Chris. Her breadth of experience also gave him a lot of confidence. “We weren’t just guessing.”

Many details needed to be considered in a sale like his, and Chris said he never questioned his decision to work with Teija and her team. Her advice on setting up the lease of his property got him into a good position for some passive income, and she was able to help the buyer secure lending through one of her industry contacts. “Without Teija, it would have been very difficult to find lending to get this deal through,” he said.

As far as what’s next for Chris and his family, he is thankful to be able to take some time figuring that out. “I’m really just kind of trying to get my ducks in a row as far as what options I might have,” he said.

He acknowledges that their boys will be out of high school in six years and doesn’t regret his decision to sell. “That’s not a lot of time. You can’t get that back,” he said. “When I explain that to people, no one has said, ‘Man, that’s dumb. You had a really good business.’ No one has said that.”

Chris has some criteria to meet with his next venture. He’s considered real estate, or another type of small business, as long as it doesn’t require having a lot of employees. “I don’t feel any urgency to it, which is awesome. I still don’t think I’m really decompressed from owning that business for 11 years.”