After 30 Years of Experimenting, an Education Franchise Is Finally at the Top of the Class

Richard Weissman knows the value of a good lesson. In 1980, when his parents opened , a private preschool in Boca Raton, Fla., he learned about , spending his after-school hours mopping floors and cleaning toilets. In 1987, after co-founding a new learning center franchise concept, , with his parents, he learned about the perils of rapid: Success came quickly, too quickly to manage, and by 1999 the Weissmans were no longer running the business. Weissman moved on to a less-than-satisfying stint in private equity, where he concluded that his business roots still rested with business ownership and education. That was why, in 2001, he set out to revive his parents’ original brand, The Learning Experience, with a handful of locations. But his plan for small, sustained growth slowly grew into a robust franchise operation with a national presence. And this time, the CEO is older, wiser and smartly managing growth.