8 | The Learning Experience
Ninety percent of the locations are in
freestanding buildings that were built specif-
ically to house a Learning Experience facility.
The other 10 percent occupy ground-floor
space in office building or condo complexes,
and only in areas where real estate conditions
preclude new construction.
“Other than the skin on the outside of
the building, they’re all identical,” Weiss-
man said. “We will never buy someone else’s
child-care center. We believe brand drives
occupancy and drives who we are and creates
the most consistency to the customer. There-
fore, our centers have to be designed our way.
That’s the only way we can create that consis-
tency for the customer.” Market selection is
made based on a demographic formula that
takes several factors into account, including
the density of age-group population, traffic
flows and ease of access to main roads.
Ideal franchisees, on the other hand, are
typically those who, in Weissman’s words,
are not averse to following a system. Parties
with an excess of entrepreneurial zeal are
typically not the best fits, he said, and nei-
ther is someone who’s worked previously in
another child-care environment.
College degrees and experience in large
corporations are desirable as well. The finan-
cial threshold is $150,000 in readily available
