5 Ways School of Rock Makes Franchising Easy

Finding the franchise of your dreams isn’t an easy task. School of Rock* understands the significant commitment that goes into purchasing a franchise and has taken years to perfect its system. With 20 years of expertise under their belt, they’ve worked hard to make the franchising process easier from start to finish. Check out these five ways the music education franchise stands out by going above and beyond for new franchisees.

More Available Locations

Although School of Rock is a well-known name across the states and abroad, the franchise still has significant capacity to expand. Knowing if there are territories available in your area may not always be easy to find out, however. School of Rock recognized this challenge and has brought in an outside analytics company, Forum Analytics, to help identify territories more efficiently so candidates can begin their franchise journey almost immediately.

“We brought on Forum Analytics to help us develop insights and make informed future site decisions,” shared School of Rock’s Chief Development Officer, Anthony Padulo. “Now, if a potential franchisee calls about a new location, we will able to say with confidence where the best territories exist. This year we are also expanding our scope to include Canada and we will be using the same data in order to continue to grow our presence there.” 

Real Estate Support

One of the most difficult parts of joining a franchise is deciding on a location. Often in franchising, this process is consumed by real estate meetings and back-and-forth communication with the corporate team. Padulo understands that this process is one of the most daunting for franchisee candidates, so he made it his goal to develop clear processes so candidates can make a more informed decision more quickly.

“We’ve entered into a partnership with a franchise brokerage firm which specializes in serving high-growth franchises. These partners understand our brand and have developed targeted negotiation strategies for discerning landlords. We now have a subject matter expert that has a relationship with us and knows what we need to do to execute efficiently,” shared Padulo.

The enhancements in their real estate process didn’t stop there. Padulo also realigned School of Rock’s franchise development department. They now have a team dedicated to providing a seamless and accelerated path to opening new units that start the day a candidate signs an agreement.

“As soon as a franchisee starts an agreement, we start the pre-opening process. We have weekly calls with them to keep the process under control. Justin Nihiser, our VP who leads this process, oversees the locations through opening and beyond. Once the new location reaches a steady stage, we transfer them over to our operations team. In this new model, we are seeing higher revenue up front and a higher volume of new students.”

On-Site Training

Part of the pre-opening support also includes robust on-site training. New franchisees are placed in cohorts of two or three franchisees who began the process around the same time. The cohort has weekly calls to touch base on lead generation and best practices. The development team works with franchisees each step of the way to help them get set up with IT, marketing, management training and more.

Padulo knows the process might seem daunting, but the franchise development team is committed to providing comprehensive support from day one. “We’ve streamlined the process and created a checklist for franchisees to follow during the opening process. There are a few hundred items on the list, but the weekly check-ins help franchisees stay on top of everything and manage what comes next,” he said. “The focus is on getting the new franchisee as viable as possible in the early days. We know it can be scary and overwhelming, but we help you build the revenue coming in as quickly and efficiently as is viable.”

Multi-Unit Franchising Deals

School of Rock is now open to offering multi-unit franchise deals for qualified candidates. In the past, the brand focused more exclusively on single-unit franchisees, but recent interest from well-capitalized business people has encouraged the company to develop markets, not just units.

Padulo explained, “When we have a candidate who is financially and organizationally qualified to open more than one unit, we work with them to identify markets to help develop multiple locations. It gives the franchisee the ability to develop a broader area within a market.”

Veterans Discount

As the brand continues to grow, it’s important to note that they do offer a $5,000 reduction in their franchise fee for any veterans interested in opening a School of Rock franchise.

With all of these enhancements to the franchise process, it’s no wonder that School of Rock is poised to open 75 to 100 units in the next three years and expand to a minimum of three international markets.

Padulo is excited for what the future holds. “We already have an outstanding group of existing franchisees and we look forward to expanding to new locations so everyone can benefit from our outstanding group-focused music education program.”