In this article I’ll explain exactly how we’re driving multiple growth engines together, at the Football Fun Factory.
One of the biggest drivers of our success in growing and developing the FFF brand, has been the fact that we had no previous experience with franchising.
My Co-Founder, Jonny Martin, and I made it up as we went along and our lack of experience has proven to be pretty helpful at times.
This meant that we came into business with no pre-conceived ideas of how to franchise and instead, lots of creative ideas to try out, some of which have proven to be a big hit. Although admittedly, we’ve tried a few other things without the same success. My take is that you either win or you learn.
One of the best things that we’ve done is to not rely on franchising as a single method of growth.
When people think about franchising, they often think of a single, linear path to growth:
- Sell more territories (I hate this language and prefer ’award more communities’).
- Recruit more franchisees.
- Rinse and repeat.
And yes, that is a powerful model that can enable fast growth. Plenty of very successful brands have done exactly this.
But it’s not the only route to success and not the only way to scale.
You can franchise and use other growth strategies simultaneously. In tandem, they can enable one another.
When you get it right, these additional growth strategies don’t compete with franchising or your franchisees, they strengthen both.
Other methods of growth don’t need to be a separate strategy to franchising. They can be part of a unified and joined up approach.
Franchising is an incredible vehicle for scale and it’s an industry I love because it allows you to empower passionate individuals, build local communities, and expand rapidly without carrying the full operational burden centrally.
But relying solely on franchise sales can sometimes limit your growth potential and limit your thinking.
Other growth strategies can co-exist and provide another line of support to your franchisees.
It can also generate significant additional funds to re-invest in their future success.
Our experience of a joined up approach of franchising and brand partnerships has enabled Football Fun Factory to:
- Increase brand awareness.
- Introduce new families to the organisation.
- Strengthen credibility.
- And most importantly… drive more families into our franchise network in support of our franchisees.
Back in 2021, our Director Luke Chadwick came back from a family trip to Center Parcs with a brainwave, to engage the countries’ most well-known UK holiday provider in a conversation about the FFF launching sessions across their sites.
After initial discussion and a successful pilot, we rolled out across all six UK & Ireland Center Parcs villages and since then, hundreds of thousands of participants have first experienced our brand on a short break at Center Parcs.
This spurred us on to reach out to Haven, who operate 38 holiday parks around the UK coastline.
Once the partnership was agreed, we successfully rolled out across all parks in 2025 and we have just trained another 150 of the team to lead experiences in 2026.
Through these partnerships:
- Guests are introduced to Football Fun Factory sessions during their stay.
- Children experience our brand, our coaching, and our ethos first-hand.
- Parents see the value, the smiles, and the impact of the FFF.
And here’s where it gets really powerful…
When those families return home, they’re signposted directly to their local Football Fun Factory franchisee, having already had an epic experience.
It’s a win-win. Haven and Center Parcs get a greatly enhanced football programme and the Football Fun Factory continues to grow and positively impact more children and families.
Following the success of these collaborations, partnerships have become a huge focus for us. Not as a replacement for franchising, but as a multiplier.
We’ve built relationships with organisations that already have access to our ideal audience and either up-skilled their staff or put in our own.
Places where families are actively looking for things for their children to do are ideal for us and that covers a lot of organisations.
When a franchise launches, it needs to build an audience from scratch. But through partnerships, we have plugged into it other brand’s audiences to support our growth and that of our franchisees.
In turn, our audience is shared with others too. In most cases, partnerships are revenue generating. But there are also collaborations where money doesn’t need to change hands and where value can be exchanged in other ways.
If you’re building a franchise brand, it’s easy to be all consumed by supporting your franchisees and finding more. Let’s be honest, that’s more than enough to keep you busy.
But alternative growth strategies can support your franchise partners in a different way.
Alongside our franchise network and commercial brand partnerships, we’ve been deliberately developing Head Office operated locations in strategic areas.
These are areas where we run sessions directly as a central team.
Our Head Office operated sessions allow us to:
- Test new products and ideas quickly.
- Stay close to our programme delivery and franchise operation.
- Create ready-made communities.
- Incubate franchises for resale.
- Generate revenue for investment.
If you have a successful business model that people are willing to invest in, why wouldn’t you operate it centrally?
Our three-pronged strategy is an ecosystem of franchising, head office operated programmes and brand partnerships/license agreements. The success of these all support one another.
So if you’re growing a franchise brand, ask yourself…
What other doors could we open that ultimately lead customers back to our franchisees?
Could licensing your brand to other organisations be both an income stream and audience-builder?
If you’re not operating the franchising business model yourself centrally, why not? And could it help you?
It may not suit your business or your plans and perhaps franchising gives you all that your business needs. But for many franchise brands, an alternative growth strategy or two could be great next step. It’s worked for us.
