Wild Birds Unlimited is a wildlife franchise with more than 350 stores across North America. Discover what inspired our founder to start the business and remains our passion and driving force today.

Wild Birds Unlimited History

In 1981, Jim Carpenter, our founder and CEO, had a dream. Jim loved the hobby of bird feeding and the idea of controlling his own destiny by owning his own business. Jim was a natural entrepreneur; as a child, his grandparents had owned a small chain of “five and dime” retail stores in his home state of Indiana. So, with a big dream and small inheritance, Jim opened the first Wild Birds Unlimited store in Indianapolis, IN. Jim believed that if he offered the best bird feeding products, delivered the finest customer experience, and focused on enhancing his customers’ lives by providing them the best way to enjoy their backyard bird feeding hobby, his business was sure to succeed.

He was right! Jim’s commitment created a strong foundation that has supported 40 years of growth and a thriving wildlife franchise that’s bringing joy to thousands of customers throughout the US and Canada.

The Cornerstone of Our Wildlife Franchise

Our Mission:  We Bring People & Nature Together…and we do it with excellence.

Our Vision:  We Bring Joy into our Customers’ Lives…by sharing our passion for birds and knowledge about the hobby of backyard bird feeding.  We will “Save the Song Birds” by inspiring our customers and communities into action.

Our Core Values:  We believe in being honest, ethical, and respectful with everyone.
We embrace diversity in our community.  We guarantee our products are of the highest quality, are truly effective, and are an excellent value.  We support sustainably-produced products whenever possible.  We support local and national bird and wildlife habitat conservation organizations and educational programs.

Nationally recognized for excellence in the franchise community

When you open a Wild Birds Unlimited, you become a part of an award-winning franchise. Our mission statement says it all, “We Bring People and Nature Together…and We Do It with Excellence.” From our executive team to franchise store owners across North America, together we are committed to maintaining our reputation as a high-quality global franchise.

We’ve been continuously recognized for exercising our core values. Wild Birds Unlimited is a franchise that embraces diversity and values the contributions of every franchisee. We are consistently ranked as a top franchise for women and veterans, and in 2020 Franchise Business Review rated Wild Birds Unlimited as the Best of the Best for our System-Wide Culture.

Over the past 20 years, Wild Birds Unlimited has received numerous awards, including honors from the likes of Entrepreneur Magazine, Franchise Business Review and USA Today.