Batten House Podcast
Batten House Podcast
Batten House Podcast
Ep 4 Competing with Giants: CocoMutts' Boutique Success Story with Dayna
Can boutique businesses truly compete with big-box stores on price and quality? Join me, Heather-Joy Batten, as I uncover the inspiring journey of Dayna, the dynamic owner of CocoMutts, a thriving pet-focused business in Ottawa. From taking over a struggling enterprise in 2020 to transforming it into a successful local gem on Stittsville Main Street, Dayna reveals the secret ingredients behind CocoMutts' success. Discover how this quaint establishment challenges misconceptions about boutique pricing and offers unique products that stand out against the mass-produced items found in larger chains. Dayna's story highlights the vital role of supporting local retailers who often provide superior quality and competitive pricing.
In our engaging conversation, Dayna also sheds light on the pet grooming and care industry's pressing challenges, such as staff turnover and varying client expectations. We explore the often-overlooked complexities of grooming and pet nutrition, emphasizing the need for regulation and industry standards. Dayna shares her personal experiences and insights on fostering client trust through staff training and honest communication. Together, we aim to empower pet owners with accurate advice and quality products, even if it means sacrificing a sale. Tune in to understand how CocoMutts is building a trustworthy community of pet lovers, committed to offering the best care possible for their furry companions.
This is the.
Speaker 2:Batten House.
Speaker 1:Podcast the place where local businesses and neighbours come together. Here's your host, heather Joy Batten.
Speaker 2:Hey Dayna, I've got Dayna here from Cocoa Mutts here in Ottawa. How are you, Dayna? I'm good. Heather, how are you? I'm good. Thanks so much for being here with us.
Speaker 3:It was my pleasure.
Speaker 2:Can you tell us a little bit about what you do at Cocoa Mutts?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so Cocoa Mutts was. I call it a happy accident. We bought it in 2020. So it was an existing business, okay, but just not doing very well, as no businesses were in 2020. So, but my other businesses obviously were very slow and I had time and it was there and I bought it. Awesome, good for you and uh. So it was already there, uh, but in a much smaller space. So we bought it. Uh, we closed october 1st 2020. We officially took over. Oh, there's gonna be some dogs sorry, that's our.
Speaker 2:There's going to be some dogs, sorry I love it.
Speaker 3:We're just adding authenticity, that's all.
Speaker 2:They bring validity to our conversation. This is a dog house.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, we bought it in 2020 and then I gave notice to the landlords November 15th that we were going to move. Okay, so we moved down the street. So we're now at 1261 Stittsville, maine. For anybody who was listening, that maybe knew we were over on Carp Road. We're now at 1261 Stittsville, maine, and we've been there since 2021. We opened up September 1st 2021. And it has been a dream over there. So we changed the logo, we changed the colors, we kept the name, because it's a cute name, absolutely. We brought in more cat stuff and we just really expanded the retail section of the business. So it's about three and a half times the size that it was in the old space, okay, um, and we have more groomers now as well, so it has a full, uh, dog grooming salon in the back of the retail section awesome and then obviously full retail in the front beautiful?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's awesome. So your, your groomer, is that like grooming, it would be your main focus, and and you've added retail so grooming it kind of sells itself.
Speaker 3:We have amazing groomers in our salon right and it. People are always going to need grooming. And I don't know how familiar you are with stittsville, but stittsville is just doodle town. They all had a meeting and everyone decided they always going to need grooming. And I don't know how familiar you are with Stittsville, but Stittsville is just doodle town and everyone decided they were going to live in Kanata, stittsville, okay, doodle central. So we have a lot of business with the doodles. So there's not a lot of need for me to do a big push for the grooming Just because we get really loyal customers that keep coming back, which is amazing. Our big focus right now is the retail, especially with the incoming big box like chewy and it's hard to keep up with the. Why is everything 50 off all the time? It runs as a small business it's it's difficult for that. So we're focusing more on the retail section awesome.
Speaker 2:I think that's great for listeners to know. Certainly, my perception was that Cocoa Max was just grooming, so I expect that I'm not the only one with the misconception that you do offer retail too. That's awesome, which actually leads me to my next. Oh, sorry, you go ahead.
Speaker 3:No, I was just going to say I think that's because for the first nine years of its existence it was primarily grooming with a tiny bit of like convenience retail existence it was primarily grooming with a tiny bit of like convenience retail. Okay, now we have a full retail selection and full grooming.
