FranDev Players: Jeff Brazier, Chief Development Officer, Kiddie Academy

COVID has been a challenge for everyone, but it’s presented a special challenge for the people and institutions that help educate children.

But it’s not just teachers, daycare workers and support staff that has risen to the challenge. People behind the scenes like Jeff Brazier have as well. 

As chief development officer for Kiddie Academy, the Abingdon, Maryland-based child care-and-education provider, he helped the brand weather the COVID-19 crisis by focusing on opportunities that will be present after the pandemic. 

1851 Franchise talked to him about his role, what he considers the keys to franchise growth and his plans for 2021.

1851 Franchise: Tell me a little about Kiddie Academy and history. 

Jeff Brazier: Kiddie Academy has 268 academies located in 30 states and the District of Columbia. All but one location (in Abingdon, Maryland) are franchised. It was founded in 1981 and began with the idea to combine learning with child care. 

The company will celebrate its 40th year in business in 2021 with a reputation as a national leading provider of education-based child care programs and as a trailblazer in the child care and education industries. The company serves families and their children ages six weeks to 12 years old, offering full time care, before- and after-school care and summer camp programs.

1851: What is your role with the organization? 

Brazier: As the chief development officer, I oversee the franchise development, finance, real estate and construction departments.

1851: Are there any keys to consistent franchise growth?  

Brazier: In terms of keys to consistent growth for the franchisor, we’ve always built plans that are achievable and sustainable, yet aggressive. That means not growing so fast that we cannot meet our high internal expectations of franchisee support.

We also recommend franchisees plan strategically for the short and long term; focus on making good hires; create a positive culture; lean on their franchisor; communicate, communicate, communicate with their team, customers and franchisor; and always strive to be better and welcome adaptation.

1851: Are there any common mistakes you see franchisors making when trying to grow?

Brazier: The most common mistake is not having the infrastructure in place prior to growth. It means early investment prior to the growth, but without it, it creates future problems in not being able to support the franchisees.

1851: What are the biggest hurdles to successful franchise growth right now?

Brazier: For our industry, in particular, as well as many franchise industries, we’ve had to overcome diminished consumer confidence. Parents are concerned about the health and safety of their children. We started by making meaningful changes to our recommendations to focus our brand on health and safety through a new program we call Health Essentials. This represents our reaffirmed focus on health and safety procedures that we already had in place. We communicated these changes consistently throughout the pandemic. We stressed the importance of keeping our doors open to serve the children of essential workers and we changed as much of our support to virtual support as we could. Even though uncertainty held many businesses back from investing in advertising, we continued our marketing efforts.

1851: How did the COVID crisis affect franchise growth opportunities for your brand?

Brazier: There is a lot to be gained for the entrepreneur in this current climate. With the combination of low interest rates, lenders looking to invest in the child care industry and a growing list of available real estate properties, now is the time to expand into this industry. Now that a vaccine has been approved and may become more widely available, the demand for the high-quality child care that Kiddie Academy provides will be stronger than ever.

1851: How did you get into franchising development personally? What was your career path like?

Brazier: I actually came from the sports industry, focused primarily on business development aspects of the businesses I was involved in. When the opportunity presented itself to get into franchising as a director of franchise development, I jumped at it. There are a lot of similarities in the sports industry that directly apply to franchising. Competition, hustle and communication are just some of the aspects of sports that are a common theme in franchising.

1851: What are your biggest goals/plans for Kiddie Academy in 2021?

Brazier: To continue our year-over-year growth in our system. Take advantage of real estate opportunities and continue to look for ways to improve all aspects of development.

1851: Any other insights that a person would like to share about successful franchise development?

Brazier: To constantly evaluate your process. COVID has forced franchise systems to change their processes in a way they may not have otherwise have done. Despite COVID, a regular evaluation of your process and team is crucial to avoiding stagnation and falling behind.