How Celebree School Supports Franchisees Throughout Real Estate Selection and Beyond

Founded in 1994, Celebree School is a leader in early childhood education that provides infant and toddler care, preschool, before and aftercare and summer camp programs. With a mission to Grow People Big and Small™, Celebree School believes success in early childhood development is equal parts curriculum and connection. Each school employs a customized program that addresses the physical, social, emotional and academic needs of children. 

Over the past 25 years, Celebree School has expanded to 43 centers already open or under development in Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, and they’re continuing to award recent franchises despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of the reason Celebree School continues to appeal to franchisees is because of the exceptional support infrastructure the brand offers through initial real estate site selection, the onboarding process, school opening and more. 

“We operate under the expectation that franchisees are not experts when it comes to commercial real estate,” said Chris Kelleher, vice president of franchise development & operations. “Celebree School has designed a process that holds franchisees' hands throughout the real estate selection process. This includes everything from lining up the right resources to securing locations using analytic technology that determines demographics in advance.”

As Kelleher points out, the corporate team treats the onboarding process as a teaching opportunity on how the brand identifies the right site. The team doesn’t want franchisees to spend an unnecessary amount of time or expenses securing a site.

“If you don't secure the right location, the rest of the process becomes an uphill battle,” said Kelleher. “An ideal location will exceed minimum requirements when it comes to demographic factors, including having the right blend of elementary schools and competitors in the marketplace. The right market is going to have a sincere need for additional childcare, which positions franchisees for success.”

The hands-on real estate selection approach includes in-person site visits and market tours with Kelleher, CDO Jim DiRugeris and real estate agents. Once a site has been identified and negotiated, it is visited in-person and approved by CEO Richard Huffman. The team approves every site that a franchisee is interested in securing. 

The process after signing a lease and opening a school for business is very thorough. There’s an internal team of about 40 employees, all of whom support franchisees in their journey to running a successful business. Celebree School also offers a robust three-week training program, including online training, one week spent at the training facility headquarters in Lutherville, Maryland, and one week at an existing Celebree school prior to opening. As part of their ongoing support, Celebree School also has a national call center that manages the child enrollment touchpoint process with prospective parents.

“The most stressful time for a franchisee is the time  between when they sign the franchise agreement and when the business becomes profitable,” said Kelleher. “In addition to site selection support, we engineer our franchise business support model to do everything we can to help franchisees accelerate that timeline. The combination of experience from a very seasoned team here at the corporate office means we know the challenges that exist, and where the pitfalls are so we can be proactive about handling them as they come in.”

The support isn’t going unappreciated throughout the network. Newly signed franchisees Josephine Kibe and Edward Johnson are set to bring two Celebree School franchises to Loudoun County, Arlington or Fairfax, Virginia and they point to the leadership team as a primary selling point.

“We wanted to leave a legacy for our children by starting a childcare center,” said Kibe. “We considered starting a center on our own, but it was a very daunting task. Through franchising with Celebree School, we knew we would have access to a proven, in-depth process. Although we were somewhat familiar with the market, the Celebree School team provided all of the necessary information and was very open and accessible. That support is so helpful when making such a big life decision. With the hands-on real estate approach, we felt comfortable opening two units and potentially expanding to more.”

Keyuri Rajani and Janak Rajani also recently signed on for a Celebree School in South Central, Maryland. The duo noted the brand’s strong franchisee support infrastructure as a main reason they signed on.

“When we decided to leave corporate America to pursue our love of helping children, we looked at several childcare concepts before someone referred us to Celebree School,” said Keyuri. “Immediately, the response and communication with the brand’s leadership team was incredible and a cut above the rest.”

Keyuri and Janak note how important it was to have a formula they could emulate and an established process for opening. As first time business owners, the Rajanis are able to leverage the expertise of the real estate team and are in the process of choosing the best spot possible. 

Now, Celebree School’s goal is to utilize this proven process to open 100 schools by the end of 2025. In order to reach more communities, Celebree School is looking to expand throughout the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., spreading organically from its Maryland and Delaware roots. 

“Overall, we want to ensure that our franchisees don’t feel like they’re on their own when starting a new business,” said Kelleher. “We want our franchisees to feel overwhelming support to help them accelerate through these stages and eventually achieve great success and continue to expand with multiple locations.”

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/.