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You are here: Home › BUSINESS AND NONPROFIT LOANS › SBA 504 Loan Program › Borrower Success Stories › Best Friends Bed & Biscuits
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Best Friends Bed & Biscuits


Owners: Nora and Tim Doran

Lending Partner: First Citizens

Location: Greensboro (Guilford County)

Project: Purchase of a building on eight acres

Community Impact:  3 new jobs created, 30 maintained

Company Mission: Dog & cat boarding, daycare, training & grooming


Nora Doran has more than 30 years experience of running and managing kennels, but it was always her life-long dream to run one of her own. After looking at dozens of possible facilities to buy, she settled on Best Friends Bed & Biscuits on the outskirts of Greensboro. But finding the financing for the purchase proved to be a challenge.

“Discovering the SBA 504 Program was like finding the missing piece to a puzzle,” says Nora. “We had never heard of it before our banker, Jane Cockman, introduced it, and we’d do it all over again.”
In partnership with First Citizens and Self-Help, Nora her husband Tim, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 20 years, bought the existing business using 504 financing. Their plans included renovating and expanding the existing business by adding additional kennel, grooming and play spaces for dogs on the eight-acre campus.


Now, Best Friends Bed & Biscuits is much more than just a dog kennel. It offers boarding, grooming, daycare and in-home pet sitting service for cats and dogs. Nora and Tim have plans to add a new office for management. They also plan to create a “doggie boutique” and “executive pet suites” with themes like mountains or beaches, flat-screen TVs, DVD players and beds instead of the typical raised cots. They can serve 120 dogs and 10 cats at capacity and have 30 employees, including dog trainers and groomers.

Much of their recent revenue growth comes from offering in-home pet sitting service as well as their doggie daycare, which started with only a couple dogs and now averages 50. Another big factor in their success has been the fact that the Dorans are literally onsite all the time – their residence sits right next to the business. They are passionate about offering top-notch services, and refer to their pets as clients’ “babies.”

"We go to great lengths to ensure our clients’ companions get comforting, safe and respectful care."

”“We are here, and have a very hands-on management approach,” says Nora. “We make sure that adequate staff is available to provide the quality of care a pampered pet deserves. We don’t want to grow too big because we don’t want size to affect the special one-on-one care we strive to provide.

Their customers agree. “Rooney and I love Best Friends Bed & Biscuits,” writes Doreen Lumpkin, Guest Services Division Manager of the Greensboro Coliseum. "The staff is so caring and attentive the quality of care is unsurpassed. It always puts my mind at ease when I nee to travel to know that Rooney is being cared for so lovingly.”

Fore more information, visit www.http://www.bedandbiscuit.com/