Smart, Strategic Investments Position Kidcreate Studio for Even Bigger Growth in 2021

The rapidly expanding franchise, which offers wildly popular children’s art classes, camps and art-themed birthday parties, already had locations across multiple states, but needed someone to maximize the brand’s momentum.

Conlon was an experienced leader in child-education focused concepts. As COO of British Swim School, he helped that brand grow as well as increase average unit volume.

Kidcreate hired him to do the same for their brand. But little did they know what 2020 would hold in store -- or just how important good leadership would be to get through it.

Thanks to foresight, agility and investments to directly support their franchisees, Kidcreate has become one of a few children’s education franchises boasting growth in 2020.

When other franchises were shrinking in the face of an uncertain future, not only did Kidcreate not close any of its stores, the brand awarded six new franchises. In fact, one of the new owners bought three units, a huge testament of the strength of the brand.

Now, thanks to these strategic investments and solid leadership, Kidcreate is poised for its biggest year ever in 2021.

“Any children’s retail or service brand with a physical space has taken a hit this year,” said Brent Dowling, Kidcreate President. “But smart entrepreneurs recognized the opportunity of Kidcreate. When we have a vaccine, the first thing parents will want to do is find activities that are not only fun and harness kids’ creativity but also have educational value.”

And Kidcreate will be ready for them.

Conlon, Dowling and Lara Olson, Kidcreate’s founder and chief creative officer, have used 2020 to lay the foundation of major growth in 2021.

For instance, this year, the company launched a new consumer-facing, search-engine optimized website, giving Kidcreate digital dominance when parents search for creative activities for their children. Each franchisee even has their own website that’s optimized for their specific location. The results have already begun paying dividends: site traffic is already up significantly.

But there's new technology behind the scenes as well. Kidcreate has invested in a top-in-the-industry scheduling system called Amilia, which makes it easier to schedule classes, manage labor, streamline operations and increase efficiency. All of that adds up to money saved.

Of course Kidcreate’s leadership team hasn’t forgotten its core mission: unleashing kids’ creativity. The brand has updated its programming with fresh ideas and in-demand content, allowing franchisees to tailor programs to what kids want, without sacrificing any educational value.

And when coronavirus shut down studios, the company was quick to pivot by creating new revenue streams for franchisees by introducing take-home art kits and virtual classes. On the franchise development front, Kidcreate now offers mobile-only franchises, which offer lower startup costs and allows a franchisee to build brand awareness in the market before opening a brick-and-mortar building.

Kidcreate has also introduced new training programs, designed to make the system more sophisticated and to get new franchisees up and running faster than ever before.

“The new website, the enhanced class management and labor forecasting technology and the consistent focus on creating fun, educational curricula sets up the brand for a huge 2021,” said Dowling. “We worked so hard in 2020 and believe that we will see the fruits of labor in the economic performance of our studios in 2021.”

All of this adds up to a one giant year ahead. In addition to adding 20 to 30 new franchise owners into their system, the Kidcreate team expects decreased competition as mom-and-pop stores close. Plus, as the labor market faces challenges, the top end of the labor pool will be looking for opportunities to take control of their destinies, making the brand primed for major franchise growth in 2021.