What’s it Like to Run a Pet Store With Live Animals?

Written by Sal Salafia, Certified Avian Specialist, Founder of Exotic Pet Birds

When we started we were a relatively small operation. We had some baby birds we were caring for and were raising up for people and it was an amazing experience. We scaled this up as we got it down and eventually continued into reptiles which had a different set of needs.

Like anything in life there was learning curves and there was research involved. As I made the decision we would scale the operation up, I literally visited places I had identified as great at this and visited them. I spoke to care takers around the country. I spoke with anyone I could think of that was doing it well. Made calls, visited facilities and talked to many vendors.

I knew who were the key players in animal technologies and innovations as vendors because certain company names came up over and over. For example, customenclosures.com was one name I became very impressed with. So much so that this year we invested heavily and had our main room done by them with these awesome new enclosures. Mist King was another, so we invested heavily in a system to mist all around the reptile area hiring a professional plumber to do this install.

I visited a lot of zoos and really had a great time learning what they were doing (often with public funding). Obviously as a privately held company who doesn’t charge for admission and doesn’t get donations we were not going to be able to scale the way those organizations do so my job was to figure out how to maximize my resources.

Today we have an amazing facility, the facility is probably 50% responsible for the system that we have here to care for animals. Technology like state of the art climate controlled brooders, auto misting systems, hospital grade filtration systems and technology like our internal EPBI AP located on iPads around our facility have improved our job immensely. The other 50% of the job comes from having the right crew in place. People that love what they do, love the animals and give to them because they are amazing at what they do. An innovative leadership team that meets weekly to insure we are on top of our game is key.

We have quickly learned as a group that what we do is very unique here. The amount of animals we are responsible for is not something we take lightly. The people who support us like the local veterinarians we consider friends and their amazing staff are there to make our work that much easier to do.

You play a huge role in what and how we do what we do. By supporting this company and making your purchases here you are making it so we can continue to make the most amazing and frankly impressive investments in the infrastructure. We have so many people that know what we are doing is purely out of the love of this job and we know they support this journey and are a huge part of it. This is why I always say “our people make us great and that starts with you.” We have accomplished so much as a company. We have scaled our ability to provide great enrichment and a huge loving crew. It’s mind blowing what we accomplish year after year and our 35% growth in sales this year tells me that you are in full support of it as well. We are working as one community to invest in continued improvements and to continually make amazing investments in the success for the animals. We don’t settle for yesterday always striving for improvement. We truly work hard as a team to continue to impress and improve even if just for ourselves.

I am writing this article on the 4th of July and know that I can say no differently than any other national holiday; the animals will be cared for today and that the people can be counted on to go give to the animals like any other day. We are a 365 day operating system and that is no small statement. This staff takes only a few days a year to close to the public but NEVER to close for the care. Fun fact: I don’t assign holiday work. The leadership team decides it and divides the work amongst itself. This year I was particularly proud to hear Sedona and Ryan as they decided who would feed the babies both saying they could handle it. I loved the statement Nicole made yesterday stating she has to make sure “her momma birds have enough extra food to feed the babies” so she would be by.

It’s days like today that make me so proud of the people, the facility and the systems at EPBI / EPRI. Every once in a great while we will catch a stray outlier who thinks we are in this purely for the money. Nothing could be further from the truth. The staff here operates like a close knit family. We often lose sight of the fact we have to make money to operate because we are busy doing what we do naturally, helping the people and the animals. Thank God that is simultaneously paying for all we do at the same time. I hope you see it when you walk our halls. I have visited many pet stores in my life and I truly believe we are at the top of this game. I tell the staff I never want to understand what the bare minimum standards for care are because I want to be 15 steps ahead of them in all we do here! So that is what it is what it’s like for us to care for and to run a privately owned pet facility.