Doing It for the Dogs: Hounds Town Palm Coast – Bunnell Thriving
FSBDC at UCF – Palm Coast Helps Entrepreneur Secure Funding and Build a Successful Pet Care Business.
September 9, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or HThayer@ucf.edu
Michael Oppenheim, Consultant/Area Manager, FSBDC at UCF – Palm Coast, 386.320.3313 or Michael.Oppenheim@ucf.edu
Orlando, FL – Launching a franchise can be a daunting challenge even for a successful and retired corporate executive. Jackie Rector, the now proud owner of Hounds Town Palm Coast – Bunnell, experienced this for herself and knew that she needed support to make her new dream a reality. That’s when she turned to the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) in Palm Coast. As she looks forward to celebrating her new business’s one year anniversary, she is glad she did.
Hounds Town is a fully interactive doggy daycare, boarding, and pet spa facility. Designed like a town for dogs, it features expansive play areas, luxury overnight suites, and a pampering doggie day spa. “What makes Hounds Town special is that the dogs are not caged or crated,” shares Rector. “We pride ourselves in the care we give our dogs. We make sure, when they come to us, that they can play interactively in a natural pack environment with dogs of the same size, temperament, and play style. What that does is help to socialize the dogs and make them happy. And that’s what it’s all about: Doing it for the Dogs.”
Rector’s professional background brought significant advantage to her new venture. “As a retired corporate executive from a Fortune 200 company, I knew I had the foundation to be a business owner,” she explains. “But I knew I needed some support in terms of developing a business plan, getting funding. I couldn’t do that alone. So I found the Small Business Development Center in Palm Coast, and I was fortunate enough to get the support I needed and that’s why I am sitting here today. I couldn’t have done any of this without someone by my side coaching me.”
That someone was Michael Oppenheim, a consultant with the FSBDC at UCF. Rector worked closely with him, leveraging the FSBDC’s no-cost consulting services. “It started with a conversation. It was then a lot of discussion and brainstorming so I could evaluate my decision to make this investment and take this journey,” she recalls. “I needed to think about everything and especially things I hadn’t thought about. I met with Michael of the SBDC and we discussed it all, from start to finish, which was really good for me because I needed that.”
Oppenheim also helped Rector secure the capital she needed to launch her business. He guided her through preparing a loan package, identifying lenders, and facilitating the transaction. “A huge piece of working with the Small Business Development Center is obtaining funding,” Rector explains, “and I was able to get the funding I needed.”
Today, the FSBDC supports Rector with marketing strategy and financial management best practices. “Working with the SBDC is a no brainer,” she concludes. “I was really amazed and actually surprised that these resources are available to individuals looking to start their own business. And it doesn’t cost me anything. It is the way to go to make sure you have everything you need in your toolkit to be successful.”
For information about Hounds Town Palm Coast – Bunnell, please visit https://houndstownusa.com/locations/palm-coast-bunnell/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=map&utm_id=palm-coast-bunnell.
— FSBDC —
About the FSBDC at UCF
Hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), and with its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of part of UCF’s Office of the President and the Florida SBDC Network.
The Florida SBDC at UCF provides aspiring and existing small businesses with no-cost consulting, low-cost training, and access to business data and research resources. In addition to its core service offering, the Florida SBDC at UCF also offers specialized services to qualifying companies, including capital access, market growth, government contracting, international trade, business continuation, cybersecurity, disaster planning and recovery, and more. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 9 service centers across Central Florida.
In 2024, the FSBDC at UCF served 2,277 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 2,855 jobs impacted; $564.3 million in sales growth; $57.2 million in capital formation; $161.1 million in government contract awards; and 142 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com.
About the Florida SBDC Network
For nearly 50 years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.
In 2024, the Florida SBDC Network delivered 107,812 hours of consulting to 15,474 small business clients – resulting in business owners securing $304 million in capital, $732 million in government contracting, impacting 19,800 jobs, increasing sales by over $3.8 billion, and creating 1,019 businesses.
With over 40 offices statewide, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, State of Florida and other private and public partners. Full funding disclosure available at www.floridasbdc.org/funding-disclosures/.
The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.
FSBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862
sbdc@ucf.edu | www.sbdcorlando.com
