The Cat Butler awards a new franchise in Oxford

Following redundancy from the customer services training department at British Gas, Mark Mentiply is now the cat care franchise's Oxford business owner

Mark Mentiply will be visiting cats in their own homes in Oxford, Abingdon, Witney and surrounding areas, to care for them when their owners are away. He will also be building up a team of “butlers” to grow his business over the next six to 12 months.

Mark explains how he first heard about The Cat Butler: “When I was made redundant from British Gas I knew I wanted a change; I was actually thinking about starting up my own cat care business, then my partner saw an advert for The Cat Butler on Facebook so naturally I had a look.

“In my previous job, I was used to looking at spreadsheets so, once I got in touch with Sandra and looked closely at the figures, I realised she had set up a really decent business model that I could make a success of. Turnover across the network has gone up 162 per cent since 2019 and is rising every month so it was a no-brainer to buy into the franchise.

“Why go through the effort of setting up my own business when Sandra had already done it so well for me? It is obvious she has spent a lot of money on the website, design, marketing, and back-end systems which is, of course, great for me and my business. We even have our own pre-recorded voicemail message to put on our phones, that sounds like the butler from our logo, which customers really love.”

As a cat lover who enjoys working with people, Mark can’t wait to get out there, meeting new clients, caring for cuddly cats and building up his team. “Cats are very particular creatures; most prefer to be in their own homes rather than go to catteries, so my team and I will be providing the ultimate cat visiting service for when their owners can’t be there. I have one cat of my own, Becky, a 15yr old domestic short-haired tabby who is indulged by me, her own personal butler, so I am fairly well trained already and know how important tummy tickles and chin rubs are,” he says.

When not caring for cats, Mark also works for local mental health charities Restore and Oxfordshire Recovery College.

With owners flocking abroad on holiday once again, Mark sees now as the perfect time to launch his new business. He says: “We anticipate a huge demand for our services as we head towards the summer holidays and are urging cat owners to get in touch with us sooner rather than later. Our service will appeal to those who truly want the very best for their cats; people who like to receive regular video updates showing their cat looking happy and healthy and knowing that someone is casting a cursory eye around the property once or twice a day.”

Franchisor Sandra James says: “On behalf of the network I’d like to welcome Mark to The Cat Butler. It has been great getting to know him over the past couple of months as we’ve been through training and setting up his business. He has all the attributes we are looking for in a franchisee, ambitious to build a decent-sized business to support him and his family, great with people, happy to follow our franchise model and of course, he loves cats. We know he is going to make a huge success of his business and we are here to support him every step of the way.”