By FRED KRONER
Once upon a time (where have you heard that before?) there was a young man and a young lass whose fairy tale dreams really did come true.
Twice.
Meet Mahomet’s Kyle and Kirby Mitchem.
They are husband and wife as well as the new owners of what was previously known as Hill Animal Care, on South Division Street, in Mahomet. They have renamed it Harvest Valley Veterinary Services.
We’ll get to that.
First, Kyle Mitchem is a 2005 Mahomet-Seymour graduate who – at one time – thought he would like to work as a vet.
“I love animals and thought it would be really cool to work at and eventually own a practice near my childhood home,” Kyle says. “Unfortunately, as I got older and entered college, I ultimately decided that business school fit me better than vet school and I chose a different avenue of education.”
He changed his career path, but not his passion for animals.
Kyle explains: “I lived alone (in Urbana) and I decided it was time to expand the family, so I went and adopted my first dog, Bubba (Wiley), who is now a 14-year-old lab-shepherd mix, and I would drive back to Mahomet to see Dr. (Jane) Fox.
“During one of those visits, I met a beautiful girl named Kirby who was the receptionist at that time, and would not talk to me.
“After some persistence, she finally gave me her number and we started dating. Fast forward 12 years and we are married with two children and a farm full of animals that we have moved to Mahomet.”
Kirby Mitchem, the former Kirby Weber, has served as the office manager at Hill Animal Care for 11 ½ years. Kyle is an auditor.
Kirby Mitchem was 21 years old when Dr. Fox hired her as a receptionist in January, 2010. A year-and-a-half later, she became the office manager.
It didn’t start out as her dream job.
“I don’t think I ever had the intention of working there long term, but as the years passed, I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else,” Kirby says. “I grew up in Champaign, so I loved the small-town community Mahomet offered.”
Her duties varied, but were primarily managing staff, inventory and billing.
“I handled the day-to-day operations so Dr. Fox could focus on taking care of patients,” Kirby says.
Meanwhile, Kyle’s day job for more than a decade was – and is – as an auditor.
He previously managed the Internal Audit department for Carle/Health Alliance until April, 2021, and now works as the IT Auditor for the University of Illinois.
His job provides him an unique perspective on business operations and processes.
“It has also enabled me to work with incredible people at all levels of an organization where I am able to learn and help improve processes throughout the organization,” Kyle says. “For example, each time I complete an audit, I will work with the executives of an area and get an understanding of the vision and the ‘why’ as we work together on the scope of the audit.
“Then during that audit, I will interview and work with employees at the ground level to get a granular perspective on how processes actually work and what makes the business tick.”
Meanwhile, Kirby Mitchem had not only found the love of her life in Kyle, but also a job that was equal parts rewarding, satisfying and enjoyable.
“I loved the relationships I made with the clients,” Kirby says. “I’ve met so many great people – clients and staff members – and a lot of them I’ve developed lifelong friendships with outside of the clinic.”
She recognizes that the profession has its share of challenges.
“I think one of my favorite things is supporting my staff,” she says. “This industry can lead to a lot of staff burnout.
“One of my biggest goals as an owner is to do what I can to change that and make Harvest Valley a place where everyone wants to come and work.”
The Mitchems didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to make an offer on the building and the business. Their interest was originally based on a concern about job security.
“She was beginning to get really worried about the future for herself and the rest of the staff,” Kyle says. “Kirby had no idea what she was going to do if it closed, as Hill Animal Care had become just as important to her as it was to Jane.”
As far back as 2020, Fox had given indications that she might be interested in making a change in her life.
“Giving credit where credit is due, this was mostly Kyle’s idea,” Kirby says. “I honestly never thought it would be possible, but Kyle proved me wrong and I’m glad he did.
“This has been something he has talked about for YEARS and YEARS. We had MANY conversations about ‘someday when we own the clinic.’ Definitely a dream that turned into reality.”
Kyle was proactive once he learned that the dream was not just a fantasy.
“Jane had started making side comments to Kirby about moving to Chicago, starting to slow down and beginning a new chapter to her life,” Kyle recalls. “One night (about two years ago), Kirby was talking about what Jane was saying to her and she was worried that Jane was going to close or sell the business to corporate and … that is when I mentioned that we should email Jane and put a bug in her that if she was interested in selling, that we would love the first opportunity to purchase.”
