Little City UK

Expanding Member
– Joined 2024

Welcome to Little City

We are an entirely mobile role play City for the under 6’s to explore and enjoy. Utilising our bespoke backdrops and specially selected high-quality toys and equipment, your child can fully immerse themselves in their own world and welcome you in too!

Our toddlers and pre-schoolers are our biggest observers: they have watched us as adults in the supermarket, post letters in the Post Office and style our hair. At Little City your little ones can ‘be’ grown ups: where nothing is off limits, they can be the hairdresser, the firefighter, the builder, the café owner and much, much more.

At Little City we strive to:

  • Provide a welcoming, inclusive pretend-play experience for all parents, carers and children under 5, open to the entire community.
  • Enable children to explore and begin to roleplay in their way, with no boundaries or limitations irrespective of gender, race, culture or ability.
  • Offer an open, safe and inviting environment in which all customers feel confident and valued.

We opened our first franchise branches in 2019 and haven’t looked back! We now operate in 30+ areas across England, with a view to expand into Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too.

Our franchisees come from a variety of backgrounds; across the team we have a mix of ex-teachers, ex-nannies, ex-nursery and preschool workers, hairdressers, physiotherapists, kids entertainers and more. All our franchisees are parents in many different formats; all of us are ‘doing it for the kids’: our team members work flexibly around their families and in some instances, other roles as well.

To our customers, we offer amazing opportunities for learning through play in schools, nurseries, charity, and community events. We are busy throughout the year for weekend party hire and our team members are now expanding their offering through employing staff to grow their businesses further and offer more and more events.

2024 has seen us grow and develop into a major provider of schools-based activities, mapping brilliantly to the Early Years Framework and Ofsted requirements. We have also learnt and trained our team to be able to adjust our offering to suit more children with Special Educational Needs and disabilities.

Our franchisees are creative, fun, and always looking for ways to improve and expand. We offer a franchise opportunity with heaps of support and structure as and when you need it. Our franchises are continually expanding and evolving with our team and their knowledge and expertise. This isn’t a ‘business in a box’, but a business opportunity that has potential to grow and develop as our franchisees do.

 

Training

We know that starting a business can be quite scary, which is why our team is on-hand for every step of the way. On joining the Little City team, and as part of our franchise licence, our new branch owners receive

  • Hands-on training on how to run our events; everything from setting up the City to van packing, customer service and more
  • Personalised Health & Safety induction with our H&S advisors; risk assessments, lone working support
  • Introduction to accounting and bookkeeping
  • Social media training and marketing plan for launch, opening and beyond
  • Opening day support/visit
  • Franchise Manual, and a shared drive full of documentation, imagery and content for running the business

Not included but required to run a Little City franchise

  • Full paediatric First Aid certification
  • Enhanced DBS check
  • Safeguarding training and certification

Ongoing training and support – the training doesn’t stop at launch!

  • Ongoing regular visits with the franchisor and support team
  • Annual team getaway/conference
  • Monthly regional calls/check-ins
  • Quarterly all-team Zoom catch up
  • Whatsapp group support and chat/queries
  • Quarterly social media planning workshops (online)
  • Quarterly online training to update skills or in line with business changes. Provided by the Franchisor and delivered by external industry experts. Previous topics have included: working with children with SEND, getting your business into schools, marketing for non-marketing experts, mental health resilience, personal finance top tips).

What will I do as a Franchisee

Our team work on average 3-4 days per week, including some weekend work encompassing party hire.

On a ‘regular’ week day our team will arrive at their venue for around 8am; meeting the hall caretaking staff or letting themselves into the venue if they have been given a key. The franchisee will unload the van and all the toys/equipment, ready for a 930am arrival time of our first visitors. In this time they may receive calls or messages from customers that will be answered as well.

At 930am the children and their parents arrive: all guests are welcomed on arrival and instructed on the event, any health and safety information is shared and the children start to play!

During the play session a Little City branch owner will play with the children, serve tea and coffee to the parents/carers, chat to the parents, continually tidy the play area when not in use and clean as required. At the end of the session, the branch member asks the children to return the toys to where they belong and every child goes home with a Little City sticker.

Our second sessions usually start at 11am, and we run through the same event as the 930.

At the end of the session, the team member packs the toys and equipment back into the van and ensures the venue is left clean and tidy.

On return home, franchisees usually catch up on social media posting/scheduling as well as answering emails or calls from customers regarding school or party hire coming up. In some instances, the team member may spend the afternoon conducting risk assessments for upcoming school hires by visiting the school and discussing direct with the staff on a future event.

Most of the team are then back ready for school/nursery drop off/pick up!

As above, weekends may be taken with party hire whereby the set up and pack away are the same but we liaise very closely with the host family on venue, the running of the event itself and more.

Due to being fully mobile and flexible, no two days are the same at Little City!

Key Information

Start-Up Cost:

£6,295

Franchise Type:

Mobile

Sector Type:

Childcare & Childrens Activities

Investment Type:

Start-up Franchise

Market:

B2C
07961 282943

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