Fast-growing B.C. franchisor Core Education & Fine Arts (CEFA) announced October 11 that it has expanded outside the province for the first time – to Calgary.
The junior kindergarten franchisor now has 11 schools and signed franchise agreements for 14 more B.C. schools by 2014. Those 25 current and future franchises were good enough to land CEFA at No. 37 on the Business in Vancouver list of largest franchisors in B.C.
The company encourages learning in fine arts such as dance and music as well as core subjects such as reading, writing, math and science for children aged between one and five.
Natacha Beim, who was a BIV Forty under 40 winner in 2010, founded the venture in 1998, when she was 22.
Beim she opened her first CEFA school in North Vancouver and expanded to 10 locations by 2010. She told BIV at the time that she planned to open in the U.S. and in China.
Franchise fees are $50,000 and the capital investment is estimated to be $400,000.
Beim last cited her revenue to BIV as being around $2.8 million in 2010, or 12% more than in 2009.
Her growth would have been steeper, she said, were she to accept all interested potential franchisees.
In 2010, Beim turned down 95% of 100 franchisee requests because she wanted partners who would focus more on kids than on profit.
“We’re looking for that person who understands our concepts or can learn them, can work with the early childhood community and has something to give as an individual,” Beim said at the time.
