READ ALL ABOUT US:

A striking franchise opportunity!

We suspect many of you are at an age when you’ve realized that your current career isn’t perhaps all it was cracked up to be. Tetchy bosses, long hours, mundane routine or a lop-sided work life balance are no substitutes for more quality time with family and friends.

In a nutshell what we offer is a fresh start, a challenging and rewarding career, where you manage and control your own business.

Obviously head office is always on hand, like a pair of tight fitting goalie gloves. Their aim is to provide a little extra protection whilst you find your feet. More than that, our dedicated backroom team will do everything in their power to provide helpful guidance.

Attitude, not a background in football, is the all important asset, because step-by-step training is provided from the very outset. If you like space to do your stuff, yet would welcome the ongoing support of a passionate squad of enthusiastic, like-minded go-getters we’d love to hear from you.

Please drop us a line today, because it’s only through people like you that we’ll achieve our end goal of providing more pre-school kids with a positive introduction to sport.

17/06/2007 Newsflash!
Little Kickers joins the British Franchise Association

Little Kickers is now an Associate Member of the British Franchise Association (BFA).  The BFA is the body which governs franchising in the UK.  The membership process involved a rigorous assessment of a number of factors including: Little Kickers Franchises Limited’s financial books and records, the contract we enter into with our Franchisees, offer information and references from all existing franchisees.  The objective of this review was to confirm that the Little Kickers Franchise Programme is:

1. Viable: the product is saleable at a level of profit that will sustain a franchise network
2. Transferable : know-how can be transferred to new franchisees at arm’s length
3. Ethical : structured and operated in accordance with the ethical principles set out in the European Code of Ethics for Franchising, which covers matters of advertising, recruiting, selecting and dealing with franchisees.  The Franchisor’s standard franchise agreement is formally assessed.
4. Disclosed : all information on the business that is material to the franchise proposition and contract is disclosed without ambiguity to prospective franchisees.

If you are considering purchasing a franchise and you want to ensure that the business you are investing in has been subjected to the rigours of the BFA review process, a full list of BFA members can be found on the BFA’s website at www.bfa.org.   

Comments from existing Little Kickers Franchisees:

• Sarah Whale – St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Potters Bar Franchise
• Steve Finn– Fleet and Basingstoke Franchise
• Natasha Peck– Amersham and Beaconsfield Franchise
• Sarah Warrington– Salisbury Franchise
• Julia Levene - North London

Things to consider when choosing a franchise

In addition to the obvious considerations- “do I like the idea and do I think I could make a commercial success of it?”- if you are thinking of embarking on a new career as a franchisee, we think there are a few points you might want to address with the franchisor before taking the leap. 

These include:

1. Are you a member of the British Franchising Association?
2. How many people have successfully set up, and are running franchises?
3. Have you had any failures?  Have any franchisees decided to stop running their franchise?  If so, what was their reason for this and did they manage to resell the franchise? 
4. Have any of your franchisees purchased additional franchises?  If so, was this because they failed to achieve the projected revenues from the area they had been allocated?
5. Is the Franchisor charging more for their franchises now than they did when they first started franchising?  This question reflects how the inherent value of the franchise is perceived in the marketplace - if a franchisor needs to drop their prices it is likely their product is not living up to expectations.
6. Would you be happy to provide me with a list of all of your franchisees, and for me to contact a selection of them to find out first hand how they are getting on?
7. What ongoing support do you provide to franchisees?
8. What is your operational infrastructure like? 
9. What financial controls are in place? 
10. Do you have a mechanism in place to control the quality of the programme across the network?  One badly-run class can have a negative impact on the group as a whole.
11. Are there any hidden penalties in your franchise agreement?  Ie do I have to pay monies in addition to the Management Fees / IT Levy if I fail to achieve certain targets? 
12. Do I have to pay an additional fee to renew my franchise once the initial term is over?  If so, what do I receive for this?
13. Did you, as Franchisor, run a pilot prior to franchising the business?  How long did this run for?  What convinced you it was a success?

Why Little Kickers?

Little Kickers has a proven track record of success both in the UK and internationally, and has experienced impressive growth.  This is due, in part, to an increased focus on the importance of encouraging children to participate in sport, and also to the quality of the people we select as franchisees, and the extensive training we provide.

