Ep 55. What Does It Really Take to Open a Second Location? | Inside One Franchise Growth Story

What does it really take to turn one successful franchise location into two, and how does that experience change the second time around? In this episode of the Field Coach Experts Podcast, guest host Stephanie Benze sits down with the co-owners of Mad Science of Central Virginia to walk through their expansion from Richmond into Fredericksburg. They started in one territory, joined a Franchisee Growth Group with a goal of growing the business, and turned that goal into a second operating region. The conversation covers what they carried over, what they had to unlearn, and what the second launch actually looked like on the ground and on the books. Anastasiya Rogatnik and Barbara Burstein are co-owners of Mad Science of Central Virginia, which delivers hands-on science programs for kids through after school programs, workshops, birthday parties, summer camps and shows. Anastasiya first worked for Mad Science as an instructor in Milwaukee more than twenty years ago, and reopened the Richmond location after discovering it was about to close. She leads marketing, sales, hiring and community events. Barbara, who holds a master's degree in museum studies, leads operations, equipment management and systems. The two met when their daughters attended preschool together, opened in August 2019, and have run the business as partners for seven years. You will learn: You will learn what needed to be true in the first territory before these owners felt ready to expand You will learn why running two regions as two separate businesses limited their offerings and their profitability You will learn how an existing marketing plan was replicated in a new region instead of rebuilt from scratch You will learn what changes when a second location operates as a team hub rather than a customer facing facility You will learn what the first two years of numbers looked like in the new region You will learn why a dedicated local team matters when instructors travel to schools, libraries and preschools You will learn what structure and meeting rhythm came out of their Franchisee Growth Group and stayed in place two years later You will learn what mindset a franchisee needs to bring to group coaching to get real value from it The turning point was not a new strategy. It was realizing that two regions did not require two separate sets of everything. The owners had planned to keep Fredericksburg programs and Richmond programs distinct, which meant cutting their own offering in half in each region. Once they treated the business as one company with two regions sharing supplies, materials and programming, the picture changed. Fredericksburg grew 119 percent from year one to year two and moved from a 9 percent loss to a 37 percent profit margin. On the marketing side, the replication was just as practical. On the day they got the keys to the Fredericksburg office, Anastasiya brought flyers over from Richmond and walked them into local businesses, including a local donut shop that still takes a fresh stack every few months. Stephanie closes with a challenge: take one lesson from this conversation and put it into action. Go Be Awesome. For franchisors and franchise coaches, this episode is a look at what franchisee expansion actually requires beyond the real estate and the agreement. The systems, the communication rhythm and the leadership capacity have to be built before a second location can succeed, and a structured coaching group is often where that work gets done. Learn more about AC Inc. and the Field Coach Experts Podcast at fieldcoachexperts.com Learn more about Mad Science at.madscience.org