Company Headed By Army Veteran Offers Franchises Exclusively to Fellow Veterans

An Army veteran has launched what he says is the first company to offer former service members — and only former service members — a chance to buy one of his growing franchises. The enterprise is JDog Junk Removal, founded by Jerry Flanagan of Wayne, Pennsylvania.  The business hauls away people’s unwanted appliances, furniture and other household rubbish. The cost to buy a JDog Junk Removal franchise is about $15,000.  The fee — plus adequate credit to lease or finance a hauling trailer plus either a green H2 Hummer or Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (the only allowable vehicles, each painted with JDog’s trademarked bulldog emblem plus a local phone number) — puts veterans in the driver’s seat to self-employment.

Each franchisee will be assigned his or her own exclusive market — amid population pockets of at least 75,000 people.  Each new franchise will also get a social networking push from corporate headquarters, local leads generated by the company website, and advice on selling the service to area real estate firms, warehouses, commercial properties, churches and senior living facilities.

The overhead for a JDog Junk Removal franchise is low–with no office or retail space required.

According to Flannigan, who spent 17 months developing his business concept, the franchise can also be operated by disabled veterans using a mobile device and sending out workers to pick up the debris and do the heavy lifting.  Average pick ups bring in $200 to $300.  If four pick-ups are done each day, five days a week that’s a about $6,000 in weekly income.

Flannigan’s goal is to have 300 to 500 franchises up and running over the next ten years.