Start a Ducklings Early Learning Center Franchise in 2025

Franchise 500 Rank: N/R Not ranked last year

Initial investment: $993K - $2.2M

Units as of 2025: 18 80.0% over 3 years

Jody Thompson founded the Ducklings Early Learning Center in 1994. She took this opportunity to combine early education with childcare. Combining these allowed her to further enrich the lives of the children with which she worked.

Ducklings Early Learning Center began franchising in 2016 and expanded its reach, continuing to provide play-centered preschool education.

Ducklings Early Learning Center is headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania and is looking to add more franchisees to its name.

Why You May Want To Start a Ducklings Early Learning Center Franchise

Ducklings Early Learning Center offers childcare services for most of the week, watching children from six weeks to kindergarten age. Ducklings Early Learning Center teaches mental, physical, and interpersonal skills and strives to instill a love of learning in its students. They also offer daily communication to families on what children have done and learned.

Franchisees with Ducklings Early Learning Center don’t need to be teachers or have a childcare background. However, they do need to be passionate. One area of passion should include helping children and others in the community. Because of this, it is beneficial to enjoy working with children and adults. Franchisees should also display traits that the Ducklings Early Learning Center seeks to teach children, such as high self-esteem, cooperation, and good manners.

What Might Make a Ducklings Early Learning Center Franchise a Good Choice?

Opening a Ducklings Early Learning Center franchise may offer a more predictable outcome than investing in a completely new brand that could struggle to thrive in an already crowded and competitive industry.

Ducklings Early Learning Center franchisees will need to find a site and hire staff and teachers. They will also be responsible for implementing the Ducklings Early Learning Center curriculum and facilitating communication with parents about their children. While the responsibilities may occasionally seem daunting, Ducklings Early Learning Center has a team of people ready to help franchisees every step of the way. The Ducklings Early Learning Center franchise team is built from others who have worked in the company, and they are prepared to coach and support franchisees who want to grow with the Ducklings Early Learning Center brand.

How To Open a Ducklings Early Learning Center Franchise

With Ducklings Early Learning Center, franchisees are several dozen hours of on-the-job training and many more hours of classroom training. Ducklings Early Learning Center also supports franchisees with location selection, safety and security procedures, and operation instructions. Some other support that is offered includes proprietary curriculum and software, marketing help, and website development.

A typical franchise agreement with Ducklings Early Learning Center runs for ten years and includes exclusive territories. Franchisees may be allowed to renew their agreement if they meet the Ducklings Early Learning Center requirements.

To be part of the Ducklings Early Learning Center team, you should make sure you’re financially ready for an initial investment made up of a franchise fee and other startup costs. In addition, you should prepare yourself for ongoing fees that will include advertising, royalty, and potential renewal fees. Franchisees will also need to meet the company’s set net worth and liquid capital requirements.

Company Overview

About Ducklings Early Learning Center

Industry	Children's Businesses
Related Categories	Childcare, Children's Education/Enrichment
Founded	1994
Parent Company	Ducklings Early Learning Franchise
Leadership	Kimberly Collier, CDO
Corporate Address	1414 Lenape Rd. West Chester, PA 19382
Social	Facebook, LinkedIn

Business Overview

Franchising Since	2016 (9 years)
# of employees at HQ	9
Where seeking	This company is offering new franchises in the following US states: District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia
# of Units	18 (as of 2025)

Information for Franchisees

Here's what you need to know if you're interested in opening a Ducklings Early Learning Center franchise.

Financial Requirements & Ongoing Fees

Here's what you can expect to spend to start the business and what ongoing fees the franchisor charges throughout the life of the business.

Initial Franchise Fee Definition: The initial fee paid to a franchisor to join their system What you need to know: Found in Item 5 of the FDD, this may be a flat fee, or may vary based on territory size, experience, or other factors.The franchise fee is an up-front (one-time) cost that a new franchisee pays to the franchisor. This fee is usually due at the signing of the franchise agreement and covers the right to use the franchisor's trademarks, name, and related business systems.	$55,000
Initial Investment Definition: The total amount necessary to begin operation of the franchise What you need to know: The initial investment includes the franchise fee, along with other startup expenses such as real estate, equipment, supplies, business licenses, and working capital. This is outlined in a chart in Item 7 of the FDD, showing a range of possible costs from low to high.	$993,400 - $2,153,500
Net Worth Requirement Definition: The minimum net worth you must have in order to qualify to become a franchisee of this company What you need to know: Net worth is the value of a person's assets minus liabilities. Assets include cash, stocks, retirement accounts, and real estate. Liabilities include items like mortgages, car payments, and credit card debt.	$500,000
Cash Requirement Definition: The minimum liquid capital you must have available in order to qualify to become a franchisee of this company.	$200,000
Royalty Fee Definition: A ongoing fee paid to the franchisor on a regular basis. What you need to know: Most franchisors require franchisees to pay an ongoing royalty fee, which is detailed in Item 6 of the FDD. This fee is typically a percentage of weekly or monthly gross sales, but may also be a flat weekly, monthly, or annual fee.	6%
Ad Royalty Fee Definition: An going fee paid to the franchisor on a regular basis to support advertising or marketing efforts. What you need to know: This may also be called advertising fee, marketing fee, brand fund fee, and more, but the basic purpose is the same-- to support promotion of the brand systemwide. As with the royalty fee, it is detailed in Item 6 of the FDD, and can be a percentage of weekly or monthly gross sales or a weekly, monthly, or annual fee.	1%
Term of Agreement Definition: The length of time your franchise agreement will last. What you need to know: Franchise terms are typically anywhere from 5 to 20 years in length, but are sometimes instead dependent on factors such as the term of your lease. Once your term is up, you may have the option to renew your agreement, typically for a smaller fee than the original franchise fee.	10 years
Is franchise term renewable?	Yes

Financing Options

Some franchisors offer in-house financing, while others have relationships with third-party financing sources to which they refer qualified franchisees.

Third Party Financing	Ducklings Early Learning Center has relationships with third-party sources which offer financing to cover the following: franchise fee, startup costs, equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, payroll

Training & Support Offered

Franchisors offer initial training programs and a variety of ongoing support options to help franchisees run their businesses.

On-The-Job Training	47 hours
Classroom Training	62 hours
Ongoing Support	Purchasing Co-ops Newsletter Meetings & Conventions Toll-Free Line Grand Opening Online Support Security & Safety Procedures Lease Negotiation Field Operations Site Selection Proprietary Software Franchisee Intranet Platform
Marketing Support	Ad Templates National Media Regional Advertising Social Media SEO Website Development Email Marketing

Operations

Additional details about running this franchise.

Is absentee ownership allowed?	No
Can this franchise be run from home/mobile unit? Definition: The business can be run from your home and/or a vehicle, and it is not necessary to have a retail facility, office space, or warehouse.	No
Can this franchise be run part time? Definition: This business can be run by the owner on a part-time basis (less than 40 hours per week) and/or as a side business; it is not necessary for the business to be open/run full-time.	No
# of employees required to run	25-40
Are exclusive territories available? Definition: An exclusive territory is a fixed area in which you are given the right to operate and in which no other units of the same franchise may be opened. What you need to know: Territory size may be based on factors such as radius, population size, zip codes, and more. Details can be found in Item 12 of the FDD.	No