Speaker 2:Perfect. So that leads me to my next question. I was going to ask Are there any misconceptions that folks might have about?
Speaker 3:about, your business, yeah, and that is certainly the biggest one, but my other one that I talk about a lot is that because we're an independent business and we are a little bit boutiquey, so you can find some really cool stuff in our store that you might not find at Renz or PetSmart or Chewy. Right, because we're smaller, we have the ability to do that. But people immediately assume that because we're a small, independent, we're more expensive. Okay, just not true. In fact, most of the time, I can find you better quality food and better quality toys at a less price than you're paying anywhere else. Sounds good to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Even if you're not coming into Cocoa Mutt's, even if you're not in Stittsville, certainly go into your local store because the odds are they can beat the price of your food and get you higher quality food at the same time.
Speaker 2:Awesome's, that's wow, that's awesome, I I think and you've alluded to it. Um, I think the home that you have in Stittsville fits so organically with the approach that you know we're in Canada but we shop in Stittsville. Our doctor's office is in Stittsville, like yeah, we're there frequently and it just has such a beautiful community feel which also compels us as consumers, I believe, to shop local just exploded in a way that I don't feel is really serving us well, because we want to focus locally, we want to support our small businesses and that's why I mean, that's why we do what we do with Battenhouse podcast is so that we can bring folks like you, who are doing great work in our community, to your, your potential clients, so that they know, hey, you can actually do better at Cocoa Mets, shop local, yeah yeah, and we're really lucky, like I actually live in Orleans, so it's a trek for me and I can tell you like the difference in community.
Speaker 3:Stittsville is its own vibe, totally like 100%. Stittsville is its own vibe and, um, it really is like you. You don't see big box stores right in Stittsville. You have to leave stittsville to go to big box. I mean just up the street now to hazel dean, but still, yeah, but still you need to leave. You have to probably drive past coconuts to get to wren's or pet smart or whatever, like you're. So stittsville is one of my favorite things about it. It is this community and and I find the people who've lived in stittsville their whole life I remember when the Starbucks was opening people lost their minds that there was a Starbucks opening because they have little coffee shops in Stittsville and I am so grateful for the Stittsville community because they welcomed us with open arms.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, that's wonderful to hear and I think it it definitely speaks to the um, the intention behind community for you to share hey, we, we don't live in Stittsville Like we, this is where our business is and the fact that you are willing to drive. You know you bought this business. It was off carproad, you had the ability to move it anywhere you wanted. Um, but for you to prioritize, you know what this is. This is where Coco Mutt's belongs and we're gonna make it happen. I honor you for that yeah and it.
Speaker 3:Well the thing is. In 2020 it was 30 minutes door to door because no one was driving. Now it's at least 45 minutes, no matter what time of day I leave, and I get lucky if I make it there in 45 minutes. But, I have a really amazing team there. Now I don't have to go in every day anymore. Our store manager is so fantastic and we're really lucky to have them. They honestly, when I am there, I just feel like I'm in their way.
Speaker 2:Really Well, then you know, you've got a great team right.
Speaker 3:Most of what I do at this point is administrative, which I can do remotely, because I can access everything remotely Absolutely, so I don't need to be there in their way. Beautiful, yeah, so they just we're really lucky to have who we have in the store right now and and I'm again very grateful for the Stitzel community At some- point.
Speaker 2:I would like to move out there when the market gets a hold of itself. Right, just a smidge, you're, you're wise to wait on that for a bit of time. I I think, yeah, um, well, and, and actually I you know, you, you share, you don't have to be in the store every day because you can do a lot of your work remotely. When you're not working on your business, what do you do for fun? What fills your time?
Speaker 3:uh well, so I do seven dogs in this house, so they fill a lot of my time. That's a house full that is a house. Well, they're all small so it's really not that bad like. It's really only like one large dog if you add them all up by weight yes because, like five of them, are under 10 pounds.
Speaker 2:So oh wow, that's my kind of dog they take up a lot of my time, but I also do have another business that I run.
Speaker 3:I'm on the oh wow, that's my kind of dog. They pick up a lot of my time, but I also do have another business that I run. I'm on the board of directors and I'm and I sit as the executive director for a charity and I have a podcast as well. So fun takes a backseat to work. In this house, the entrepreneur, an entrepreneurial spirit, is alive and well and you know, we just were building businesses and doing our thing, and even my husband just started his business.
