Executive Q&A: songs for seeds Co-Founders Allison Schlanger, Craig Schlanger, Alison Qualter Berna and Bobby Berna

What market gap does your brand fill? What was missing in the space before? How was it identified? What inspired you to start?

Brand origins

Alison Qualter Berna: We met while trying to fit our double strollers into a tiny New York City elevator on our way to our kids’ music class 13 years ago. We bonded over the fact that we both had twins, both grew up in New Jersey and were both named Al(l)ison! When we arrived at the class, the room was not clean or childproofed and the teacher did not allow us to veer from the rigid music curriculum. We wanted more for our children and for ourselves.

**Allison Schlanger: We took our kids to every music class offered in New York City. After canvassing the landscape, we saw there was an opportunity to build a program that used music as the vehicle to teach the critical aspects of early childhood development and learning—colors, shapes, numbers, animals and music from around the world—and allow the time and space for connections between children, as well as between children and adults. We both loved our jobs—Alison worked at UNICEF and I worked at MTV—but we, along with our husbands, Bobby and Craig, felt a strong pull towards a new kind of career, one that made a difference in our community and would allow all of us to spend more time with our children.

The idea to create the music class, songs for seeds, was born.

Key differentiators

Alison Qualter Berna: We hear from parents every day that songs for seeds is not only their child’s favorite class but it is also their favorite 45 minutes of the week. In a landscape of children’s music classes that are taught by one teacher who may or may not play an instrument, parents cite songs for seeds’ three-piece live band of musician teachers and the exposure to multiple instruments, sounds and personalities as an exciting and engaging element that pulls their kids—and them—right in.

**Allison Schlanger: But the true differentiator is that songs for seeds classes are much more than a typical children’s music class. At songs for seeds, we use music as a vehicle to teach critical aspects of early childhood development, including shapes, colors, numbers, counting, animal sounds, animal movements, global sounds and more. Parents in our various locations tell us through surveys and feedback that this is the most important and unique aspect of our program.

Unlike other music classes, kids are given the opportunity to join the band, play along and sing into the microphone. The various tones and rhythms they are exposed to during class help them build a strong foundation rooted in music.

Bobby Berna: Also, children are encouraged to stay after class to play the musicians’ drums, keys and guitar. Many music classes won’t allow kids to touch the adult equipment, but we have created everything with kids in mind. Parents tell us over and over again that their child developed a love of music because of songs for seeds. Music programs that have been in this space for decades often don’t update their curriculum. At songs for seeds, we offer parents a fresh, modern approach to music education. We have over 100 weeks-worth of unique curricula, keeping every class new and exciting.

Craig Schlanger: As parents, we understand that in order to keep children coming back, we need to keep their adults entertained as well. This is why our music was written not only for young children but also with their parents in mind. Parents tell us that it is the most fun. They love making friends and bonding with their child while singing, dancing and playing along to their favorite kids band.

Growth and vision

Allison Schlanger: Thousands of kids in the New York area have engaged in songs for seeds classes over the past decade. Since we began franchising four years ago, we have watched songs for seeds flourish in other neighborhoods across the country. We cannot wait to see classes in hundreds of towns with thousands of more families having a shared experience—singing, dancing and playing along with the best kids band in the world.

Craig Schlanger: We had three big learning opportunities since franchising songs for seeds. Underperformers have helped us clearly identify the type of candidate that doesn’t work well for our brand. We are looking for ambitious yet community-driven owners who connect with our target audience. Experimenting with in-house sales led us to partner with RainTree to accelerate our growth. We have recently adapted our mobile kiosk, the Roadie Box, unit as per our owners’ needs, making it smaller, lighter and more cost-effective.

**Bobby Berna: We developed a proprietary software platform with the help of our owners’ feedback that is customized to meet the franchisee’s needs. It serves as the songs for seeds administrative panel, organizing all client information, class registration and makeup classes, payments, tracking, reporting and more. We custom-built the songs for seeds SHOP site, a marketing portal that houses hundreds of marketing collateral that each franchise owner can customize for their location.

Materials include social media posts, flyers, postcards, banners, newsletter graphics, giveaways and more. We created a mobile kiosk that offers all of the unique educational and interactive elements of the songs for seeds classroom on wheels. We married early childhood development learning with a children’s music class.

Songs for seeds is truly more than just music.

What does your ideal franchisee look like, in terms of how they run their business, what personal traits they have, what prior business experience they can claim, what kind of investor model they align with, etc.?

Franchisee support

**Craig Schlanger: At songs for seeds?, we are looking for individuals who share our vision for providing an industry-leading service. We are looking to partner with people who see the value in our business and want to help educate our future generations through music.

This is not an opportunity for individuals who envision themselves teaching music classes or being actively in charge of children. Rather, our ideal franchise owners are business-minded entrepreneurs who want to build and scale a successful empire while feeling good about the value of the work they do. They do not need a musical background or even be musically inclined, as owners are not the ones teaching classes.?

They are visionaries with big dreams who want to play an important leadership role in their community and family. We also look for the following skills and characteristics broken down into two categories: must have and nice to have.

**Bobby Berna: Songs for seeds franchise owners must have the drive to own a profitable business, must be highly ambitious and hungry for success, have marketing savvy with digital and social media knowledge, strong verbal and written communication skills and business acumen. They must be engaging, want to work with children and have a passion for the brand and their community. It would also be nice if they had a prior career but wanted flexibility of time to be able to better balance their personal and professional life or multiple careers.

Having a family is obviously not necessary but it helps them align with their community, which they are servicing. Being personally involved or immersed in the world of young families and wanting to give back to their community makes for natural brand passion.

**Allison Schlanger: As co-founders, the four of us are still fully engaged with songs for seeds on a daily basis. It is our sole focus. Our management team has been with us for almost 10 years.

Franchisee onboarding takes three to four months. During the first phase, we partner with new owners to set up their business, secure their location, hire their band and find their customers. Phase two is our training program, which takes place over five days at our corporate headquarters in New York City.

Here, we focus on a variety of subjects in order to get owners ready to operate songs for seeds, including philosophy and company culture, curriculum, musical training, class observations, administrative training, tech training, financials and marketing support. Phase three is ongoing support. Our help center is used to track all electronic communication between headquarters and owners to make sure all requests and questions are addressed by the right coordinator in the right amount of time.

Our marketing portal—SHOP—gives our owners access to hundreds of pieces of customizable marketing collateral. We partnered with the customer feedback system** Listen360 **so that our owners can stay on top of quality control in all classes amongst multiple locations. We strive to fully support our partners personally, especially in that critical first year of their business, so we visit on an “as-needed” basis as well.

What growth plans does songs for seeds have in the coming years? How many units is the brand targeting over the next year, three or five?

Alison Qualter Berna: We have always thought of expansion in phases. We hope to open five to 10 new locations a year for the next couple of years and then expand at a more rapid rate so that we can hit the more magical numbers—50 to 100 units—soon after. After that, we hope that brand recognition, successful owners and validators and strong unit metrics help to propel us into the triple digits.