In Love with
Teaching and
Business
Annette Miller grows in more ways than one
BY RIPLEY HOTCH
Greg Helwig, vice president of system development for Sylvan
Learning Centers, says the company didn’t set out to grow
with multiple units. It just happened naturally, with an existing
franchisee adding a unit, then another.
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Now Sylvan is actively seeking multiple-unit development, although not in the way of a large QSR franchise. “We do strongly
encourage multi-unit owners,” Helwig says.
When he joined Sylvan in 2000, he says, 5 percent of franchise
sales were repeat business. “That’s now approaching 40 percent, so
we have had a big surge in repeat business and multi-center growth.
It’s a testimonial to the strength of the business. It’s particularly refreshing when operators grow from one to two to three—I think
they’re stronger than just buying five outright at the start,” he says.
“Our model performs better if the franchisee is actively involved.”
For that reason, although the company likes multiple-unit franchisees, Sylvan is cautious about accepting
multi-brand operators. “It’s not encouraged, but it’s not discouraged,” he says. “If they have a
Panera and McDonald’s, we’d
be concerned with how
much time they could give.
We’d rather have people
who are focused primarily
on Sylvan.”
Today, Sylvan has
about 150 multi-unit franchisees controlling about
500 centers. Usually the
company has not sold multiple units at the start, but it has
started to do so, and will in the
