Balancing Profit and Social Responsibility with Joe Dent

**SPEAKER_1** (0:04)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media and programmatic ad experts.

**Tullio Siragusa** (0:17)
Hey everyone, welcome back to The Bliss Business Podcast. Today is a 101 show. Before I introduce our guests, I want to start out by saying that around the world, customers and employees are watching how companies show up more than ever, not just what they sell. In fact, recent research shows that 92% of consumers say they trust brands that are socially responsible and environmentally friendly, and more than half are willing to pay more for those brands. At the same time, 81% of employees say that they want to work for a company that has social responsibility, business practices and values that align with their own. The signal is clear. People expect businesses to create value for shareholders and communities at the same time. The question is not whether companies should care about social responsibility, but how they can integrate it in a way that strengthens rather than competes with financial performance. Today, we're exploring what it looks like to build franchise brands that balance profit and social responsibility, especially in sectors where people deeply care about the wellbeing of animals, families, and the local community. Our guest today is Joe Dent. He is the CEO of Everything Pets, a division of Loyalty Brands. Joe leads the company's strategic vision and growth across four pet services vertical, including Zooming Grooming, Salty Dog, Cooper Scoopers, and Hike Doggy, bringing more than three decades of leadership experience in retail and pet services. Before joining Everything Pets, Joe served as president of franchising and corporate bakeries at Three Dog Bakery, where he led expansion initiatives across the United States and Canada, and he spent over 25 years at pet retail brands rising from district manager to chief store operations officer, and overseeing operations marketing real estate across a network of more than 1,200 stores. Beyond his operational role, Joe is deeply committed to animal welfare and has supported organizations such as US War Dogs, American Vet Dogs, Barks, and Show Your Soft Side reflecting a longstanding dedication to both animals and the people who care for them. Joe, very delighted to have you on the show. Welcome to The Bliss Business Podcast.

**Joe Dent** (2:33)
Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

**Tullio Siragusa** (2:36)
Now, Joe, balancing profit and social responsibility can sound abstract, right? Until you are the one responsible for the profits and the loss, franchise livelihoods and the community expectations. So when you think about the phrase in the context of Everything Pets and Loyalty Brands, what does it actually mean to you in practice?

**Joe Dent** (2:59)
Sure. So what we do and what it means to me, it's really about both economics and emotions, and profit with an emphasis on passionate purpose. I've been in the pet industry, as you mentioned, for 30 years, and I have a real passion for animals and animal welfare and health. We've created a system and what I'll call a pet ecosystem of brands that allow for our strategic partners, our franchisees to create businesses and in their community that can be both profitable and socially conscious.

**Tullio Siragusa** (3:49)
Now, you've led companies across different stages and sectors of the pet industry, from large retail footprints to focused franchise brands. Now, looking across this experience of 30 years, where do you see leaders most often get the balance wrong? Like, either over profit or at all costs, or leaning into purpose too much without clear economic engine. Where do you see the misbalance happen?

**Joe Dent** (4:16)
I think both. Typically, you see one or the other. Someone is so focused on the bottom line.
It's cutting costs, it's shrinking, trying too hard to improve margin, and really with a focus or emphasis only on profit. They miss the connection with the customers, with pet parents. Then there are some that go completely the opposite way, where their only focus is on working in the community, and you have to keep the lights on as well. It's a combination, and I find the most successful business partners we have, are those that follow a good system and they're mindful of the business, but they also maintain that passion for pets, and they let that passion lead the way. We're fortunate at Loyalty Brands that were founded by John Hewitt, who was created more franchises and franchises than anyone in the United States. So we built systems where loyalty is really good at franchising. And when you put pet into that, people that are in the pet community are incredibly passionate about it. And there's a great opportunity to be both successful financially, and really purpose driven and create opportunities for pet parents and for the well-being of animals.