PYJAMA DRAMA FRANCHISE

Since 2009, we grew to having 30+ franchisees around the UK pre-2020, and have been lucky enough to also franchise abroad. Our numbers are not yet back up to pre-pandemic levels, but our franchisees are all doing very well financially, and are happy in terms of their income and work-life balance – so we know it is just a matter of time until we grow back to this level. As well as our UK franchisees, we currently also franchise in Malaysia, China and India, and in the recent past, in Australia.

Over the past five years, we have developed the training side of the business, which means the team at Head Office deliver award-winning CPD to teachers and early years practitioners – teaching them how to use imaginative play in their practice to develop life skills and meet curriculum objectives. This is something we are extremely proud of, not least because it gives our franchisees the opportunity to deliver training in their territories – boosting their income, and their status as drama experts!

First and foremost, we look for people who are passionate about the power of drama, play, and make-believe; people who recognise that drama is the most powerful tool we have at our disposal to boost children’s life skills, to help children develop a love of learning, and to help nurture happy, confident, engaged members of society.

We look for friendly, hard-working, professional people who are enthusiastic team players. We don’t need franchisees to have formal drama experience, or to have been a teacher – if they can be larger-than-life, not take themselves too seriously, and enjoy being silly with children – we’d love them to enquire. There is a fair amount of singing in our sessions, but they don’t need to be a professional singer either – so long as they can carry a tune and enjoy singing, the children don’t mind!

The Pyjama Drama franchise is competitively priced and, in line with industry recommendations, is priced such that franchisees should get a return on their investment within 12-18 months. For franchisees who are working flexibly full-time, they should expect to get a return on investment easily within a year. We do ask for the initial franchise fee to be paid in full before training begins, but we can hold territories for a time should this be necessary, and for the right individual.

Because our franchise model is so flexible, turnover and profit can vary, and so we’d encourage anyone considering a career with us to book an informal chat so we can discuss their specific earning potential based on the number of hours they want to work, and the particular products they want to deliver.

Very! We have franchisees who work full-time flexibly and others who work part-time hours, some who work lots in the school holidays, and others who choose to only offer a handful of sessions out of term-time. We have franchisees who run their business part-time alongside another job when they first start, some who want to build their business slowly whilst their children are young, and others who want to throw themselves in from the very start. We have franchisees whose work consists mainly of nursery sessions, others who do more public classes, franchisees who love delivering performances and parties, and others who don’t! The important thing is that we help franchisees to build a business that works for them, their family, and their ambitions.

We are very proud of both our training and the ongoing support we offer. Training consists of a mixture of remote training (watching pre-recorded lessons and meeting with members of the Head Office team online), and two days of in-person training in the birthplace of Pyjama Drama – Welshpool, Mid Wales.

The remote training has been designed to be completed flexibly, and at a pace that works for the individual. Generally, you can expect to put aside around six hours a week, for six weeks, but of course some franchisees want to take longer, and others complete it faster.

The training itself includes not only the practical side of running the franchise (how to use our drama techniques and deliver the sessions) but also every other element of running a business including marketing, financial planning and record-keeping, legalities, business planning, safeguarding, and administration. And the most important thing to remember is that no-one is expected to remember it all straight away! There’s a lot to learn, and we’re there every step of the way to support our franchisees – whether they’ve been with us for 10 days, or 10 years!

New franchisees are supported not only by the team at Head Office, but also our wonderful network of franchisees who are the most lovely bunch of people you’ll ever meet! Franchisees share good practice, ask questions and cheer each other on via a closed Facebook group, and I am only ever a phone call away. We have termly online ‘inspire’ meetings with the whole network, bi-annual support/review meetings online with a director, and an annual seminar in Welshpool each year where we get together for refresher training, business planning, and socialising!