At age 25, Michael Hackett quit his job at a large financial company to open a pet boarding business to Baton Rouge.
In 2002, he and his wife, JT, launched Petz Plaza in Baton Rouge. The day it opened, 40 dogs stayed as guests.
“The idea of a pet hotel was kind of starting to get legs as people were spending more money on their pets,” Hackett tells Business Report in its new Entrepreneur feature. Hackett spent three and a half years working for his father—who owns a veterinary clinic—and touring the country to learn about different pet boarding business models before starting his own.
Providing boarding, grooming and day care under the supervision of his father’s adjacent veterinarian clinic, the business was the first among other doggie day care franchises that have since opened in Baton Rouge.
Read the full Entrepreneur feature. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
