Mobile pet grooming franchises: options and how they compare

A mobile grooming franchise licenses you a brand and an operating system for running grooming appointments out of a van, for a territory you operate in.

You employ the groomers and carry the business; the franchisor collects fees.

Start with a name change.

The aussiepetmobile.com site now states "Aussie Pet Mobile is now Bark & Mane" and links to Home Franchise Concepts.

If you are evaluating what older guides and searches call an Aussie Pet Mobile franchise, the franchisor to contact is Bark & Mane, formerly Aussie Pet Mobile.

Bark & Mane says it grooms cats and dogs from a full-service grooming van and that its groomers are AKC S.A.F.E. certified.

That is the brand's own description of its system.

S.A.F.E. itself is a course credential: under the AKC/NDGAA credential ladder, AKC S.A.F.E. is an online salon-safety course for groomers, mobile units and salons that must be renewed every two years.

The AKC and NDGAA's own certification page describes grooming as an unregulated profession with no license, no national exam and no unified training standard — the credentialing bodies' characterization, not a legal survey.

What licensing your business needs comes from your state and your city or county, covered at the end of this guide.

On scope: the figures our research could verify from a mobile-specific franchisor's own site, as of October 2026, are Bark & Mane's.

This guide sticks to the mobile question; the cross-brand fee table and the full FDD walkthrough sit in our pet grooming franchise guide.

Bark & Mane's franchise site listed three headline numbers when we read it in October 2026: a $119,950 initial franchise fee, a $167,325–$208,360 total investment range and $105,000 in required liquid capital.

The page does not name the FDD year its figures come from, so treat them as the brand's published numbers as of October 2026 and confirm them against the current Franchise Disclosure Document.

The three numbers are not the same kind of money.

The franchise fee is the one-time payment to join the system.

The investment range is the brand's estimate of the total cost to open, and the FDD's Estimated Initial Investment table (Item 7) itemizes it line by line.

The liquid capital figure is a buyer minimum — money you must show to be considered, not a charge inside the range.

Recurring fees are the line that compounds.

The Bark & Mane page we read does not publish a royalty percentage; royalties and advertising-fund contributions are the kind of recurring fees disclosed in Item 6 of the FDD.

For contrast, Scenthound's own costs-and-fees page, accessed October 2026, publishes a 6% royalty and a 1.5% national advertising fund, both on gross revenue — its figures, in a different grooming format.

That page does not state its FDD year either, so confirm them against Scenthound's current FDD.

The sale itself is governed by a federal rule.

Under the FTC Franchise Rule (16 CFR 436.2), a franchisor must give a prospective franchisee its current Franchise Disclosure Document at least 14 calendar days before the buyer signs a binding agreement or pays any money.

The document's numbered items carry the substance (16 CFR 436.5).

Item 5 discloses initial fees, and Item 6 other recurring fees.

Item 7 is the Estimated Initial Investment table, Item 19 carries any financial performance representations, and Item 20 the outlet counts for the last three fiscal years.

Item 19 is the one to read slowly.

It is optional: a franchisor that makes no financial performance representation must say so, and one that does must have a reasonable basis and written substantiation for it at the time it is made.

Whatever figures appear are optional disclosures about a subset of units, and revenue is not profit.

The honest answer for Bark & Mane is that the page we read does not say.

Its published total investment range is a single spread with no itemized lines.

Whether the vehicle itself is included, leased to you, or built to the brand's spec at your expense is a term to confirm with the franchisor and in the FDD's Item 7 table.

Four questions pin the van down before you sign.

Is a vehicle included in the investment, or do you source and outfit one yourself?

Does the brand lease the van to you, and on what terms?

Who owns the van and its graphics when you leave the system?

And what equipment standard applies, and who pays when it changes?

The answers change your capital plan and your exit.

A van you own outright is an asset you can sell or redeploy.

A van tied to the franchise agreement may have to be rebranded or handed back.

Get the term in writing, and have it reviewed with the rest of the agreement.

On the independent route, the van decision is entirely yours.

Our guide to starting a mobile grooming business covers buying and outfitting the vehicle, licensing and your first clients.

Territory terms are the part of a mobile franchise our research could not verify from Bark & Mane's public page: it lists fee, investment and liquid-capital figures, not boundaries or exclusivity.

Whatever a brand tells you about a territory, get it in writing in the agreement and have it reviewed with the rest of the contract.

What to ask, in writing: Is the territory exclusive, and what does exclusivity actually bar the franchisor and other franchisees from doing?

Where are the boundaries drawn?

Can boundaries move, and under what conditions?

And what happens to the territory if you sell the business?

For a mobile operation the stakes are concrete: drive time between appointments is the model's overhead.

A territory your van can cross quickly protects the working day in a way a large, spread-out one does not.

Press for the actual boundary description rather than a map graphic.

One thing a territory cannot do is replace the paperwork.

Any facility, kennel, business or local permit your business needs is set by your state or your city or county, franchise or not.

Confirm your requirements with your state agriculture department and your city before you sign.

The trade is structure versus control.

A franchise sells structure: an initial fee to join, recurring royalties and advertising-fund contributions after that — the fee categories FDD Item 5 and Item 6 disclose — and brand standards you operate under.

An independent van has no franchisor and no franchise fees, and carries the brand-building, the systems work and the trial and error alone.

Underneath the brand question, the business is the same either way: a van, grooming skill, clients who rebook, and eventually more vans and the people to staff them.

Bark & Mane's job postings are posted by its franchisees, and the franchisee alone sets pay and benefits for the groomers it hires.

Staff a van under your franchise agreement, and that employer is you: the pay plans, the scheduling and the compliance are yours, not the brand's.

So the real comparison is between two ways of buying into the same job: fees and someone else's playbook, or independence and the work of building your own.

Your trade experience, your market and how much structure you want decide where it tips.

Where to go next: the independent route, from vehicle to first clients.

The mobile groomer hiring hub, when you staff a van.

Mobile groomer job listings, for what candidates see.

And the hiring hub collects the rest of the owner guides, from pay plans to licensing.

Owner information, not legal, tax or insurance advice. The figures above are each brand's own published numbers, read October 2026; get the current Franchise Disclosure Document before relying on any figure. Confirm licensing with your state agriculture department and your city or county, and have a franchise attorney and a CPA review the agreement before you sign.