Tippi Toes

As families across the country look for new ways to get kids learning and socializing again after the pandemic, Tippi Toes Dance, the 30-plus unit children’s dance and enrichment franchise, is rapidly emerging as a go-to resource for dance classes, birthday parties and camps. Now, the fast-growing franchise is accelerating its growth, aiming to reach 50 locations in markets across the U.S. by the end of 2023.

“We’ve always been popular among the families that know us, but during and after COVID, word started to spread much faster,” said Sarah Nuse, Tippi Toes’ founder and CEO. “People are hungry for opportunities to get their kids back out in the world, being active and learning new things, and we offer that in a safe, dependable environment that kids go crazy for.”

Much of Tippi Toes’ recent growth can be attributed to word-of-mouth referrals, which continue to snowball as Tippi Toes establishes new locations. But the franchise can also thank its success to a number of savvy branding efforts that have helped Tippi Toes dominate its in-demand segment.

Brand awareness growth

Many of Tippi Toes customers first became aware of the brand after its successful appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in 2011, in which Mark Cuban, impressed by the potentially lucrative model, offered Nuse and her sister and business partner Megan Reilly a deal for a stake in the company.

Nuse and Reilly ultimately chose not to go through with the deal, but their appearance paid off anyway, attracting a raft of new customers and franchise candidates from across the country.

“We weren’t in it for the money, and they weren’t in it for the partnership,” Reilly said of her experience on the show. “They wanted to take 30% of the company and tell us exactly what to do, like we were paying to hire a boss, and we weren’t interested in that, so we decided not to go through with the deal. Ultimately, we were in it for the visibility more than anything else, and we got that in spades.”

Expansion through media

Tippi Toes was further solidified as a household name for parents of young children with the release of “Pink Ballet Shoes,” a children’s book about the importance of proper nutrition written by Nuse and her husband Adam. Originally intended as a side project, “Pink Ballet Shoes” quickly became a hit, and the book started to take on a central role in the growth of Tippi Toes.

“The book had excellent sales, and what we found was that kids and parents loved the characters we had introduced and were looking for more,” Nuse said. So Nuse and her husband got to work on a spin-off album of music, with songs featuring characters from the book singing about nutrition. That album proved just as successful as the book, reaching number one on Billboard’s children’s music chart and inspiring six more albums, with another on the way this year.

Through those albums, Nuse created a growing library of children’s music featuring proprietary characters kids love, giving Tippi Toes a critical point of differentiation from its competition. Today, kids in Tippi Toes classes, parties and camps learn choreography to dances featuring their favorite characters. Those proprietary songs, characters and choreography also allow Tippi Toes franchisees to provide a consistent experience across locations.

“The songs, dances and characters are such a big hit, and they are a big draw for kids who already love the music from Spotify or YouTube but haven’t taken a class yet, so we continue to bring in new customers at all of our locations, and all we really need is an enthusiastic and passionate teacher to take our curriculum and execute it,” Nuse said.

As Tippi Toes continues to attract new families eager to give kids a high-energy and enriching social experience, Nuse says the brand is well prepared to take full advantage of the increased demand and the brand’s lucrative whitespace.

“We’re constantly getting requests from families where we haven’t even established a location yet, including any number of markets that are just perfect for what we offer,” she said. “Now, we’re gearing up to bring classes and parties to a larger audience across the country and solidify Tippi Toes as the go-to name in children’s dance and entertainment.”