Discovery Point Blog

September 4, 2019
Teacher sitting during day care center in Alpharetta

How to Research Child Daycare Franchises

The child daycare industry is rife with franchise opportunities and earnings potential for entrepreneurs. But if you want to succeed in this industry, you need the right brand and the right business model. And that means researching different child daycare franchises.

As with any other type of franchise research, this can take a lot of time and effort. Thankfully, it goes a lot quicker and a lot easier if you have the right road map.

At Discovery Point, we know how important the research phase can be before buying a franchise. So if you’re getting ready to research child daycare franchises, here are the steps that you’ll need to take.

How to Get Info on Child Daycare Franchises

Perform Initial Research

Before you research child care franchises individually, you’ll want to perform some basic research on the industry, itself.

If you’re not already familiar with child care business operations, start by researching the industry. Look into licensing requirements in your state. Learn about the importance of child daycare curricula. And get a sense of what costs and returns you should expect from a franchise.

After that, find out what makes different child daycare franchises distinct from one another. Review initial investments and expected earnings. Compare business models, proprietary assets, and branding efforts. And think about what kind of resources and support you’ll need from a franchisor.

Contact the Brand

To start learning more detailed information about child daycare franchises, we suggest contacting brands directly. At Discovery Point, this is as simple as calling 770-623-1140 or requesting info online (there’s Request Info button at the top of this page).

During your initial conversations with a brand representative, you’ll have the chance to ask important  questions about the franchise offering, including which territories are currently available. Review the information you already have, then draw up a list of questions that you’d like answered.

Also, find out where you can get answers to other questions you might have. As you research child daycare franchises, new questions will come up, so it’s worth knowing where you can find answers.

Read the FDD

When you contact a franchisor, you’ll have the chance to request the brand’s Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). This document is a treasure trove of information when researching child daycare franchises. For any franchise opportunity, this document should serve as your strongest source of hard data about the brand.

By reading this document carefully, you’ll be able to glean important information about:

  • the franchisor’s financial and operational history
  • the fees and costs associated with starting a franchise
  • the types of support and resources provided to franchisees
  • the obligations franchisees have to the franchisor
  • the average earnings and returns of franchise units

Talk with Franchisees

In addition to the Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisors must provide contact information for existing and past franchisees.

Talking with daycare franchisees is one of the best ways to evaluate child daycare franchises. While the FDD will provide hard data, franchisees can detail the day-in and day-out experience of owning a child daycare center.

If possible, try to have detailed conversations with several franchisees, and try to gauge the range of outcomes that come with a particular brand. 

Also, try to find franchisees who operate in areas similar to your target market. These franchisees can provide you with valuable insights about how to make the most of your opportunity.

Research Available Territories

When you’re researching child daycare franchises, you’re typically looking at specific territories. For a specific brand, you’re generally considering a small set of their available territories. 

So in addition to researching the franchise opportunity itself, you’ll want to research the local market for child care services in each territory you’re considering. Some of the factors that you’ll want to consider when researching available markets include:

  • Household income distribution by share of population
  • Household income distribution by geographic area
  • Population of children across various age ranges within a geographic area
  • Population growth estimates
  • Percentage of households without a stay-at-home parent
  • Existing providers of daycare and child care services

Remember than even the best child daycare franchises depend on the right market. If you purchase a franchise with a great brand, but in a mediocre territory, you’ll struggle to earn a positive return on your investment.

Evaluate Branding & Service Offerings

Like any other industry, the child daycare sector is constantly evolving. As a prospective franchisee, you’ll want to target brands that take a forward-thinking approach to their franchise offerings.

In particular, you’ll want to look at child daycare franchises through the eyes of parents. That means asking questions like:

  • Which franchise brands offer the best fit for working parents?
  • Which do the best job of addressing parents’ core concerns about daycare? 
  • Which are taking advantage of new technologies to communicate with parents more actively? 
  • Which offer the highest-quality curricula for young children?
  • Which provide children with the highest levels of personalized attention?

In-Person Discussions & Location Visits

After researching different child daycare franchises, you’ll have a shortlist of brands that seem like a strong fit. If you’re serious about purchasing a franchise, this is the point where you’ll want a detailed discussion with the franchisor’s corporate team.

Some franchise brands will conduct these discussions remotely via phone call. But at Discovery Point, we believe it’s important to meet with prospective franchisees one-on-one. We also believe you deserve a first-hand look at what owning one of our child daycare franchises is like.

To make this happen, we invite prospective franchisees to visit us for a Discovery Day. Your Discovery Day will include visits to local Discovery Point centers, giving you an up-close look at day-to-day operations. You’ll also meet with members of our corporate support team, allowing you to ask any final questions you have about our franchise opportunity.

Ready to learn more about owning a Discovery Point franchise? Call 770-623-1140 today for more information about our franchise offering and our available child daycare franchises.