For a group already running on PocketSuite, adding a new location typically takes about 30 minutes for a new location to onboard and launch, largely because the new location’s account can be set up by duplicating an existing location’s settings through the Account Switcher rather than being configured from scratch.
PocketSuite powers 7,000+ service businesses, including 1,000+ pet service businesses, whose clients have collectively processed nearly $1 billion in income and scheduled over 9.2 million appointments. How fast a new location can actually go live is a real constraint on growth for any multi-location group, every week spent on setup instead of booking clients is a week of revenue a new location does not get to capture.
Two Different Timelines: First Location vs. Adding a Location
It is worth separating two different situations that get discussed under the same question. A business setting up PocketSuite for the very first time, migrating existing data, configuring services and pricing from zero, training a team, follows PocketSuite’s full implementation process: Demo, Configuration, Data Migration, Training & Soft Launch, and Go Live & Hypercare. That is a more involved, guided rollout appropriate for a first-time setup.
Adding a location to a system that is already running on PocketSuite is a different, much faster process. That is where the 30 minutes for a new location to onboard and launch figure applies, because the new location is not starting from zero, it is duplicating a working setup that already exists.
Why Duplicating Settings Is the Time Saver
The Account Switcher’s “copy, paste, and you’re done” option is the specific mechanism that makes adding a location fast: an existing location’s services, pricing, packages, messaging templates, and booking flow can be duplicated directly into the new location’s account, then adjusted only where the new site genuinely needs something different.
Without that shortcut, adding a location would mean rebuilding a services menu, pricing structure, and booking configuration from scratch every single time, which is a multi-day task, not a 30-minute one. The time savings comes specifically from not starting over.
“I owned a gym for about five years and used PocketSuite for the gym, then transitioned and opened this business. I was just going to use it how I always used it and apply it to grooming — I already know how to use it, it does all the same things, and it’s cheaper.” said Amanda Stafford, owner, Polished Puppies Grooming, describing moving her existing PocketSuite account from one business into an entirely new one. That is the same underlying idea a multi-location group relies on when opening a new site: an account that already works is the fastest possible starting point for the next one.
What Still Needs Local Setup
Duplicating settings covers the configuration that is genuinely reusable, services, pricing, packages, messaging. It does not automatically handle everything local to the new site: a location-specific dedicated business line, local staff added to the new location’s team roster, and any resource calendar setup specific to that facility’s physical layout, suites, runs, or play yards, still need to be configured for the new location itself.
That local setup is quick and contained, a short, specific list rather than the open-ended task of rebuilding an entire services and pricing structure from a blank account, and PocketSuite’s in-app live chat connects a business directly with a Product Expert if any step needs a hand along the way. That distinction is what keeps the overall timeline close to the 30-minute figure for the core account setup.
Watch: Meet the Pet Resort Edition of PocketSuite
What Happens After the Account Is Set Up
Once the new location’s account exists, it is automatically part of the group’s Account Switcher, meaning the owner can move between it and every other location with the same login immediately, and it can be included in a Roll-up Account for combined reporting, or in the Multi-Location dashboard’s roll-up reporting and location comparison analytics, right away rather than after a separate integration step.
That immediate inclusion in system-wide reporting is part of why the fast setup matters beyond convenience: a new location is not a reporting blind spot for the first few weeks while someone manually adds it into a spreadsheet, it shows up in the same dashboards as every other location from day one.
A Practical Checklist for Opening Location Number Four (Or Fourteen)
For a group about to add another location, a workable sequence is: duplicate the best-performing existing location’s account settings as the starting template, set up the location-specific business line and physical resource calendar for the new site, add the new location’s team roster with the appropriate roles and permissions, and confirm the location shows up correctly in the Roll-up Account or Multi-Location dashboard before opening for bookings.
None of that sequence requires rebuilding pricing or services from scratch, which is the specific reason the setup itself can realistically land close to the 30-minute figure, even though local logistics around physically opening a new site will naturally take longer.
Why the 30-Minute Figure Is Plausible at Real Scale
That speed matters because of how often growing operators are actually opening new locations. Multi-location and franchise businesses on PocketSuite already span 2 to 50 U.S. cities or states, and PocketSuite’s own franchise and multi-location figures put $750MM in payment volume processed, 7.6 million appointments booked, and 30%+ average income growth in a location’s first 90 days on the platform across the businesses using that side of the platform. A software setup process that took days per location, rather than about 30 minutes, would meaningfully slow down growth at that pace, especially for a system opening several locations in the same year.
That is also why duplicating settings, rather than a guided but slower step-by-step setup wizard, is the right tool for this specific job: a group opening its tenth location does not need to be walked through what a service menu or booking flow is again, it needs its existing, working setup copied forward as fast as possible.
What a First-Time Setup Involves, for Comparison
For contrast, a business setting up PocketSuite for the very first time goes through the fuller five-phase process: a demo to identify pain points, a configuration phase gathering services, pricing, client/pet profiles, team, and scheduling details, data migration from a previous system, training and a soft launch with real clients and team, and finally go-live with a period of hypercare support. That process is intentionally more thorough, because there is no existing PocketSuite account yet to duplicate from.
Once that first account exists, though, every location added after it can skip most of that process and lean on duplication instead, which is the entire reason the timeline drops from a multi-phase implementation down to about 30 minutes for each additional site.
Planning the Rest of a Location Opening Around the Software
Because the software setup itself is fast, the realistic timeline for opening a new pet boarding location is mostly determined by everything else, hiring and training local staff, physically preparing the space, and marketing the new location into the local market, not by configuring PocketSuite. That is worth planning for directly: the account can be ready well before the physical location is, which means the setup step should not be treated as the pacing item on an opening timeline.
A group that builds its location-opening checklist assuming the software takes days will end up with slack time it did not plan for. Knowing the account setup itself takes about 30 minutes lets that time get reallocated to the parts of opening a new location that genuinely do take longer, hiring and training a local team, preparing the physical space, and getting the word out in a new market.
That reallocation is worth writing down explicitly in whatever opening checklist a group already uses, rather than leaving it as an assumption a project lead has to remember on their own. A checklist that names the software setup step at 30 minutes, right next to the multi-week steps for hiring and lease preparation, keeps the whole timeline realistic instead of quietly padded with time nobody actually needs to spend.
Frequently Asked Questions
PocketSuite’s franchise and multi-location page states 30 minutes for a new location to onboard and launch, for a group already running on the platform that duplicates an existing location’s account settings into the new one.
No. First-time setup follows a full implementation process (Demo, Configuration, Data Migration, Training & Soft Launch, Go Live & Hypercare). Adding a location to an already-running multi-location system is faster because it duplicates existing settings rather than starting from zero.
Services, pricing, packages, messaging templates, and booking flow can be duplicated from an existing account into a new one through the Account Switcher.
A location-specific business line, local staff added to that location’s team roster, and any facility-specific resource calendar setup (suites, runs, play yards) still need to be configured for the new site.
Yes. Once set up, a new location is included in the Account Switcher, any Roll-up Account, and Multi-Location dashboard reporting immediately, without a separate integration step.
Adding a new pet boarding location does not have to mean rebuilding a services menu and pricing structure from scratch every single time. On PocketSuite, that core setup can happen in about 30 minutes by duplicating an existing location’s account, with local specifics like staffing and the physical resource calendar handled separately.
For a group planning its next location opening, walking through that duplicate-and-adjust setup against an existing account is the fastest way to know exactly what will take 30 minutes and what still needs local attention, before that timeline becomes a real deadline tied to a lease start date or a grand-opening announcement.
