BRICKS 4 KIDS Franchise Complaints
Bricks 4 Kidz franchise complaints, franchise costs, franchise testimonials & franchise information. Share your opinions – good or bad – about the Bricks 4 Kidz franchise opportunity and play programs.
(UnhappyFranchisee.Com) Bricks 4 Kidz franchise owners offers Lego-brick building activities designed by engineers and architects in after-school classes, preschool classes, summer camps and birthday parties.
The concept was created by a mother, Michelle Cote, in St. Augustine, Florida, in 2008, and began franchising a year later.
According to the Bricks 4 Kids franchise marketing, “BRICKS 4 KIDZ has a high probability for success in your area because”:
- It’s a proven model – truly a home-based business;
- Requires only a modest investment;
- Has NO national competition;
- Quick ROI on your low-cost franchise;
- Can be operated as a part/full time business;
- Has high profit margins;
- Has low fixed overhead;
- It’s easy to operate;
- It can be easily taught to anyone;
- The classes, camps and birthday parties are affordable by nearly any family;
- Parents view the classes, camps, and birthday parties as educational and therefore feel that the fees are well spent;
- The BRICKS 4 KIDZ Schedule follows the school-year calendar – no corporate hours with this business.
The Bricks 4 Kids franchise requires an initial investment of $33,800 – $51,050, has a franchise fee of $25,900 and an ongoing royalty fee: 7%.
BRICKS 4 KIDS Franchise Scam Complaints
Are you familiar with Bricks 4 Kidz? Please share a comment below!
Several anonymous complaints have been submitted and published alleging complaints about the Bricks 4 Kidz franchise and a questionable funding company called Seed Capital.
We don’t vouch for the authenticity or truth of anonymous comments; however, they are useful in providing topics to look into during the due diligence process.
Anonymous wrote:
I purchased a Bricks 4 Kidz franchise.I was steered to the Seed Capital and they all said it was a quick return on investment.
Within in 8 months I was bankrupt. Do not do business with them, you will work and maybe break even. Do not purchase a franchise, you can copy a franchise that you are interested in without paying royalty fees. They will not protect their own brands.
Only purchasers in large cities are getting a return on investment.
Seed Capital is part of the scheme, to run up credit cards for you to walk in and hand over $30,000 onto your credit card for the franchise.
They personally call the B4K owners and tell them you have good credit so the B4K owners can get you in and take the money.
Bricks 4 Kids Owner USA wrote:
Bricks 4 Kidz has spent several years selling franchises that have a 12% return on investment. The first 150 owners are mostly gone, or got out bankrupt or sold.
You will work 7 days a week long hours to hand over franchise royalty fees to the corporation, unless you get lucky and are one of the 12% who broke even or earned a salary.
Many are so in LOVE with their B4K business, they are willing to have cash flow to stay in business. Do not be fooled. To say that they are in the top 50% women owned business is true, but be ready to become a modern day slave, because the business is a good small revenue producing business, but it is a Cash Dog, all your money goes back into running the business. The took marketing fees out and used it to sell more franchises, not concerned to protect their own brand.
There are new lawsuits against the company that spells out the fraud. Make sure you get a copy of the disclosure doc and the lawsuit will be added, (per gov regulations). Many have lost over $50,000 due to apparent greed from the top three owners. The business was never a proven sales track, and was made up on paper, using the famous LEGO bricks that fueled the sales of the franchises. I was an owner, and after I knew that It was not a quick return on investment, I was forced into bankruptcy.
We plan to post the Bricks 4 Kidz Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) which should include summaries of the referenced lawsuits and the names of current and former franchisees.
We have previously posted on Seed Capital here: SEED CAPITAL Jim Saia Financing Complaints
Are you familiar with the Bricks 4 Kidz franchise opportunity or the Bricks 4 Kidz franchise system? Please share your opinion – positive or negative – with a comment below.
ALSO READ:
FRANCHISE DISCUSSIONS by Company
ARE YOU A BRICKS 4 KIDS FRANCHISE OWNER OR FRANCHISEE? ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE BRICKS 4 KIDS FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
TAGS: Bricks 4 Kidz, Bricks 4 Kidz franchise, Bricks 4 Kidz franchise opportunity, Bricks 4 Kidz franchise complaints, LEGO franchise, LEGO franchise opportunity, franchise complaints, BFK Franchise Company, Seed Capital, Brian Pappas, Dan O’Donnell, unhappy franchisee
I am a current franchise owner in the Detroit area. We have been operational for about a year now and I cannot say enough good about this program. It is an exceptional program, as evidenced by the many third party endorsements of the program. One need only perform an internet search to see the educational awards received by this program. Educators and parents alike cannot get enough of this program. If you are considering any franchise, as with any other investment, I would suggest you carefully consider your own skill set and your ability to operate a business.