The initial response was not encouraging.
“Jane told us she was not interested in selling the business at that time,” Kyle remembers.
The Mitchems didn’t lose their optimism.
“We always kept it in the back of our minds,” Kirby says.
They soon heard the answer for which they had hoped.
“Six months later she reached out and said that she had a change of heart and was really ready to move on and that she would love to work with us to sell the business,” Kyle adds.
The Mitchems set the wheels in motion and about a year-and-a-half later – on Aug. 18, 2022 – the couple became the proud owners of Hill Animal Care and the building where the business is housed.
Kirby is confident that she and Kyle were the perfect fit for taking over the ownership.
“I think with my work experience and Kyle’s business experience and education, it really just made sense for us,” she says. “Animals are our passion and I care so much about this clinic, the clients, their furry family members, my staff and this industry.
“This is not something that was handed to us. It was an emotional roller-coaster to say the least. We worked really hard at it, and it took a lot of strength and perseverance, but looking back I’d do it all over again.”
While the dream had existed for years, receiving the green light sent the planning and preparations into warp speed.
“This is something we both had wanted for a very long time,” Kyle says. “The sudden change came when Jane decided she was ready to move on and we were actually going to act on a dream that we both had talked about for a very long time.”
The process was more complicated due to the Mitchems being non-DVM owners.
“The process was actually pretty long,” Kirby relates. “We had to go through some extra hoops to make sure everything was done correctly.”
They had no shortage of items on their to-do check-list as they moved forward.
“This wasn’t just Kirby and Kyle,” Kirby says. “We had to assemble a team of people to help us, from a local bank, attorneys and lenders.
“So many people were involved to whom we will always be thankful. We had so much support from family and friends wanting this for us just as much as we wanted it. It truly took a village.”
The couple were organized and efficient as they pursued their dream.
“An incredible amount of research went into the purchase to ensure that all items were in place to hit the ground running on Day 1 when the doors opened under our management,” Kyle says. “On top of that, we had to pull so many resources together in order to financially make this happen.
“We worked with a local bank that ultimately had to introduce us to an out-of-state SBA lender that had the capability of purchasing this type of business. Not to mention sourcing attorneys to help get through the difficult part of negotiations and then personal investment to cover the down-payment where we had to sell assets or use up savings and retirement funds.”
And now, Kirby Mitchem walks into the same office on a daily basis where she has worked for nearly 13 years, but the feelings – and responsibilities – are different and strange.
“VERY WEIRD,” she says. “Although I do a lot of the same things, it’s a little surreal that the day-to-day operations are all my own decisions.
“I still find myself thinking throughout the day, ‘is this real life? Did I ACTUALLY do it?’”
Though it may still seem like a dream at times, Kirby Mitchem is brought back to reality when she prepares to tackle the workload.
“Right now, I am mostly still getting things in order with being a new business,” she says. “There’s a lot of paperwork to do and I’m working on setting up some new updated amenities which will make our lives a little easier.
“I’m still there every day running things behind the scenes.”
Kyle Mitchem retains his full-time job as an auditor for the UI, but will also serve as an active partner with Harvest Valley.
“My role with the business is administrative management,” he says. “I am in charge of the budget and deciding on what items we are going to accomplish next for the improvement of the business for the clients, doctors, and staff that Kirby has identified.
“Kirby is the operational management of the business. She is on site full-time and ensures that the business is running smoothly as she has done for the last 13 years.
“She also makes decisions on what are the things that we can do to improve the business for the staff and clients, such as better technologies, improved computer software, better packages from vendors to provide clients with the best diagnostics and equipment to help their pets.”
Not all of the changes are ones which will be immediately noticeable by clients, but they all are designed to improve customer-experience.
“Currently, we are in the process of upgrading the computer system to go fully paperless and integrate all of our tools to one system,” Kyle says. “The new software will allow us to make the billing process smoother and more secure for clients as ensuring that data is safe is a very high priority.
“It will allow us to integrate the pet’s files to make them more manageable, and it will allow our diagnostic tools to streamline results from the hospital to the client.
“For example, we will now be able to push X-ray images to the client’s phone and allow them to have digital sessions with our doctor as the doctor is showing them in real time on their personal device’s screen what they are looking at.”
Ultimately, they are thinking family first.
“It’s really important to us to be an example to our kids of what you can accomplish when you follow your dreams and put in the hard work,” Kirby says.
