Razzamataz Theatre Schools has a number of franchise territories available for people who want to operate their own performing arts school with the back up of a thorough training programme.
The Razzamataz franchise gained national recognition when founder and Managing Director Denise Hutton-Gosney appeared on Dragon’s Den in 2007 and won an investment from Duncan Bannatyne. Since the show, the two have gone on to create a successful franchise formula that has resulted in more than 40 schools opening up and down the country.
Bannatyne was recently quoted in the Sunday Post as saying: “The investment from Dragons’ Den that gives me most pride and satisfaction involves the children’s stage schools with a franchise opening almost every month throughout the UK, it’s a fantastic business model and a fantastic company.”
The training that Razzamataz offers is a big part of the success that Bannatyne is referring to and is largely one of the reasons why Razzamataz is one of the top three most memorable businesses in the Den for 2007 according to the Dragons. Whether it is for opening a Razzamataz franchise or for those training to be teachers at the Razzamataz Stage Academy with Thomson Holidays, First Choice, Haven and Centre Parcs, it allows those with little business background to confidently run their own school by arming them with the necessary tools for the job.
The Razzamataz franchise training takes five to six days and will encompass a number of different elements including health and safety, child protection, accounts and bookkeeping. It also helps franchise owners to learn about how the classes are run, the various Award schemes on offer, Summer Stage Academies held in association with corporate partners, and child protection issues.
Hutton-Gosney said: “The training sessions are all encompassing and will give franchise owners all the vital ingredients they need to run a successful school. In less than a week, we are able to help people establish a whole new career for themselves, which is incredible when you consider how long and how much money you have to spend in retraining to establish yourself in a new job. But of course our support doesn’t stop there.
“We continue to be involved with all our franchise schools, providing them PR and marketing services, customer service and general support. These are the reasons why people opt for a Razzamataz franchise rather than going it alone. We are in a saturated market, which requires finely tuned systems to get your business off to the very best start. This is back up by the fact that two of our September launches in 2010 were full on day one of trading, undoubtedly due to our strong brand name, robust training and support systems we have in place.”
Claire Larkin from Warrington, the franchise owner of Razzamataz Chester has recently completed the training programme and found the relaxed atmosphere during the intensive course really helped her to get to grips with everything that Razzamataz can offer and was ideal for someone who had never run a business before. She said: “We could ask as many questions as we needed to in a totally informal way. It was great to be able to speak up and say I don’t get it or I still don’t get it or even one more time please! The areas we covered were great and very informative but had the sessions bot been so relaxed I wouldn’t have gotten as much out of it as I did.”
To become a Razzamataz franchise owner it is not necessary to have a performing arts background or to have run a part-time theatre school previously although an interest in the arts is a must.
Published: 5 October 2011
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