Josh Lyon
Josh Lyon’s affinity for membership models is to be expected after years scaling membership-led brands.
“That was my comfort spot,” said Lyon, who has a 15-plus-year career in the fitness industry.
Lyon shifted his wellness focus from humans to dogs in 2021, joining membership-based dog wellness concept Scenthound as vice president of operations. The company promoted him to chief operating officer in April.
“I had a lot of opportunity to grow with this brand. When I started, we had seven units open,” Lyon said. “Over that time, I’ve been going through what it looks like to build a team and build the structure to grow to 50 units, to go to 100 units and surpass 165 units by the end of this year.”
In four years with Scenthound, Lyon has seen the company grow from its franchise infancy to an established player in the pet wellness segment. The brand, now at 135 units, opened its first franchise location in December 2020, just six months before Lyon came on board.
Early growth in 2021 and 2022 had the brand prioritizing one-on-one support with its franchisees. “What we had to learn quickly in 2023 and 2024 … was that we didn’t quite have all the system infrastructure and support to scale the way we needed to,” Lyon said, “so we spent the last two years really building that.”
These advancements included upgrading the franchise development team and making “experience maps” with stages and expectations mapped out for customers, employees and franchisees.
Lyon said the company is opening about one unit a week and has brought in stronger, larger operators. His top priority as COO is ensuring these newer systems in place translate to profitable, sustainable business for franchisees.
Lyon is also a Scenthound franchisee and plans to open five units in the Kansas City market. He said over the last year and a half he’s expanded his understanding of what Scenthound franchisees need to excel and is already applying those findings in his new role.
“I want to be known as a leader that can build a culture where a team and franchisees feel very clear on what success looks like and feel very supported on how to get there,” Lyon said. “I see myself a little bit as a connector in some ways, aligning departments, simplifying priorities and helping everyone stay focused on what actually is going to drive performance.”