One of the biggest decisions was finding a replacement for Dr. Jane Fox.
The choice was Dr. Liz Vander Vennet, a 2015 graduate from the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine.
“Dr. Vander Vennet and I met in 2020 when she started working one day a week for Dr. Fox and in my mind, it was always her,” Kirby says. “She is so compassionate, skillful, and she truly takes the time to listen to the owners.
“It’s very important to her for the animals to be comfortable while they are visiting the vet. I also love that preventative care is something she feels very passionate about; keeping your pets happy and healthy for as long as possible.”
Kyle Mitchem was totally supportive of the choice.
“We chose Dr. Vander Vennet because she had worked here previously, and Kirby and her had a really good rapport with each other,” he says. “They also shared the same values and are always on the same page when they communicate.
“Kirby has worked with many doctors over the years and heard a lot of feedback from clients when they discuss the doctors and what they like or do not like.
“Dr. Vander Vennet hands-down checked all of the boxes for what we wanted in a teammate at the clinic. We are completely confident in her abilities as a doctor and the care she provides to our clients’ pets.”
There are other pending changes which will be readily identifiable by clients. One, in particular, can be traced to the more than two dozen animals that live with the Mitchems on their family farm.
“I’ve had horses since I was 12 years old,” Kirby says. “We currently have 10 horses, two mini horses, one miniature donkey, three goats, four cats and five dogs at our farm.
“It’s such a big passion of ours, so it’s really important to me to be able to expand into offering large-animal mobile services. I hope to be able to add this service in the future.
“There is a big need for large-animal vets in this area.”
Also on the wish list: “We would also like to hire a groomer to offer grooming services again,” Kirby adds.
Although the business location remains the same – as does the phone number – and the company’s social media and Google pages have been updated with the new hours, the business was naturally renamed.
“So far I think our biggest challenge has been letting the clients know we are still here,” Kirby says.
Kyle Mitchem says that a logical process was followed as different ideas were considered for naming the business.
“I grew up in this town and the building, in our opinion, is a landmark of the area,” he says. “We really wanted a clinic name that represented the area we live in.
“We want people to feel the same way about it. We felt the new business should continue to remind people of where they have always brought their pets and we wanted to keep that and represent the Mahomet area.
“We know that Mahomet is a bedrock valley, and our area is home to some of the richest farmland in the country. So, these two things became our theme and from there we started spit-balling different names until one day Kirby said, ‘Harvest Valley’ and it just felt right.”
Kirby says there were certain ‘musts’ as they worked on a name.
“I don’t really have a fun explanation,” she says. “It was really important to us to come up with a name that described Mahomet without using the name.
“I knew I wanted it to be a little different and stand out as there are three additional vet clinics in the area. We actually did a lot of research on the history of Mahomet and descriptive words.
“We came across an article about the Sangamon River and Mahomet being in a Bedrock Valley. I instantly felt that ‘Valley’ had to be a part of the name. The Harvest part just kind of came to me last October during harvest season. I just feel like it describes our small-town farming community.”
The Mitchems originally settled on a variation of what became the final name, but made a late change.
“Honestly, it was going to be named Harvest Valley Animal Center until we changed it within weeks of closing,” Kirby says. “Since we eventually want to be able to expand into large-animal mobile services, we felt like ‘veterinary services’ described that a bit better.”
As details of the purchase were finalized, the couple put themselves in position for expansion.
“Our actual business name is Mitchem Veterinary Management, LLC and the clinic has its own name,” Kirby says. “We could offer our management services to any clinic or own multiple clinics.”
For the Mitchems, the Mahomet business is truly a home away from the residence where they live.
“I really want everyone to know how important this place is to us,” Kirby says. “Kyle and I actually met here, so it really holds a special place in our hearts.”
Their goal is to make it special for more than just the two of them.
“We want everyone to know that a lot of time and energy has gone into this purchase and that it is incredibly important and special to us,” Kyle Mitchem says. “We want to provide the best care we can and provide the clients with value and care that is unmatched by bringing in the best doctors we can, employ the most caring staff, invest in the latest technologies, and improve and update amenities to make clients and animals as comfortable during their visit as possible.”
And that is the fairy-tale-come-true story of a young man and a young lass who didn’t know each other until an animal – and a business – brought them together.
