No. My late father started his own solo vet practice in 1983, in that less capital intensive environment, and he still required a substantial amount of seed capital to procure and retrofit the building to meet regulations and have enough in the tank to keep it going through the initial lean business years. (There were other complications related to the specific property and title liens not relevant here.) In these days it's not much different than a solo medical practice in terms of startup costs.
Later VCA and Banfield asked him every year to sell out and he never did, but he was an already established practice by then. I can see why new vets are much less likely to embark on it.
Not sure what your point is. I'm not saying you can open a vet for free. All businesses require capital. But, as evidenced by your father, opening a new vet practice is not some totally new thing no one has ever done before. People have done it and people will continue to do it.
> opening a new vet practice is not some totally new thing no one has ever done before.
No one claimed no one had ever opened a vet practice. What they are claiming is that it is expensive. Nobody is accusing you of saying that someone can open a vet practice for free. What they are claiming is that it is expensive.
> People have done it and people will continue to do it.
Everyone knows this that independent vet practices have been opened in the past, and that some are likely to be opened in the future.
It seems like a vet would be about as expensive as opening a restaurant, maybe 1-3x as much. That doesn't seem like the most capital intensive thing ever.
It is more expensive to open a clinic than a restaurant, with the costs being anywhere from $500k-$1M. The main difference between the two is that the vet clinic has higher running costs aka salaries in the early years before the practice takes off. For restaurants, it’s relatively lower (staff salaries and produce) if the demand is lower.
500K-1M seems about 1-3x a typical restaurant. I'd also be surprised to learn that running a vet is more expensive than a restaurant. The margins are seem like they'd be way lower in a restaurant.
