How Much Does a Learning Experience Franchise Owner Make?

The FDD does not disclose annual owner income or franchisee profit. Its strongest franchised-unit evidence is 2025 Gross Sales, while its expense disclosure covers company-owned Centers and stops at EBITDAR before gross rent. The official measure is useful, but it cannot be renamed owner earnings.

Official source: The Learning Experience 2026 FDD, Item 19, Statement 1, pp. 62–65. The subgroup averages are observations, not quartiles, forecasts or probabilities.

The company-owned Statement 2 is more informative on costs. Summing the 2025 revenue and EBITDAR lines for its 17 mature company-owned Centers produces $47.355 million of revenue and $13.003 million of selected-expense EBITDAR. The compatible calculation is:

This 27.46% result is derived from the 2026 FDD; it is not a reported franchised-unit margin. The FDD says company-owned Centers may benefit from economies of scale and does not provide franchised expense records. Statement 2 also excludes gross rent, the Software Service Fee, the L.E.A.P. Interactive fee, interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Source: The Learning Experience 2026 FDD, Item 19, Statement 2 and footnotes, pp. 66–68.

The model applies the 27.46% company-owned proxy to three official franchised revenue anchors, then deducts a transparent gross-occupancy placeholder and omitted recurring technology and curriculum charges. The resulting $99,000, $231,000 and $376,000 figures are independent estimates for a manager-run mature Center.

• Revenue: Conservative uses the $1,688,611 below-average mature subgroup average; Base uses the $2,168,511 mature median; Upside uses the $2,699,375 above-average subgroup average.
• Gross occupancy: $350,000 is an editorial placeholder for base rent, common-area maintenance and property charges. It equals $35 per square foot for the FDD’s approximately 10,000-square-foot standard Center and is not an FDD-reported rent average.
• Technology and curriculum: $14,770 includes $6,300 annual Software Service Fees, $2,988 annual L.E.A.P. Interactive service fees and $5,482 of per-child materials using 108 children and the midpoint of the disclosed $2.58–$5.88 monthly range. The 108-child count is a modeling assumption drawn from Item 7’s startup table, not an Item 19 enrollment result.
• Rounding: Calculations use full-precision inputs and display results to the nearest $1,000.

How sensitive is the base scenario to occupancy cost?

Every additional $50,000 of annual gross occupancy reduces modeled owner earnings by the same $50,000. At the official mature franchised median revenue, the estimate ranges from about $181,000 to $281,000 as the gross-occupancy placeholder moves from $400,000 to $300,000.

A qualified owner who personally replaces a paid Center Director could add about $53,500 of labor value to each scenario, producing estimated owner-operator benefit of roughly $152,000 to $430,000. That increment is compensation for a full operating role, not additional passive profit.

Item 15 does not require the owner to serve as Center Director, but it requires a Center Director to devote at least 40 hours per week to supervision. The owner must also devote substantial time to oversight and compliance. Each additional Center needs its own Center Director. The model therefore treats a manager-run Center as staffed with a paid director and does not describe the investment as passive. Source: The Learning Experience 2026 FDD, Item 15, p. 58.

The owner-operator adjustment uses the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for preschool and childcare Center Directors. BLS reports a May 2024 median of $53,500 for this occupation in child daycare services. Local compensation, payroll taxes, benefits, credentials and licensing requirements may differ.

The 7% Royalty and current 1% Brand Awareness Fund contribution are treated as already reflected in the company-owned proxy, while identified technology and curriculum charges excluded from Statement 2 are deducted separately. A conditional Lease Administration Fee is not included in the headline range because it does not apply to every lease structure.

Official source: The Learning Experience 2026 FDD, Items 5–6, pp. 12–23. The Brand Awareness Fund may increase, and fixed-dollar charges may be adjusted under the agreement. Local advertising, insurance, replacement equipment and other operating requirements can also change the result.

Actual results can fall below or above the modeled range because the strongest expense evidence is a company-owned proxy and the revenue sample excludes important operating conditions. The largest variables are enrollment and tuition, staffing ratios and wages, gross occupancy, Center age, local licensing rules and financing.

• Company-operated versus franchised: Statement 2 covers 17 company-owned Centers. The FDD notes potential economies of scale, and no franchised expense records are provided.
• Closed Centers: Item 19 excludes Centers that closed during a reporting year. Item 20 reports six franchised Centers that ceased operations and five franchisor reacquisitions during 2025.
• Maturity: The headline scenarios use Centers open more than 48 months. Intermediate franchised Centers open 24–47 months had lower 2025 average and median Gross Sales of $1,941,423 and $1,932,176.
• Rent and capital needs: Gross rent is excluded from the official EBITDAR table, and the scenario does not include depreciation, future remodels, major equipment replacement or a capital-expenditure reserve.
• Owner distributions: Business profit is not automatically paid to the owner. Working-capital requirements, lender covenants, taxes and reinvestment policy determine distributions.

Item 20 reports 436 franchised outlets and 29 company-owned outlets at December 31, 2025, along with 57 franchised openings during the year. Rapid openings, development timing and ramp-up make a one-unit mature-Center model inappropriate for multiplying across a new multi-unit portfolio. Source: The Learning Experience 2026 FDD, Item 20, pp. 69–76.

A buyer should replace every material proxy with location-specific documents and franchisee evidence. The most important checks are actual rent, enrollment capacity, tuition, labor schedules and a reconciled franchised profit-and-loss statement for comparable mature Centers.

• Request written Item 19 substantiation and confirm that the 266-Center mature franchised cohort, exclusions and Gross Sales definitions match the copy of the FDD being offered.
• Ask multiple current and former franchisees for 2025 profit-and-loss statements showing payroll, benefits, supplies, local advertising, repairs, insurance, base rent, CAM, property taxes, technology, curriculum and recurring franchise charges.
• Obtain the proposed lease economics in writing, including annual escalators, common-area maintenance, property-tax pass-throughs, tenant obligations and any Lease Administration Fee.
• Confirm whether the planned owner can legally and operationally serve as Center Director; otherwise retain a market-rate Director expense.
• Separate operating earnings from financing. Model interest and principal using the actual loan amount, rate, term, fees and required debt-service coverage.
• Review Item 20 contacts for closures, transfers and reacquisitions, not only high-performing franchisees supplied by the sales process.

The Federal Trade Commission Franchise Rule Compliance Guide explains how financial performance representations are regulated. The official U.S. The Learning Experience franchise website provides current franchise-format information, and its official franchisee-support overview describes operating support areas. For industry classification, the U.S. Census Bureau definition of NAICS 624410 Child Day Care Services is the closest federal category.

The strongest defensible range is about $99,000 to $376,000 of estimated annual pre-tax owner earnings for one mature, manager-run U.S. Center, with a $231,000 base scenario. It is scenario-based, not official owner income. A qualified owner who replaces the Center Director may receive total owner-operator benefit of about $152,000 to $430,000, but approximately $53,500 of that benefit represents labor.

The largest earnings driver is the combination of mature-Center revenue and gross occupancy cost. The largest unresolved uncertainty is the absence of franchised-Center expense and rent distributions in Item 19. Before making a decision, a buyer should verify the current Item 19 substantiation, actual lease charges and comparable franchisee financial statements through Item 20 interviews. Debt service and personal taxes must remain separate from the operating estimate.