With the addition of boarding and veterinary services to the Kanine Social dog bar, owners Dustin Fries and Daniel Moffatt say their facility is a “one-stop shop” that they believe is the only one of its kind in the country.
Fries and Moffatt opened Kanine Social in August 2018, starting with dog day care services along with an indoor/outdoor dog park where owners can drink beer, wine and coffee and socialize while their dogs play.
They bought the 15,884-square-foot building at 580 College St. in Riverside in 2017, knowing that S4 Sports Academy’s lease of 4,000 square feet of space in the building would be up in two years.
When S4 Sports vacated the building, Fries and Moffatt leased half of it to Forever Vets Animal Hospital, which operates seven other Jacksonville locations.
They knew they wanted to add vet services, and sought out veterinary offices in Northeast Florida that wanted to to expand.
Fries and Moffatt said they hope to partner with Forever Vets as they add Kanine Social locations.
They built-out the other half of the 4,000 square feet for 30 boarding suites.
Boarding services began in December and Forever Vets opened Jan. 4.
“You can go out of town, your dog can get a checkup, their shots, you can come on the weekends, have a beer or a glass of wine, watch sports, hang out with friends,” Fries said. “There’s something for everyone.”
Boarding includes daily photos and videos of pets for owners; indoor and outdoor play areas; staff availability until and after 9 p.m.; professional bathing services; and access to the Forever Vets full-service animal hospital.
Dogs that are boarding are grouped with the day care dogs, which spend most of their day playing in a supervised setting.
Boarding starts at $50 a night for a luxury suite and up to $65 for a family boarding suite, which can hold three dogs.
Because the park and taproom are open until 9 p.m., and 10 p.m. at the latest, staff members are able to take dogs out later in the day than other facilities, Fries said. The vet services also are available to the boarded dogs, if needed.
Since boarding began in December, Moffatt said new customers are coming to Kanine Social.
“People go out of town, everybody needs a place for their dogs,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot of people that are customers maybe on the park side or they know about us but they hadn’t used the day care service because it’s not really what they need.”
They hope the same happens with Forever Vets. Although the two are in the same building, the businesses are separate.
“Since they’re here on the weekends, it’s convenient for them (customers) to be able to just stop into Forever Vets and get an annual checkup or get vaccinations done (for pets) or anything like that,” Moffatt said.
Moffatt said the vet was planning on adding a buzzer-style system that would be given to dog owners while they wait in the taproom or park to notify them when the dog is ready to be picked up.
The day care portion of the business averages around 20 dogs a day, Moffatt said. Even with the new additions, the goal would be to “keep the boutique feel” of the facility, so employees can be familiar with customers, both dogs and humans.
Moffatt and Fries said they “would love” to add another Kanine Social location, but have struggled to find an appropriate space to purchase. He said they’ve looked in St. Johns County, Tallahassee, Tampa and Orlando for property.
“When we can find the right place, we will be opening another one,” Moffatt said.
