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Established in 1992, the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) Awards of Excellence celebrate the best of Growing Together™ and the symbiotic partnership between franchisors and franchisees to become Stronger Together. Regardless of the size or concept, a strong relationship between the franchisor and franchisee is vital to a franchise system’s success.

The 2021 CFA Awards of Excellence in Franchising recognize the brands that have earned top marks from the franchising community. They recognize the success of franchise brands in not only exceeding the expectations of their franchisees, but also for finding innovative ways to reach their customers.

The Awards of Excellence are presented in two categories: Traditional Franchises (brick and mortar businesses) and Non-Traditional Franchises (mobile or home-based businesses). Within these categories, recipients are grouped based on the number of franchisees in the system.

Here, The Franchise Voice had the opportunity to connect with Little Kickers – the winner of this year’s Grand Prize for Non-Traditional Franchises – to gain valuable insight into what goes into an award-winning franchise system.

[/penci_text_block][vc_empty_space][penci_text_block block_title_align=”style-title-left” custom_markup_1=””]The Little Kickers Concept 
Little Kickers’ weekly soccer classes for children aged 18 months to seven years are jam-packed with fun and provide children with a positive introduction to sports and the foundation to lead a healthy and active life. Little Kickers has a proven track record of success both in the United Kingdom and internationally due to the quality of people it selects as franchisees, as well as the extensive training it provides.

The initial training program provides franchisees with a thorough understanding of all aspects of running a Little Kickers business, from cash flow forecasts and breakeven analysis to health and safety guidelines. Ongoing training is also available in the form of regular coaching master classes and coach assessments, business health checks, and more.[/penci_text_block][vc_empty_space][penci_text_block block_title_align=”style-title-left”]Frank Stanschus, Managing Director | Little Kickers
Frank is the Managing Director and Owner of Little Kickers Canada and has held this role since September 2010. Until February 2020 he was also the CIO for Little Kickers Group. Before moving into Franchising, Frank gained over 20 years of corporate experience having worked in blue chip organizations such as Accenture, Virgin, UBS, Centrica and Price Waterhouse holding senior management roles in operations and IT.  Frank has 2 children, Lukas and Francesca, from his first marriage and 2 step children, Ivy and Winn, with his partner Christine.[/penci_text_block][vc_empty_space][penci_text_block block_title_align=”style-title-left”]

Q: Little Kickers received the Awards of Excellence Grand Prize for Non-Traditional Franchise. This award is given to franchises that deliver exceptional support to their franchisees. As franchisor, why do you feel it is critical to provide comprehensive support to your franchisees for the overall success of the brand? What type of support should you provide?

A: In my opinion it is crucial for franchisors to constantly remind themselves that we are responsible for more than coming up with a great business idea with a proven track record.  We have an ongoing responsibility to create an environment that gives our franchisees the best possible opportunity to be successful.

What is the real skill of franchising? It’s not the initial idea – it is the ability to enable others to replicate and build on the the great idea. To me franchising equals relationships, infrastructure, support, governance, and vision.

So once the initial training is over and franchisees are up and running, we need to continue to identify and evolve best-in-class thinking and apply this to the network – through our support mechanisms.  At Little Kickers we do this through one-on-one meetings, group forums, online training, regulatory updates etc.

Franchisee support should cover all angles of the business – product, customer service, regulatory environment, business strategy / growth, HR/Training and IT.   We provide this support ourselves were we have a unique perspective / skill and outsource where necessary.

I also strongly feel that at Little Kickers “support” is not one-directional.  We all have a role to play in supporting each other.  That involves franchisees helping and advising each other, as well as franchisees supporting the franchisor, by keeping us up to date with “real world” experiences that can shape our strategic thinking going forward.

Q: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way franchise systems operate. How has Little Kickers’ franchisee support system pivoted to support franchisees during turbulent times and as the world shifts to the “new normal?”

We have been shut down for much of the pandemic, and while our actual support framework has not fundamentally changed, it has demonstrated how important and beneficial being part of a network of like-minded small business owners really is.

Like many companies, we have discovered the importance of ongoing communication during this time, and as a result, much of our work at the Canadian head office over the last 15 months has been dedicated to communications.  We have also become a more closely knit group of business owners and we have worked together incredibly well to jointly come up with the various pivots we needed to go through during the pandemic. Finally, the different stages of re-opening in our various provinces meant that we had to be more open minded to allow some different rule sets depending on which Province a franchisee operates in.

This does not come naturally to a franchise network, and while we work hard to ensure that we all “sing from the same hymn sheet”, we try to continue to be open minded to potential differences between provinces and see if we can find more ‘best in class’ thinking that can be applied everywhere.

Q: From your point of view, what do you feel Little Kickers franchisees would say about franchisor support? Why is it important to listen to their feedback?

I think Little Kickers franchisees would have predominantly positive things to say about our franchisor support, but there is always room for improvement.  It is critical to listen to our franchisees feedback, as they hear and see what happens in the real world and that is a key input to our strategic plans. Obviously, we as franchisors, can only be as successful as our franchisees, so giving them the right support to enable them to reach their full potential makes complete sense.

I would like to think that our franchisees think of us as:

• Understanding and empathetic
• Supportive
• Leaders in a crisis
• Positive
• Creative
• And perhaps most importantly – part of the team

Q: What advice would you give other franchisors in regards to providing support to your franchisees?

a) Never forget that providing support is our job. Before there was a franchise business, there was a founder with a great idea, who was able to set up a small business, who then operationalized that idea to allow many others to follow in their footsteps. Once the franchise business is established, the hard work is no longer about the initial business idea, it is about supporting an increasing number of business owners to live the vision, values, the brand, and the methods and processes of the business.

b) Your franchisees are your allies – they know what’s happening in the “real world”, they are smart, they have great ideas, and if all of this is nurtured it can be an amazing source for your strategic plan.

Q: To what do you attribute the success of Little Kickers, and what advice would you provide to other franchisors in this regard?

I think we have a great product, we choose our franchisees very carefully, we work as a team, and importantly, we recognize that we rely on each other to be successful.   My advice to other franchisors would be to always remind yourself why you came into this business and stay true to your vision, put yourself into the franchisees shoes, and remember that you are all on the same team – there are enough obstacles in your way, you don’t need internal issues politics on top of that.

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