Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries Franchise

As a Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries franchisee, you’ll have exclusivity to a specific area to operate within. This is in addition to a “comprehensive itinerary of equipment along with a list of suppliers with whom you will receive exclusive discounted rates.”

Apart from this, you’ll be a part of a recognised national brand and the first and largest franchised nursery group. The marketplace is large and stable, while the business model is proven and profitable. In addition, you’ll have access to a range of strategic stakeholders in the industry to help you on your journey. 

If you’d like to get started on your journey with Monkey Puzzle, you’ll go through a five-stage process. At stage one, you can request an information pack, which will give you the key information you need before getting started. 

The second stage involves an online application. This will be reviewed, and if you’re a suitable fit, you’ll be contacted and guided through to the next stage. 

Stage three involves an exploration call. In this call, the franchisor would like to find out more about you as well as go over your application details. But it’s not a one-way street. You can also ask the franchisor any questions you may have. 

The next stage, stage four, involves the much-needed due diligence process. Here, you’ll be able to talk to some of the current franchisees as well to get a better understanding of what it’s like to operate a Monkey Puzzle childcare nursery. 

Finally, at stage five, you’ll be invited in for a formal, in-person interview where your suitability to franchise with Monkey Puzzle will be evaluated. 

Who Are They Looking For?

Although you might think that you need to be an Early Years expert or that you might need to have experience in the childcare sector, you should know that Monkey Puzzle doesn’t have this requirement. In fact, many of its franchisees come from a variety of different backgrounds. One shared characteristic they have in common, though, is that they want to own and run their business in partnership with a nationally recognised brand and who want to contribute to their communities through business. Furthermore, apart from the fact that you’ll be managing and running your own business, you need to keep in mind that you will need to appoint a nursery manager with the relevant qualifications. However, don’t worry. You’ll get assistance with this requirement from the franchisor.

Monkey Puzzle offers new franchisees all the support they need to help them every step of the way. Support is provided in many areas ranging from property acquisition to ongoing operational support, finding and developing the perfect location, catchment analysis, property selection, design and renovation and more – all this from the highly experienced head office team. 

But the Monkey Puzzle support structure is even more detailed and comprehensive as they offer you support in six crucial areas. 

• Finance and funding

Here, you’ll be able to get help with financial forecasting through a sophisticated cash flow to help you have a transparent view of your business’ financial standing. This is done by helping you analyse your investment levels and your anticipated returns. You’ll also be able to get assistance with developing your business plan alongside ongoing business management advice and financial performance reviews. The complex nursery funding system is made easy to understand as you will also get guidance in navigating this area.

• Recruitment

With regard to recruitment, you’ll be able to get help related to placing strategic job ads and recruitment plan support. You’ll also work with a dedicated internal Recruitment Manager as well as gain assistance with pre-screening, safer recruitment procedures, interview allocation support and follow-up, onboarding assistance and full assessment of candidate suitability and projected recruitment needs and strategy. 

• Marketing

As marketing plays such a crucial role in your business development, you’ll get an initial, customised marketing launch plan as well as an optimised website and social media profiles. You will further get access to the franchisor’s brand guidelines and graphic design alongside the “Getting Started” pack, which contains artwork and marketing resources. But that’s not all. You’ll also get targeted marketing across social media and Google. And there’s also the opportunity to access the Monkey Puzzle “Hub” for daily campaign assets. If you need any assistance with any of your marketing efforts, you will have full access to the parent brand’s marketing team, which you will be able to consult. 

• Property Acquisition

As a franchisee operating your own exclusive territory, you will not be alone. For instance, you’ll get a demographic assessment and a competitor analysis into your preferred territory as well as a dedicated property acquisition team. Monkey Puzzle will also give you access to strategic alliances with commercial estate agents. Further to this, you’ll get help with property negotiation and the legal processes involved therein. There will be a full assessment of your chosen site’s suitability and access to an in-house property consultant. The property acquisition process would not be complete without design input and fit-out specification, project management during the building renovation, and more. And you will get all this with Monkey Puzzle’s dedicated team ready to support you all the way. 

• Property Design

Regarding the actual property design process, you will get head office support with budgeting and nursery fit-out specifications. You’ll get introduced to key stakeholders on their educational suppliers’ list. And there’s also a Bespoke Equipment Guide with detailed recommendations and operational advice that’s tailored to your needs. In addition, you can have access to exclusive group discounts through the partnership suppliers brochure and take advantage of the CAD drawing services. 

• Early Years Training

Since your nursery will need to be managed and staffed by appropriate team members, you’ll get support with sourcing of your training partners. All the mandatory training will include First Aid, Fire Marshall, Child Protection and more. You’ll be fully assessed in the training programmes before you begin and it’s also important to know that all courses meet Ofsted and HSE requirements. This is just a small preview of what you’ll get in terms of the actual educational aspect of running your franchise operations.