Dog Shampoo Business Plan, With a 12-Month Projection

A dog shampoo business plan sets out the products you'll make and who buys them, what a bottle costs and sells for, the rules that depend on what the label says, and the first year month by month. Dog shampoo is a simple product, a mild cleanser with something soothing like oatmeal or aloe, and like human shampoo, the bottle, the pump and the time cost more than the shampoo inside. The rules are where it differs. A shampoo that cleans a dog isn't a cosmetic in the legal sense, because that word covers the human body, and it isn't a drug or a pesticide either. One that claims to kill fleas is a pesticide, and one that claims to treat a skin condition can be an animal drug. In the example below, a pet products maker in Austin sells shampoo direct and to pet shops and groomers, groomer gallons and paw balm, makes a profit from the first month, and ends the year about $34,100 ahead on $62,600 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for the making. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the claims, the projection, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the products, where you sell, the workspace, the goals.
• Cost a bottle with your time in it: the bottle, pump and time cost more than the shampoo.
• Sell to groomers by the gallon: no small bottles, and a customer who uses it every day.
• Keep the label to cleaning and conditioning.
• "Kills fleas" makes it a pesticide that needs EPA registration; "treats hot spots" can make it an animal drug.
• Skip essential oils that aren't safe for pets; get the formula reviewed.
• TaroStack keeps formulas, ingredient lots and every batch together. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Willow Creek Pet Co., a made-up pet food and care products maker in Austin, Texas, I use in these examples, writes:

Willow Creek Pet Co. makes an oatmeal and aloe dog shampoo and a paw balm in small batches, sold at markets and pet events, online, wholesale to pet shops and groomers, and by the gallon for grooming salons. Every bottle carries a batch code. In our first year we plan to supply 20 shops and groomers.

How to set up batch codes that lead back to a batch is in how to create lot numbers.

Part 2: what a bottle costs

The gallon holds ten and a half bottles' worth of shampoo with no pumps, which is why groomers can pay $45 and still save, and the maker earns more for each minute of filling than on bottles. How to put packaging properly into a cost is in packaging cost per unit.

Part 3: customers and prices

A groomer who washes a dozen dogs a day goes through a gallon in a couple of weeks and recommends what they use, so groomers are customers twice. How to set a wholesale price a shop will accept is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.

Part 4: the claims

What the label says decides which rules apply. The legal definition of a cosmetic covers products applied to the human body, so a dog shampoo isn't one; the definition of a drug covers products meant to treat or prevent disease in people or other animals (FDA), so a shampoo sold to treat hot spots or a skin infection can be an animal drug. Anything meant to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate a pest is a pesticide that must be registered with the EPA before it's sold (EPA), and topical flea and tick products that stay on the skin are under the EPA's oversight (EPA). So "cleans," "conditions" and "soothes dry skin" keep the plan simple; "kills fleas," "repels ticks" or "treats mange" don't. Some essential oils aren't safe for pets, so the formula is reviewed before the first batch. This is general information, not legal advice.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $785 a month: the workspace ($300), market and pet event fees ($150), marketing and samples ($200), insurance ($60), the website and online shop ($40), and software and card fees ($35). Sales start at 15% of full speed and reach it by month 11:

The year's sales are $62,572 and the profit $34,064, on top of $20 an hour for the making.

Part 6: the startup budget

Get the template

Download the dog shampoo business plan workbook. Four sheets: your products with price, variable cost and monthly volume at full speed; the year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash; your fixed costs; and your startup budget with working cash. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

Two shampoos, a balm, bottles, pumps, jugs and tins, and 20 shops and groomers reordering on their own schedules. When a groomer says a batch smelled off, a notebook can't say which lot of base or oatmeal went into it, and the pumps run out the week a big pet expo comes round.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps the formula, the lots and the batches together.

Formulas with versions. Each product is a recipe with versions, every ingredient by weight, and units convert: cleansing base bought by the gallon, weighed by the gram. A change to the formula is a new version, and every batch records which one it was made to.

Batches with their lots. Recording a batch takes the ingredients, bottles and labels off stock from the lots used, at what you paid, and notes the lots automatically. One report goes from a bottle's code to its batch, its ingredient lots and every groomer or shop who got it.

And the groomers' orders. Groomer and shop reorders are sales orders that show whether the bottles and gallons to fill them are on the shelf while you're still typing, the reorder list works in days of cover so the pumps arrive in time, and margins are reported by product and by customer.

Recipes, batches, lots, recalls and margins by product and customer are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

Is a dog shampoo business profitable?

It can be. In the example, a maker selling shampoo direct and wholesale, groomer gallons and paw balm ends the first year about $34,100 ahead on $62,600 of sales, with $20 an hour paid for the making.

Do you need a license to sell dog shampoo?

A shampoo that only cleans and conditions isn't a cosmetic, drug or pesticide under federal law. One that claims to kill fleas or ticks is a pesticide that must be registered with the EPA, and one that claims to treat a skin condition can be an animal drug. Check your state and city for business licenses.

How much does it cost to make dog shampoo?

In the example, $3.53 for a 12-ounce bottle sold direct: $1.38 of cleansing base, oatmeal, aloe and preservative, 85 cents for the bottle and pump, 15 cents for the label, 67 cents of mixing and filling and the card fee.

How much should I charge for dog shampoo?

Cost a bottle with your time, then price each channel. In the example, a 12-ounce bottle costing $3.53 sells for $16 direct and $8 to shops, and a gallon for groomers sells for $45.