CEO Helen Simmons explains how the company has grown as it reaches a major milestone
It’s hard to believe that 20 years ago our very first Caterpillars walked, crawled or were carried through our doors.
We feel our 20th birthday this year is a milestone worth celebrating - particularly after the year we’ve had.
How we fared during the pandemic
During the COVID crisis, our priority was to assist our current franchisees to be able to deliver Caterpillar Music Baby and Toddler Music Movement and Sensory sessions into the homes of thousands of families across the UK.
Within the first week of lockdown, we enabled them to go online with their music sessions and now that our face-to-face classes have resumed these online sessions and dedicated video pages serve as an additional income stream - for example, at holiday times or times when a customer misses a session.
Over the last tricky 12 months, Caterpillar Music head office not only supported our franchisees with additional training opportunities, information sessions and weekly Zoom calls for sharing tips and ideas, but our new Caterpillar Music Club was born, providing our customers with additional activities to do at home.
We’re also extremely proud to have won a Bronze Award from the Approved Franchise Association for Best Franchise Support 2020, as well as a Best Franchisor Diamond Award 2021 from Trustist for demonstrating an extremely high level of review collection.
The benefits of being part of a franchise
Running your own business can be daunting at times, which is why we wholeheartedly believe in the benefits of having a team of like-minded franchisees to network with, together with the continual support of our head office team, rather than going it alone.
It’s widely known that a franchise business has been statistically proven to be more likely to succeed than a new start-up business.
Caterpillar Music is an accredited member of both the Approved Franchise Association and The Quality Franchise Association. The company is also a member of the Children’s Activities Association and an ambassador for Encouraging Women into Franchising, all of which gives additional peace of mind to our franchisees and customers and have incredible benefits for our whole network.
There has never been a better time
We’re thrilled to be back running our award-winning face-to-face sessions in community venues and nurseries across the UK. Thousands of new families are contacting us every week to book our popular sessions for their babies born during lockdown.
Not only are our sessions so beneficial for the development of social skills, but many lifelong friendships are also made between the grown-ups.
Many areas have customers on waiting lists, which is why we believe there has never been a better time to launch a baby and toddler business. We’re currently running our discovery days online.