Speaker 2:And I love that. Good for you guys. And you know what you talk and you gush about it. It's actually I can tell that it is fun for you Like this is. You know it's your jam, it's what gets you up in the morning and fuels your, your spirit, and that's most days for different people.
Speaker 3:But not easy. There are also days where I'm like I'm not getting out of bed. Today. You open the inbox and there's already 47 emails and you're like, just goodbye, let's try again tomorrow and this it's this time of year particularly is really busy for all of them.
Speaker 3:So, like for the charity, for the other two businesses not so much for the podcast, because that's on a schedule, but for the two businesses and the charity, this is the busiest part of the year for all of them. So this time of year I'm working, you know, from sun up to midnight because there's always, if you stopped at sundown, you'd be done at four o'clock, I know which is also a whole other thing Like so the sun should not be going down at 4 pm, but I know.
Speaker 3:But yeah, the second I'm up in the morning, I'm on my laptop, I'm on my phone. Yeah, I will say I try to take time for myself, like I'll work a lot, like this is my home office that I'm in right now, but I'll take time to go sit on the couch with my dogs and work on my laptop for a few hours if I can. Or you know, try to make time for for me, even my husband, like he'll take his laptop down. We'll sit down there together, but we're together, but we're working together.
Speaker 2:But you're working, but you're still. It's of opportunity. That makes a difference.
Speaker 3:So you have to be a little opportunistic, I think, when you've got that much going on. But we do our best to kind of make sure we're making space for family and for each other and that sort of thing, but fun definitely takes a backseat sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I appreciate that perspective. Is there anything that you can look back and think you know that was a really tough time, excuse me and think you know that was a really tough time, excuse me but we made it and we're better for it now if you're willing to share.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, certainly we had, um, a few groomers leave us in very short succession, some our choice, some not our choice. Um, and that happens, that's employment these days, like that is just what it is. And, um, that was hard because the general public, when you fall in love with a groomer and you want to stay with them, you don't understand when they leave your business and they blame us. They think we're disorganized, we're the problem right, when in reality sometimes we let that groomer go for like a good reason. Sure we just a we're not going to tell you about it because that would violate their privacy and B, we're like it's just, we made the right choice for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, client, exactly, even though I can't explain it to you and and even when I try to vaguely kind of go over that. But it was a really difficult transition that none of us really expected to be as hard as it was Right, and I think we're still sort of struggling with the aftermath of it, even though it's been over a year now since that happened. It's been hard Like the grooming industry is really misunderstood and is a rough part of the pet industry, because anybody can pick up clippers tomorrow and tell you they're a group Interesting there's no regulating None.
Speaker 3:Same with dog training, same with nutrition like none whatsoever. So it's sometimes difficult when people are like well, why does that groomer charge me $30 less to do my dog than you do? My rent is $11,000 a month. That's why they're working out of their house. They're not paying $11,000 a month in commercial rent. So people don't necessarily understand all of the facets of that specific pocket of the industry and they don't understand when groomers are moving around either, and sometimes that's for their own benefit. We've had groomers come work for us because they wanted to learn from one of our groomers and then, once they were finished their education, they went and worked at a salon that was closer to their home or was more convenient for them, and that's super normal too, yeah. But people get mad because they've left and they wanted that groomer and they're just mad that we of course, that they're no longer with you, but it's you know that as you have.
Speaker 2:You, as you've shared excuse me, as you've shared, you know, there anyone can pick up a set of clippers or, you know, anyone can present themselves as a dog trainer or nutritionist. I, I have a better sense of the intricacies of what you face in in your businesses and why you have to work the long hours that you do to sort through all of that stuff to address the needs of your staff, to address the needs of your business. But also I can tell that you really care about your customers too and ultimately you want to keep everyone happy. But that seems like a futile mission if you're trying to do that, so having to sort through and decide what you're able to share within the confines of ensuring that you're protecting everyone.
Speaker 3:And I'm particularly passionate about it because I am certified in nutrition. I took a one year long course through the Companion Animal Sciences Institute in nutrition and I'm doing two more years of study to continue that. And then I'm also an accredited dog trainer through the international association of animal behavior consultants. And this is anyone who knows me well will tell you. I never got into business to make money. I don't pull salary from any of my businesses. It gets reinvested into them to get my staff health and dental benefits, to get them higher salaries to. You know. Reinvest into marketing, whatever it is. And because I'm so passionate about there has to be a some sort of standard yes, someone has to decide what it is. Somebody has to set the bar yeah. So we're trying really hard to do that Right. And I've in in my own work. I've called out other retailers several times. You, you can't be running around telling people you have nutritionism on staff if they took a one-hour course on the internet.
