Why I Joined Zoom Room

I met Mark Van Wye in 2017. I had already spent the better part of two decades building and scaling franchise brands, and I was deep into what would become the defining project of my career — growing Dogtopia from a small regional concept into the largest pet services franchise in North America. I understood the pet category well, having been an early franchisee in a mobile dog grooming brand decades earlier. I knew what worked, what broke at scale, and where the opportunities are.

Zoom Room was immediately different from anything I had seen in the space.

What I Recognized

In franchising, I evaluate concepts the same way every time. I look at four things: positioning, single unit economics, repeatable systems, and leadership. A concept needs all four to scale sustainably. Zoom Room had all four — and one thing more that is even more important: no direct national competitor.

When I find a category with strong consumer demand, a proven unit-level model, and no scaled competition, I pay very close attention. When the founder also happens to be the #1 bestselling author in the field — someone who understands both the product and how to systematize it through non-expert staff — I wanted to get involved.

Why the Model Works

My background is in scaling franchise systems, so I look at every concept through an operational lens. The question is always the same: can this produce consistent results across hundreds of locations run by independent operators with varying levels of experience?

Zoom Room's model is built for that test. The curriculum is standardized. The class format is structured. New trainers are classroom-ready in weeks, not months, because the system does the heavy lifting — the trainer needs to be warm and organized, not an expert behaviorist. The owner is in the room doing the actual learning, which means the outcome does not depend entirely on the trainer's individual skill. That is a crucial architectural decision, and it is one of the main reasons the model scales.

I have seen a lot of franchise models claim to be "sticky." Zoom Room is one of the very few where the data actually supports it.

Growing a Love Brand

I have spent my career building and growing what I call "love brands" — franchise concepts that create genuine emotional connections with their customers, their teams, and their franchisees. That emotional connection is not a soft metric. It is the single most reliable predictor of long-term franchise performance. When customers love a brand, they stay longer, spend more, refer more, and forgive more. When franchisees love a brand, they execute the playbook, reinvest in growth, and become the brand's strongest advocates. Loyalty follows love, and growth follows loyalty.

Zoom Room is a love brand in the truest sense.

Mark Van Wye understood this from the beginning. His motto — "We don't train dogs. We train the people who love them." — is not a tagline. It is an operating principle. The entire model is designed to make the owner feel successful, which makes the owner come back, which makes the business work. That chain of causation is what separates Zoom Room from every other training concept in the sector.

The Opportunity

In 30+ years of franchising, I have learned that the brands that define categories are not always the first to arrive. They are the ones that arrive with the right model at the right moment and execute with discipline. Zoom Room has the model. The moment — with pet humanization accelerating and no national training brand in place — is now. And the execution, with this team, is underway.

Franchising is not just what I do. It is who I am. And Zoom Room is the leading training franchise because the opportunity, the team, and the model are that compelling.