I am a current owner, and I make more than 12% cashflow, in fact I am close to 50%. Bricks 4 Kidz, is a viable business, if you know how to run a business, and make good business decisions. As with ANY business or franchise, you MUST do due dilagence before purchasing any business, and have realistic expectations. Don’t take the sales person word for everything, you are doing business, complete the proforma to see if the numbers you come up with are liveable for YOU, than plan on the numbers not coming out as good as you hoped, so you manage your business accordingly.
Yes, you will work a lot of hours when you first start your business …..You would with ANY new business if you are serious about being profitable. Some upset franchisees that came on board thought they were going to be make making a hefty profit working 20 hours per week, after the first few months, doing this part-time. Most are operating NEW territories — you are starting a business from scratch, so you have to generate a base of customers, and that takes time. Some franchisees decided to either invest in a creativity center (not required) or invest in a lot of income streams (also not required).
Some spend a lot of money on extras (things that the company doesn’t require) and then find themselves spending a lot more money. You can start the base of this business with an addtional $15,000 after the franchise fee, and grow from there. You do not have to have all income streams up and running when you start. It’s flexible, you can start with just 2 or 3 income streams, invest in those, make a return and then reinvest. A mobile Bricks 4 kidz has a LOW breakeven point (excluding any loans) I am able to break even on a monthly sales of less than $1600 (including my franchise royalties fees).
As sales go up, variable costs increase is in labor, and giveaway supplies, but if you have priced your classes, camps correctly, you should be in the 40-70% gross profit margin range. The big challenge– is generating full classes and camps.
I am also a current Franchise Owner of Bricks 4 Kidz. We started our business in late 2015. Our first year sales were $33,000. We had 2 weeks of summer camps in June & July and managed to get into 10 elementary schools with the after school program within the first 6 months of operating. We also have done a few birthday parties and a Winter Break Camp.
In addition to the Franchise fee and $13K in working capital we also had to invest around an additional $10K in lego kits, spare parts, minifigures and various supplies. However, we paid this with the cash flow from our sales. At this point we won’t have to invest any additional capital. We are now sustainable as long as we continue to schedule classes.
The gross profit margin for us is HUGE! It really depends on the enrollment numbers of your classes. We have around 75% gross margins. If you think about the basics of this business fundamentally it works. Here is an example. You run an after school program and 20 kids enroll @ $12 each for 12 weeks. This generates $2,880. We pay our teachers $30 per class. This comes us to $360. We pay a 9% royalty fee. This comes up to $260. Cost of sales are $620 which is a 78% gross margin. If your enrollment goes up the gross margin gets bigger. If it goes down it get smaller. You see my point. You can generate a great deal of cash very quickly depending on how many schools you can get to run your program. The marketing material provided by corporate are top notch. If you do get into a school the marketing you provide, flyers, registration, on-line enrollment gets almost all the parents to sign their children up.
If your business oriented and have a dedicated person on your team to run daily operations you can make this business successful. If you burrow to pay the Franchise Fee and Working capital it could be difficult if you don’t immediately start to get accounts since you immediately have to start making high interest payments.
We invested not burrowed for this business. We have a strong cash flow and also take a payroll. This business is certainly viable. However, there is competition out there that are doing similar programs. Its worth it to do your homework. Not only determining who your competition is but how many schools in your area are open to the idea of the program.
Just like any other business you cannot simply buy into this an expect people to come knock on your door. You have to go after the business and then nurture and grow it.
My wife runs daily operations (sales and classes) and I do marketing, business and accounting. My wife spends around 20 hours per week. We have a small baby and three other kids at home so she can’t work full time. I spend roughly 5-10 hours per week doing mainly administrative and social media work.
This business is a perfect fit for a couple where one spouse stays at home and has experience with kids and the other is business minded. This is the perfect fit because you have 1 person dedicated to take appointments and teaching classes and another person handling all the business aspects, Like contracts, professional email, social media, accounting, financing, etc.
I purchased my franchise in March 2014 and so far it’s going very well! I wanted to keep the business separate from our personal finances, so I went out on my own to find no interest credit cards for a year and a half. I was told about Seed Financial, which is mentioned here, but I decided to go it on my own and find as much financing as possible with no interest.
I was lucky and was able to still be able to work at my other job p/t, so all the money I made went to paying back the credit cards. Everything was put on the credit cards, the initial franchise fee, supplies, etc. I was able to pay off my credit cards in full by July 2015 and started finally paying myself. You obviously don’t have to do it that way, but I am a debt free business and my sales for 2015 were $101k.
There are a lot of successful B4K Business owners. You have to be smart. Look at the schools in your area. Do they have after school enrichment programs? If most go through rec centers or do not offer them, this probably wouldn’t be a great business for you. You MUST be in the schools for this business to work. This gets kids excited about summer camps, b-day parties, etc (and I actually don’t do b-day parties, so my sales were without).
