Children's Lighthouse Franchise
Children’s Lighthouse Early Learning Schools™ promise to create a safe, fun, and happy place that gives children confidence, a sense of comfort today, and a lifelong love of learning, friendship, and community. Its proprietary curriculum helps children of all ages develop healthy brains, bodies and best behaviors.
$400,000
$60,000
72
1999
Fort Worth,TX
Michael Brown
About Children's Lighthouse
From Day One, the Children's Lighthouse Early Learning School mission was built around one thing and one thing only: family. Today, as a leading early childhood education franchise dedicated to providing value-based care for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school-age children, that family-driven mission guides every decision.
Children’s Lighthouse franchisees are passionate about enriching their communities through quality child care and education, aiming to make their schools an extension of each family’s home. Our franchisees say it is rewarding and fulfilling to create warm and welcoming schools that not only teach children but create happiness.
Children’s Lighthouse’s family-focused culture also extends to the operational model — owners looking for a business that will allow them to spend more time with their families, for example, can easily manage their center semi-absentee after the initial opening phase.
Franchise Unit Trends & Revenue
72
3
$2,003,082
* in 2024
Franchise Fees
$60,000
Veteran's Fee: $35,000
3.5% - 7.0%
Gross Revenues
0.5%
Gross Revenues
Why Choose Children's Lighthouse?
Support is the name of the game for Children’s Lighthouse, which aims to foster that family-driven feeling across its entire franchise network. As a second-generation, family-owned company, franchisees can still call the leadership team. That is a big advantage.
Our family-driven culture permeates our entire organization, ensuring that everyone — from our office team to our franchise owners — upholds our mission statement, foundational views and core values.
Our culture represents a guiding light for younger generations to achieve a brighter future. Our Lighthouse Pathways® approach provides opportunities for individualized skill development, group learning, self-regulation, and inquiry-based investigation with a focus on 4 key areas; Confidence, Connection, Continuous Improvement, and Curriculum.
Starting Costs & Investment Requirements
$1,074,580 - $8,985,630
$750,000
$400,000
Training & Support
When you become part of the Children’s Lighthouse brand family, you and senior members of your staff will take part in our initial training programs that immerse you in the Children’s Lighthouse culture, curriculum, and business model. These programs are conducted under the supervision of Shelly Pair, our Vice President of Operations, who has 25 years of experience in the childcare and child development industry. With her expertise as your guidance, you’ll learn all about marketing strategies, operational systems and platforms, child care, licensing, training, financial management, and key vendors.
After your initial training, you’ll have access to our extensive library of ongoing training materials. In addition, you have unlimited phone, text, email, and face-to-face support from your Franchise Business Coach.
History
The original Children’s Lighthouse School was founded over 25 years ago by the current president Michael Brown’s father and uncle in recognition of the need for quality childcare that went beyond simple playtime and babysitting. That philosophy has carried over to today. The family-owned brand respects the unique needs of each child, with a proprietary curriculum that encourages young minds to explore and create.
“This business is 100% rooted in family,” Brown said. “My dad and uncle founded Children's Lighthouse in 1997, when I was still in high school. My two younger brothers and I were involved from the start. Although my dad and uncle came from backgrounds in real estate, construction and finance, and had started other businesses, they were new to child care. They recognized the industry's potential and decided to dive in.”
The brothers launched their first school in Grand Prairie, Texas, and expanded to nine locations before starting to franchise in 2001.
“It was actually a prospective franchisee who first approached us with the idea of franchising,” Brown said. “The vision evolved from building a family business into developing a franchising model that not only aligned with our goals of enriching children's and communities' lives but also offered a robust platform for local entrepreneurs who wanted to run their businesses and secure their family’s futures as well.”
Ideal Candidate
A lot of our franchise owners want to do something that allows them to spend more time with their children and family, and our model meets that need by requiring minimal time in the centers.
Children’s Lighthouse’s franchise model is operationally simplistic, allowing franchisees to manage their business semi-absentee after the initial phase. Franchisees are trained to support their management team, and the model is designed so that the managers can handle the day-to-day operations of the business.
The franchise model encompasses the operational procedures and educational curriculum that have made Children’s Lighthouse a trusted name in child care. Franchisees who follow the model benefit from the collective 250-plus years of leadership team experience and expertise.
Franchisees hire a director to run the day-to-day. For the first year, franchisees should expect to work about 20 hours a week, and after the first year, they can reduce their time in the center down to 10 hours a week.