In addition to the obvious financial rewards, franchisees are provided with ongoing Head Office support, and many have commented that they thrive on the satisfaction of running their own successful business, whilst enjoying the feeling of being “part of a team”.  We do not encourage franchisees to compete with each other, but rather to support each other and work together.  Interestingly, we have never advertised our franchise programme – all of our franchisees have approached us through word-of-mouth on the recommendation of friends. 

If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Christine on 01235 859255.

Having talked about the franchise this evening I am now certain that I would like to go ahead and purchase the 2nd franchise. This will give economies of scale with overheads and all the back office is already set-up so it should be limited incremental work.

Both Simon and I have been very happy with the support we have been given to date from the team and having started to haul my 2 children around to various activity classes I am very confident in the product we offer. With the enhancements on credit card / on-line bookings this will further reduce admin. Everyones a winner!?!

Sarah Whale – St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Potters Bar Franchise

I left my full-time position as an Account Manager to buy a LK franchise, & did this in order to take greater control of my life.  The franchise has given me a much better work-life balance & is definitely a decision I'm glad I made.  At times, it's a rollercoaster, however the overall experience to date has been very rewarding.

Steve Finn – Fleet and Basingstoke Franchise

After I had my son I knew I wanted to work with children (or maybe I just went a bit mad!).  I started teacher training but realised that while I was enoying working with everyone else's children I was never seeing my own!  When I heard about Little Kickers I loved the concept and enrolled my son into our nearest classes straight away.  He loved it too, and I knew that franchising was the perfect opportunity for me.  I could run my own business using the skills I had developed in my previous employment, continue to have fun working with children and achieve the work / life balance I had been looking for.  It's not always easy but it is rewarding and the support from head office and the other franchisees is fantastic.  A year and a half later, I can safely say that Little Kickers has given me everything I hoped for and it was the best decision I could possibly have made!

Natasha Peck – Amersham and Beaconsfield

In 2003, I gave up a long-standing career in Human Resources, to look after my two young children.  It only took me a short while to realise that as much as I enjoyed being a full-time Mum, the ‘working urge’ was still inside me - I knew I could always find time to work but just not full time anymore.  In 2003, I brought an exhibition company, which I successfully grew for 2 years.  Unfortunately, in 2005, we moved house, and ended up too far away for me to continue to run the business, so it was sold.

In our new town, I started looking for various activities that my children could join.  I found that there were many activities that interested my daughter of 4yrs however, not so many for my son who is 3 (who, by the way, is obsessed with football!)  By a fluke return to our old home and catching up with friends, someone mentioned ‘Little Kickers’.  “Sounds great”  I said, and when I got home I searched for a class in Salisbury on their website, however, I found there were none.

Whilst reading though the site I found myself so impressed that I ended up pressing the Franchise button. Why?.Well, I was looking at how far this company had come in a short space of time, the manner in which they present themselves, the way Little Kickers has been developed by professional bodies and the products they have to offer, however most of all the children looked like they were having great fun!

Everything then happened quite quickly.  My enquiry was submitted and as I excitedly waited for a reply, I received an application form.

A few weeks later I had a meeting with one of the Directors.   I was so impressed with what I had been told about Little Kickers, all my questions were answered and I learned where the company was going.  After the meeting was over I then knew I wanted to be part of this business.  And I now am……

I have only been up and running for a month (brought the business in August ’06, so quite an achievement for me to launch so quickly!) and I have worked hard to market and promote Little Kickers into Salisbury.  I, or should I say my fantastic Coaches, are currently running 8 classes a week and we are about to source new venues for additional areas quite soon.

What has Little Kickers given to me?  Well, apart from the Directors continuous support: always there to answer your questions, generous in giving up their time (not quite sure if they do actually sleep!) - it is a professional company to be involved with. I get to spend fun and quality time with my family, working when I want and all the while knowing that I run a successful business as well.

Sarah Warrington – Salisbury Franchise

I was Little Kickers' very first franchisee joining in 2004 and my life has been completely transformed. I have a work / life balance now, walking my children to school each morning and picking them up every afternoon. Initially, I opened 4 classes and with hard work and dedication have now expanded to over 20 classes a week and the feedback that I get from the children and parents is wonderful. 

Everyone involved in Little Kickers is passionate about what they are doing and we all benefit from being part of something bigger and growing. I am very proud to say I am part of the Little Kickers winning team. 

Julia Levene - North London

Experiences of Little Kickers® Franchisees

As recently published in Families North West Magazine:

"After our first meeting I was totally intrigued, the financial forecasts were sound and all my questions were fully answered – I was impressed."
A franchisee's story...
...more