To start, you will put in a lot of hours, especially if you are the first in your area. If you start your own business with any business and don’t believe you will need to put in a ton of hours to get it off the ground, you should not go into business for yourself. I would say I probably put in 25 hour-ish per week. I could do marketing all day everyday if I wanted to, but I have a family and wanted to do something more flexible. Now I have a great deal of flexibility.
People come in and out of businesses every day. Some are successful, some are not and feel they need to place the blame somewhere. Are there things that should be improved with B4K, yes. Are there any other businesses out there that don’t need improvement? I don’t think so.
This is a really bad idea – 99% of the business out there will give you a better return on investment. Take that money and buy yourself some dividend stock and you will be better of financially while sipping latte on your couch. Know that from my own experience of almost 2 years in the business.
Look at their financials also. At this point they are in the middle of litigation with their former CEO Brian Pappas. Dan O’Donnell is also out as a CFO. Both of those guys have squeezed everything they could out of the company before being ousted. So their management is now occupied with lawsuits, audits rather than creating new content and innovate to get ahead of the competition. And speaking of competition – do yourself a favor and google that as well. You will be competing with virtually everyone who can afford lego wedo.
Consider yourself warned…
All these childcare franchises are very bad and rip offs. Just think about it- if it was so profitable why don’t they do it themselves? If you are good at it, why do you need them? I understand, if there is a specific franchised product, like food, you get something from the franchise. From these childcare services, you get nothing and lose your investment in a hurry. I have interacted with Discovery Point franchise and have seen many families get ruined. They mainly targeted immigrants with kids and literally robbed them with the help of the bank.
The bank loaned the money knowing perfectly well that it was a scam. Bank insisted on SBA guarantees, where the fees were paid by the borrowing franchisee. SBA knows about these fraudulent schemes but looks the other way. It is taxpayers money and SBA gets credit by loaning more and more – they have no problem if it was fraud as long as the paperwork was good. These fraud franchises are proliferating due to SBA s help. SBA paperwork was manipulated by the bank so that the failure records were not shown against the franchise. Everyone is happy except the franchisees.
The Virginia SCC Division reached a Settlement agreement with BFK Franchise Company, LLC. and an Order was entered on June 2, 2016. Since the Settlement is public record now, I can discuss and share it with you.
To Happy B4K Owner,
Below is a link to our Docket Search for you to retrieve the Order. Please enter SEC-2016-00025 in the “Enter Case Number” box and click the “Search Cases” tab. Then, a grey link to the Order PFD will appear under “Select a record to view detail…”. Click the grey link to access the PDF of the Order.
http://www.scc.virginia.gov/docketsearch#search
Bricks 4 Kidz have developed a great business model, but unless it’s well marketed, like any business it will not succeed.
For it to be successful, it should not be operated on a seasonal or part time basis, it is a full time, scalable business for those that have the business acumen, drive and ambition.
It’s not a get rich quick scheme, it’s a business with great potential and massive repeat income opportunities for those that manage it correctly.
Bricks 4 Kidz has a very comprehensive curriculum, so it’s operationally sound.
The biggest problem with Bricks 4 Kidz is that the wrong people bought the franchise.
Its a business that needs to be marketed by the owner, if this is done properly, camps and parties will do great.
Those that bother to develop relationships with schools in their territories do very well, as they provide repeat business.
Make sure you check out their quarterly filings. The lawsuits are piling up and they are burning through cash fast:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1394638/000155335017000173/clcn_10q.htm
Pappas is suing, as are former officers and owners, e.g.:
On October 7, 2016, a franchisee filed a demand for arbitration against the Company’s affiliate BFK Franchise Company, LLC alleging that BFK had engaged in contract breaches and fraud in relation to numerous franchise agreements signed by Brian Pappas, Managing Director, or Dan O’Donnell, VP Operations between September 22, 2012 and November 1, 2015, with all but 1 of the agreements executed by or before March 2, 2015. The arbitration demand’s allegations include that misstatements and misrepresentations were made at or about the time of the purchase of the franchises. The complaint also assails other items such as the above-referenced SEC investigation, the Company’s settlements with the State of Virginia, Virginia’s “investigation and …settlement with Brian Pappas as a result of his conduct and actions during the time he served as Managing Director of BFK Franchise Co, and CEO of CLCN,” and self-dealing by corporate officers including commissions paid to officers upon sale of each new franchise.
Frank,
Do you know if Odonnell is suing or if he is the target of any suit, arbitration or SEC action ? It is alleged that he had undisclosed relationships with credit card processors and other vendors not disclosing those income streams to his company to the SEC or any of the state regulators.
Also, do you know the details on the arbitration demand filed in Oct 2016 ?
Thanks!
Frank,
also, just curious, why is March 2 , 2015 a significant date ?