A Surrey-based dog crèche company has scooped a top national business award.

Bruce’s Doggy Day Care received the best small business accolade at the SME National Business Awards 2017 black-tie ceremony on Friday (1 December 2017) at Wembley Stadium. The company was crowned winner in the ‘Business of the Year less than 50 Employees’ category and runner-up in the ‘Business Innovation’ category.

The past few years have brought rapid expansion for the business, leading to a growing client base and the introduction of a unique tailor-made customer iPhone app and staff iPad app to cope with the demand. As well as bespoke cloud-based CRM (customer relationship management) software.

The judges commented that Bruce’s Doggy Day Care is a “fantastic business who have found their niche. Great use of technology shows innovation can be brought to any sector.”

Bruce Casalis, CEO and Founder, Bruce’s Doggy Day Care, said:

“We are absolutely thrilled to receive this national recognition. As one of the leading and most respected dog crèche businesses in the country, we have grown rapidly in the past couple of years. Our success is very much down to an excellent hardworking team and loyal customers – four-legged and two! I’d like to personally thank them all for enabling us to reach the finals and receive this best in class award.”

Bruce founded the business in 2009 with just a couple of huts and a few acres. He now employs 48 people and runs two sophisticated purpose-built sites totalling 30 acres which care for over 600 dogs of all shapes and sizes. The canine customers are collected in special air-conditioned doggy buses from their homes in catchment areas around London and Surrey. They spend the day at the Bruce’s Doggy Day Care facilities having fun with their four-legged friends before being driven home tired and happy.

This latest award follows on from Bruce winning the 2017 Haines Watts Young Entrepreneur of the Year on 16 November, and the business reaching the finals of the Pet Industry Federation Awards 2017 on 28 November.

Further information on the SME National Business Awards 2017 can be found here.