Business models / Daycare Center / Own a franchise

A daycare center franchise, or your own?

Nine franchise brands run a daycare center. Here they are beside the independent version of the same business, with each brand’s fees as it publishes them and worked out in dollars. A brand can bring customers an independent has to earn one by one. The question is whether it brings in more than it costs.

Typical for a daycare center: $400k to $1.8M in sales, and the owner keeps 20% to 27% after paying for its own marketing. Change either to your own numbers.

Work each brand out at

How the two sides are counted

  • Sales. A brand’s name brings customers an independent wins one at a time, so each brand is worked out at the sales it reports where we have them, and at yours where we don’t.
  • Marketing. On your own you pay for all of it, about 3% of sales here (the SBA’s usual range for ongoing marketing). The ad fund does part of that job, so it is counted once, not twice.
  • Survival. New franchised businesses were about 5 to 6 points more likely to make it through their first two years in Census data, and about half of all new businesses close within five years. It is not in the dollars; each brand’s details give the sources.
The independent version

Your own daycare center

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$197k to $1.1M
Annual sales
$850ktypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$204,000
The owner keeps in a year, after about $26k of marketing
Taking new owners

Building Kidz School

Preschool and child care

Total investment
$327k to $1.5M
Avg. annual sales
$811k to $1.1M
Franchise fee
$60k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 1% of sales
$165k
The owner keeps in a year at $971k in sales (what it reports), after $78k to the brand
$39k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Kiddie Academy

Educational child care

Total investment
$590k to $8.5M
Avg. annual sales
$2.1M to $2.2M
Franchise fee
$150k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 2% of sales
$365k
The owner keeps in a year at $2.1M in sales (what it reports), after $193k to the brand
$161k more a year than on your own
Taking new owners

The Learning Experience

Child care and preschool

Total investment
$650k to $800k
Avg. annual sales
$1.9M to $2.2M
Franchise fee
$60k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 1% of sales
$342k
The owner keeps in a year at $2M in sales (what it reports), after $161k to the brand
$138k more a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Lightbridge Academy

Child care and early education

Total investment
$835k to $8.1M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
4% to 7% + 2% of sales
$145k to $170k
The owner keeps in a year at $850k in sales (your sales), after $51k to $77k to the brand
$34k to $60k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Children's Lighthouse

Child care and early learning school

Total investment
$940k to $8.8M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$60k
Royalty + ad fund
3.5% to 7% + 0.5% to 2% of sales
$145k to $174k
The owner keeps in a year at $850k in sales (your sales), after $34k to $77k to the brand
$30k to $60k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

The Goddard School

Preschool and child care

Total investment
$1M to $8.9M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$135k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 2% to 4% of sales
$136k to $145k
The owner keeps in a year at $850k in sales (your sales), after $77k to $94k to the brand
$60k to $68k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Celebree School

Child care and early learning school

Total investment
$1M to $3.6M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$75k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 2% of sales
$145k
The owner keeps in a year at $850k in sales (your sales), after $77k to the brand
$60k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Primrose Schools

Preschool and child care

Total investment
$2.2M to $8M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$80k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 3% of sales
$145k
The owner keeps in a year at $850k in sales (your sales), after $85k to the brand
$60k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Ivy Kids Early Learning Center

Child care and early learning school

Total investment
$5M to $5.9M
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$111k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 1.5% of sales
$145k
The owner keeps in a year at $850k in sales (your sales), after $72k to the brand
$60k less a year than on your own
Free account

See all 9 daycare center brands side by side

  • Every brand’s investment and fees, and what the owner keeps against running your own
  • The yearly sales the first 3 report, and a plus to add brands to your comparison and benchmark them in your account
  • Members see the sales every franchisor reports, for every brand

Free, no card. A new account accepts the Terms and the Privacy Policy. smbnest is a self-assessment tool and never takes a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor.

Before you sign: what to read in the disclosure document

Every franchisor must give you its Franchise Disclosure Document at least 14 days before you sign or pay. These are the parts that answer the questions above.

  • Items 5 to 7, the fees and the investment. The franchise fee, every other fee (technology, training, transfer, renewal), and the full opening budget, including working capital.
  • Item 19, what owners earn. Whether the brand states owner sales or earnings at all, and for which units. Put its figures in the boxes above in place of the typical ones.
  • Item 20, units opened, closed and sold. How many owners left in each of the last three years, and a list of current and former owners you can call.
  • Item 12, the territory. Whether you get a protected area, and what the brand can open or sell inside it.
  • Item 21, the franchisor’s own finances. Whether the company behind the brand is in good health.

smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice. Fees are as each brand publishes them on its franchising page and in its disclosure document, reviewed in the month shown, and change; the figures in dollars are worked out at the sales you enter and are not a forecast. We never take a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor. Before you sign, speak with a franchise attorney and a qualified financial adviser, and call owners from the disclosure document.