Celebree School’s CEO Richard Huffman Gives Back to Local Entrepreneurs as Businesses Face Unprecedented Challenges

For the past few months and for the foreseeable future, businesses across the country are navigating how to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. Even as states begin to reopen, policies and procedures seemingly change every day, forcing business owners to pivot their strategies in order to keep up with protocols.

Throughout these trying times, franchise owners have benefited from the backing and support of a corporate team. Rather than facing challenges alone, franchisees are able to rely on both other business owners in their same position as well as the guidance of experts in their field, ultimately putting them in a better position to succeed.

This isn’t a responsibility that Richard Huffman, CEO of Celebree School, takes lightly. When the COVID-19 crisis first started causing businesses to temporarily shut their doors, he realized that he wanted to be a resource not only for his franchise owners, but also for the greater business community. That’s why he’s participating in as many virtual calls and meetings as possible with other entrepreneurs to share best practices and rally around recovery efforts.

“The last call I was on was with a group of other CEOs across totally different industries than my own. Getting on those kinds of calls allows us to build confidence that we’re on a path to recovery. We’re able to highlight different angles and approaches that we’re taking, and you hear how revenue’s doing, how people are reacting and how they’re going through changes. Right now, the biggest thing in the recovery process is how businesses are bringing back employees if they’re willing to come back at this point,” Huffman said.

While Celebree School is continuing to bring employees back to work, the brand never shut its doors during the COVID-19 crisis due to its status as an essential business.

Huffman noted, “We decided on day one that we were going to remain open and take care of essential workers’ families and children. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we had 1,200 employees working. Today, we have about 650 employees working, and those numbers are continuing to climb as more and more parents are returning to their offices.”

However, Huffman recognizes that not every childcare or preschool has been able to stay open throughout the COVID-19 crisis. That’s why Huffman reached out to the Maryland State Childcare Association, which is currently made up of about 400 members, to lead support calls specific to leaders in the industry.

“One of our values at Celebree School is thought leadership, and we take our values seriously. That’s why I wanted to lead these calls. We’ve been navigating this well, and I want to share it with others. We’re really helping those businesses reopen by sharing our processes and best practices that we’ve used over the past nine weeks at Celebree,” said Huffman. “There’s a great give and take. Everybody’s in this together, and we’re all working toward the same common goal to fully reopen. It’s been incredibly rewarding for everybody to get together and share their best practices, no matter where they are in the recovery process.”

In addition to helping other business leaders and executives throughout the current pandemic, Huffman is also working with the Celebree School team to ensure that franchisees are set up for success. Those efforts include the launch of an online learning platform called Celebree Connect.

“One of the things we did quite early to help our franchisees navigate this situation was to introduce online learning. We’re continuing to shoot daily videos for children at home through Celebree Connect, to make sure that children are not only keeping up with their routine, but also with the curriculum, they’d receive if they were in the classroom,” Huffman said. “Miss Stephanie starts the day with exercises, the Pledge of Allegiance, circle time and storytime. Plus, our teachers are doing their own Zoom calls so that our students can see and interact with their friends.”

As businesses continue to recover from the crisis, Huffman is committed to continuing to pave the way for those in the childcare industry.

“It’s important for our franchisees to see how our team is leading this company and this industry throughout this time. It’s our job to bring the certainty and comfort that we’re resilient and that we’re going to push through this and be successful,” said Huffman. “That’s why I’m personally working with lobbyists here in Maryland to fight for what we believe is right and to keep schools open. Parents can’t go back to work if they can’t find high-quality preschools and daycares for their children. Celebree will continue leading the charge on that fight to remind everyone how essential we are.”

The initial investment for a Celebree School franchise ranges from $634,000 to $1,390,000. The franchise fee is $75,000. To learn more about franchising with Celebree, visit https://www.celebree.com/franchising/.