Chris Gaba, Co-Founder of Central Bark Doggy Day Care, has taken his passion for pets and for service to others – and combined them into one powerful philanthropic program for his franchise system. Chris Gaba has owned and trained dogs since age nine, starting with the family dog Ringo, a liver-spotted Dalmatian. He is a true dog lover and has developed a deep affinity with dogs of every breed.   

Chris worked in Advertising and Marketing for over 12 years when in 2000, he decided it was time to hang up the suit and follow his passion. He opened Central Bark Dog Day Care and Training Center, Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, and in less than three years the business has grown into one of the most successful new ventures in Broward County. He has three four-legged children, Sophie and Taz, both Weimaraners, and Boo Radley, a Brussels Griffon. Chris shares how he integrated his vision for Dog Bless America, an organization that places service dogs with wounded veterans returning from war, into Central Bark and he’s here today to share advice for small business owners on how to successfully develop their own charitable programs.

Below are the questions we asked Chris:

• (2:19) First, can you tell us about yourself and your background?
• (4:12) How does Central Bark Doggy Daycare work? 
• (7:08) Is the entire concept of Central Bark franchised or is it just the philanthropic program?
• (8:24) Tell us more about Dog Bless America?  What exactly is that program?
• (11:52) How does this philanthropic program help the franchisee?  If I am a franchisee, why would I want that?
• (12:33) How do you encourage franchisees to participate?
• (16:13) How has your work with Dog Bless America impacted your life from a personal standpoint?
• (17:23) How has this impacted the way you look at and do business?
• (18:27) How has that translated to some of the charitable contributions your franchisees are making?  Are you seeing that impacting their business through this process as well?
• (20:13) How has social media impacted the way you are using, and doing business with, Dog Bless America?
• (21:02) So you are thinking that maybe the use of social media on the charitable side may actually help the franchises on the business side as well?
• (21:42) What are the more important qualities that are necessary for a charitable program like yours to be successful?
• (23:00) How much time do you spend on the business side versus the charitable side?
• (24:08) Has this made your overall quality of life better, both the personal and the business side?
• (24:30) What advice would you give business owners to integrate charitable giving into their business?
• (25:18) Chris, where can people find out more?
• (25:28) A year or two from now, how many franchises do you think you will have?
• (26:17) If you had to guess, how much of your success would you put to the charitable side of your business?

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