If you live in a home where you often hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet or paws, these franchise opportunities may just be up your alley
By Joelle Kidd
Whether they have kids or fur babies, Canadians want the best for their children and pets. That’s why brands that cater to parents and paw-rents alike have seen success in marketing specialized products and services with a side of caring and compassion. Franchise Canada spoke to three brands with three unique offerings, all primed for growth in these sectors.
Bosley’s by Pet Valu
When Adam Woodward, senior vice president of franchise store operations for Pet Valu, was just starting out at the company, he remembers one of his first store visits: a woman came in and told the owner that her cat had died. “It was nothing more than that,” Woodward remembers—she shared her news, and shared a cry and a hug with the store owner. That was when he realized the pet sector is more than a retail business. “It’s not just about moving a bag of milk, or a hamburger. We’re selling relationships—we’re selling love.”
This same mindset is at play in every Bosley’s location, one of the Pet Valu family of brands based in B.C. Though acquired by Pet Valu in 2010, Bosley’s has been around since the 1970s. With these deep roots in the province, the brand is focused on being community-minded and sharing hands-on expertise with customers.
“The Bosley’s customer wants the expertise, they want the connections, they want to talk about their animals,” says Woodward.
Along with selling pet food, treats, accessories, and apparel, Bosley’s offers grooming services and partners with local animal rescues to facilitate pet adoption.
The pet sector has seen huge growth since the COVID-19 pandemic, Woodward notes; an estimated three million pets were welcomed into Canadian homes between 2020 and 2022. Along with the boom in pet ownership, Woodward says he’s seen growing trends like more interest in pet accessories, and particularly apparel. (Bosley’s B.C. customers love the brand’s matching dog and human raincoats, according to Woodward.)
Bosley’s franchisees receive intensive training and ongoing hands-on support for the first year of operation. The Pet Valu team also helps new franchisees find locations and offers resales of corporate stores.
Potential Bosley’s franchisees need to be based in B.C. and have an entrepreneurial spirit and desire to get out into the community. When selecting franchisees, Woodward says, “I’m looking for operators, not investors. I’m looking for people that will want to go into the store, will want to work day to day, [and] will want to connect with their customers.”
Jolly Bubble
Marketing expert and mother of two Niki Chen had a simple idea: a fantastic indoor playground for kids.
“We wanted to improve the design [and] equipment quality” of a typical playground, says Chen, CEO of Jolly Bubble. “Families can find a better place to host their birthday parties and let the kids play safely and have much more fun.”
Chen and her co-founder Ellen Yu (who has a background in kids’ retail) opened the first Jolly Bubble location in Markham, Ontario, in June 2023. Just over a year later, they’ve expanded to a second location (Richmond, B.C.) and are looking to grow quickly, with a focus on Mississauga, Oakville, Vaughan, and other areas across Ontario and Canada in 2025.
The franchise model is a perfect fit for the concept, Chen says. A proven system based on the brand’s expertise is imperative for navigating the difficulties of real estate (zoning for indoor playgrounds can be tricky), construction, safety standards, and equipment. In the flagship location, they’ve also pioneered creative educational programming, like music and arts classes for toddlers and infants.
Along with operations training, the brand consults with franchisees to create bespoke playground designs that fit their space. “We do the design with our in-house design team, which can be whatever theme [they] want—space, a garden—all based on the franchisee’s ideas,” Chen says. The brand also helps with social media marketing, including partnering with influencers to get the word out on Jolly Bubble’s cute, photogenic interiors.
There’s always a new generation coming up, so kids’ services are a great industry to be a part of, Chen says. Jolly Bubble capitalizes on the trend toward modern, eye-catching, and Instagram-worthy outings. But the brand also provides an essential service for parents: birthday parties.
“[Kids] have a birthday once a year, and this is the most important day of their lives,” Chen says with a smile. “They want to invite all their classmates, and parents want to find a place where they can bring all these kids together and they don’t need to prepare the food, don’t need to worry about the decorations.”
While it is a fun and profitable business, Chen says, it’s also a stressful one. “Babies will cry, parents will have complaints, kids will spill juice on the floor,” she says. But at the end of the day, “Parents appreciate us, and kids love it.”
Learn more about franchising with Jolly Bubble
Water Babies Canada
For Water Babies, finding a niche means the brand can be the best at what they do.
“We teach swimming to babies and toddlers right from birth through to just over five [years old],” says Sarah Sundin, chief operations officer for Water Babies Canada. “So we’re very specialized, which means that we can be the best that we can possibly be—and that follows through absolutely everything we do, from the program that we operate to the research and development that goes into designing it.”
With more than 65 locations that teach over 40,000 children each week, the U.K.-based brand has come far with this standard of excellence. As Sundin notes, all of Water Babies’ swim instructors complete between 150 and 200 hours of training.
While Water Babies takes a rigorous approach to training and research, it’s a love for kids that makes the brand thrive. In fact, it’s what drew Sundin, a chartered accountant by trade, to the concept. “I had a very corporate career before this and then was on maternity leave. I’d heard about Water Babies before I had my son,” she says. “I got on their wait list, I took him to classes, and I fell in love with the whole program. I’d heard amazing things about it, and he started swimming at eight weeks [old].”
Most Water Babies franchisees are teachers, though no background in swim instruction is required to start. Franchisees typically start by filling every role, from teaching to admin work, and recruit office staff and other instructors as they grow their business. What makes Water Babies unique, Sundin notes, is its low overhead; because the brand doesn’t buy and build its own facilities, but instead rents space at local pools, franchisees can get started with a lower financial commitment.
While the industry saw a downturn during pandemic lockdowns and a boom immediately following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, Sundin estimates that services like swimming lessons have evened out to a consistent demand. “Ultimately, parents want to enrich their children’s lives. They want to provide a variety of opportunities, activities for their child to learn and develop,” she says.
Franchisees with Water Babies complete an initial six weeks of training and then receive structured, ongoing support from the franchisor. The brand is actively recruiting franchisees from across Canada, and though they don’t need an aquatics background, Sundin notes they should be passionate and eager to learn.
“You can’t teach someone to have a passion for babies and toddlers and teaching swimming,” says Sundin. “So really it’s that we want people to be invested in their business.”
