By FRED KRONER
It was just an off-hand comment.
Megan (Schumacher) Williams was serious when she spoke, but she was also intending to show how impressed she was with the startup business that a friend’s parents were opening in Mahomet.
In December, 2018, Williams attended the open house for Ruff Dayz, a doggie daycare and boarding facility in Mahomet on Lake of the Woods Road.
“I made a joke that if you ever want to sell, to let me know,” Williams said.
Funny thing is, that comment is now becoming a reality.
Barely two years later, Williams and her husband Spenser – a Mahomet-Seymour graduate – are in the process of purchasing Ruff Dayz from Tim and Lacy Belangee.
If not for the funeral home business, it’s very possible that neither couple would be in the position they find themselves today.
Megan Williams, a graduate of St. Joseph-Ogden, attended the Worsham College of Mortuary Science school in Chicago. One of the other students was Laina Schmidt, the daughter of the Belangees.
Schmidt’s interest in the profession came naturally. Her grandfather, Elvin – Tim Belangee’s father – is a funeral home director at Calvert-Belangee-Bruce, which serves Farmer City, Mansfield, Saybrook, Heyworth and LeRoy.
Megan Williams worked in the field for two years in the Chicago area before deciding, “funeral home directing wasn’t for me.”
She switched gears and has spent six years working in veterinary medicine, including two years as a vet tech.
Schmidt also decided her future wasn’t in serving as a funeral home director and moved to Rochester, N.Y., where she is an event planner.
Tim Belangee – whose full-time job for nearly 20 years has been as an Urbana fireman – is looking forward to taking over the family business when his father retires. That could happen as soon as the end of 2021, when Tim will qualify for his fire pension, making it imperative to seek a buyer for Ruff Dayz.
“We can’t do both,” he said.
For the Williams, the timing was perfect.
“We jumped on it immediately,” Megan Williams said. “It was really a no-brainer.”
Likewise, the Belangees felt comfortable in turning over their thriving business to the Williams.
Lacy Belangee remembers Megan Williams’ first reaction when the subject was broached.
“Her immediate response was, ‘This is your baby. How could I do it justice,’” Lacy Belangee said. “We knew all about her heart for dogs. She was ready to jump in and will be so good at it.”
Tim Belangee wholeheartedly agreed.
“We’ll never find anybody better,” he said. “They are great kids and kind of seem like our family. We’ve been around Megan a lot.”
A smooth transition is expected and will happen officially within about the next month.
Megan Williams has been in the building most days since early October, learning the ins and outs of the business and serving as the manager.
“I’m learning these dogs’ personalities, who likes to play with who, and who keeps them entertained,” she said.
“She has that knack,” Lacy Belangee said. “She is very good at keeping the staff focused.”
It has been an important time for the Williams.
“It’s in our favor to be on the inside before we take over,” Spenser Williams said. “Lacy and Tim have a loyal following and we want to put out the same kind of quality.”
Though his wife is still working on a daily basis with animals, Spenser Williams has seen a dramatic shift in her mood during the past six weeks.
“Before, Megan’s job was dealing with dogs that are stressed out (visiting a vet) and getting shots,” Spenser Williams said. “With Ruff Dayz, it’s a different environment.
“The dogs are super-excited. The amount of stress is less and she is loving it. She is like a fish in water and is doing exactly what she needs to be doing.”
Tim Belangee said the decision to sell the business was made after careful contemplation.
“A ton of things went into that,” Tim Belangee said. “Ultimately, for me, it was talking with my dad (who is 78) and trying to figure out the next step for our family business, the funeral home.
“He wanted to know what our plans are and that got the ball rolling. It percolated from there and didn’t take long. We didn’t advertise, and it snowballed fast with Megan.”
Running the funeral home business has been on Tim Belangee’s mind for years.
“It’s a great opportunity that can not be passed up,” Tim Belangee said. “I feel like I should do that. I wouldn’t have had my degree in that if I didn’t enjoy it.”
The Belangees have not only shared their knowledge about the business, but have also shouldered an additional part of the workload.
“Tim and I installed turf in the back and made the runs bigger,” Spenser Williams said.
Both couples have been cooperative while working with each other.
“They built this from the ground up,” Spenser Williams said. “They give us their ideas, but when we have an idea, they say, ‘Go ahead.’”
Moving forward, Spenser Williams plans to divide his time between Ruff Dayz and his full-time job as a field sales representative for Bayer Crop Science. He has eight years of experience selling seed corn and soybeans, DeKalb and Asgrow brands.
“Megan will be the face of the business,” he said.
Megan Williams said there is no second-guessing about purchasing a business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are so extremely excited,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine it going any better.
“I definitely didn’t know what to expect, but I’m getting the hang of it. Every day it feels a little bit more like ours.”
Megan Williams is seeing signs that her background in veterinary medicine is already paying dividends.
“The good thing I bring to the table is knowledge and recognizing if something is going on (with a dog),” she said. “We recently had a dog whose entire nail came out and it was easy to explain (to the owners) what was going on.
“One of the biggest parts for vet techs is client education and explaining why you are doing this. I am able to answer questions that people have.”
Lacy Belangee is pleased that someone with a vet tech background will be involved in the operation.
“That knowledge is priceless,” Lacy Belangee said. “We didn’t have it, and had to look to someone else who knew.”
Though the Williams will unveil a new logo soon – featuring their own American Staffordshire Terrier, 2-year-old Finley – they are keeping many of the policies employed by the Belangees.
A big attraction is having staff members on the premises 24 hours a day when dogs are present.
“We definitely will continue that,” Megan Williams said. “That is a big selling point, having someone here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they are not kenneled at night.”
Ruff Dayz can handle a maximum of 45 dogs and Megan Williams estimates that the daily average is close to 30. Daycare is available Monday through Friday. Boarding is available seven nights a week.
The business, which caters to everything from puppies to geriatric dogs, has filled a need in Mahomet.
“Our accountant made the comment that in over 20 years, she had never seen a business go from zero to where we were at in a year,” Tim Belangee said.
The Belangees were surprised by the quick takeoff.
“We got busy real quick,” Lacy Belangee said. “That was something we didn’t expect.”
The Belangees were not only starting at ground zero with the business and getting the word out, but also in hiring staff. The Williams’ take over with a solid foundation in place.
“There’s a good staff to hand over,” Lacy Belangee said. “The ones now are the best of the best.”
When the Mahomet Chamber of Commerce handed out awards early in 2020, Ruff Dayz was selected as the Startup Business of the Year.
The Belangees made sure that Megan and Spenser Williams had input in recent business decisions, including the hiring of an experienced groomer, who will start soon and fill a void that has existed since August.
“It was great to be part of the hiring process,” Megan Williams said.
The Williams have lived in St. Joseph the past four years, but plan to look for housing in Mahomet.
When he graduated from high school, Spenser Williams – a 2014 University of Illinois graduate – didn’t have a master plan where he would eventually return to the community.
“I had a career path that could have taken me anywhere,” he said. “Planting roots where I grew up is good.
“It feels good to come full circle and help the community I grew up in.”
His goal for the business, he said, is “trying to make it like home as much as possible when they’re here.”
As for the Belangees, they won’t be totally removed from Ruff Dayz.
“We love the dogs and have become friends with their family members,” Lacy Belangee said. “We will go back (and work) when they are on vacation.”
Even if they weren’t coming to work, Tim Belangee said there would still be an obligation to return.
“Our dogs think this is their house as well,” he said.