Speaker 3:That does not that would and yeah, um, so we try really hard. So if you were to come into my store, for example, and you're talking to my team about, you know, maybe your dog's having gastrointestinal issues or they're not liking their food, whatever it is, and they they're starting to think maybe there's something else going on based on what you're asking, they will just say to you I'm going to take your phone number and have Dana get in touch with you Because with a bigger issue, they're not just going to try to make the sale for the sake of making the sale. I will always sacrifice the sale to make sure you have what's right.
Speaker 3:The number of times puppies have come in and the owners are buying them deer antlers and I'm slapping it out of their hand because no, your puppy cannot have a deer antler, it will break their teeth. Because it's about the right product. It's about building trust, not only with our staff but also with the community, that they can come in and get the right answers, you know, and they're not going to go to their vet two weeks later and they're going to say why did you listen to the girl at the pet store? You never should have bought that. Because they bought the right product for that particular animal.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful. I think you've really summed up the importance of client education and how important that is in what you do, and also you know you sharing that your staff as they're chatting with customers for them to be so empowered by you and be able to say you know what. This is beyond my scope. Let me take your name and number and I'll have Dana get back to you. As a consumer and as a dog owner myself, I would value that so much. I would appreciate that so much because I all of a sudden feel supported and empowered as a consumer, because I know that you and your staff are looking out for me and my dog, not just to meet your baseline Exactly.
Speaker 3:And my whole thing is customers don't know what they don't know. If they knew what we knew, they wouldn't need us. Yeah, that's a really good way of saying it customers don't know what they don't know. If they knew what we knew, they wouldn't need us. Yeah, so it is our job to pass on our knowledge in as best of a way we can yes, that's beautiful.
Speaker 2:I honor you for it. It makes me excited to come into your shop.
Speaker 1:I've not been, but I will be now that I know more.
Speaker 2:You can meet our store cats squid and shrimp yes, oh, you have store cats, yeah oh, you adopted them as kittens.
Speaker 3:They were in it, for they were in to get adopted by other people, uh, and then we fell in love with them and now they're ours and they're just, they're just mainstays in the in the store. Oh yeah, we brought them home one year I think it was over easter thinking, oh, we don't want to leave them alone and just have someone check on them, because they were really young. So at the time, oh no, they were very stressed and very miserable one of them she wouldn't, eat.
Speaker 3:It was a whole thing, so we're like, all right. Fine, you have made it very clear you want to stay here so now we just we put an extra litter box out if it's going to be a couple of days, and extra food, and then we have someone check on them just to make sure they haven't, you know, burned the store down or anything, because they are kind of, but they could get up to no good oh, they do. They have little mug shots over our clearance section. Oh, I love it oh, that's so fun.
Speaker 2:Um well, danny, you've shared where we can find you. You know, I I knew of the location on carp road, but certainly now being able to find you on stittsville main, our listeners will be looking for you there. That's great, is there anything?
Speaker 3:else you wanted to share. I mean, I think that's it. I think, if I can highlight anything we've talked about again is just to really give your local shops a chance. Uh, no matter where you are in the city, if it's not me, I promise you your other local shops can do the same thing I can do, um, and supporting your local shops. They're the ones that are given to your kids hockey tournaments and your big sales and your silent auctions and your charity things. They're the ones who give back to you. Yes, so, if anything, just try, just give them a chance.
Speaker 3:If you're on any diet doesn't matter. You're not happy with it, the price is too much. Go and talk to your local store. I bet you they can do something about that.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that perspective it's beautiful and because of it I'll be coming to your shop, cause I'm close by.
Speaker 3:I would love that. I'll be here on Saturday, if you want to stop in.
Speaker 2:Outstanding Thanks, Dayna. Thanks again for being with us today, for taking the time, especially in your busy season, taking care of all the things that you do, and I I'll look forward to meeting you in person. Absolutely All right. Have a great rest of your day, you as well. Thanks.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Batten House podcast. To nominate your favourite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to battenhousepodcast. ca. That's battenhousepodcast. ca, or call 343-308-3606.
