Entrepreneur article on Kumon

I just found the article I knew I had: You Do the Math (1999).

The collision was horrific. In high school, mathematics had been easy for me—I could just sit for an hour and stare aimlessly while the instructor scrawled his cryptic chalk symbols. But when my lack of preparation met with my first college math exam, the twisted metal of my mind created a big fat F.

A tutor changed my world.

[snip]

From my observations, the Kumon system, which originated in Japan, is a series of tests structured to create incremental success so every student feels like an achiever. These math and reading masters have created a learning structure based on constant repetition and measured growth. Students set their own pace, review their past work and then test again.

Trainees take proficiency tests and are assigned homework. If you don't pass the exams, you'll see Kumon training methods up close and personal until you do. The homework requires many hours and is so intensive, even your kids will feel sorry for you.

Your studies will also consist of creating a business plan. If your site is approved, you'll pay only $800 for the rights to open a Kumon Center, plus $200 for the training kit.

[snip]

It appears to me Kumon is more concerned with educating children than making money. It offers no protected territories and reserves the right to place both franchises and company-owned centers wherever it wishes. Furthermore, you're not allowed to operate more than two locations.

Although educating America's youth is a laudable enough goal, let's do some math for the more hedonistic among us. Recommended tuition for a full-time student is about $75 per month plus a one-time registration fee of $30. Assuming you have 50 students by the twelfth month of operation—enough to get past your TLP—your gross revenues for the month would be $3,750, excluding registration fees. The franchisee I interviewed had 165 students, totaling $12,375 per month. Once you pass the TLP, you'll be required to pay the franchisor $28 per student per month. That leaves a gross profit of $2,350 with 50 students—$7,755 with 165 students. Subtract rent for about 1,000 square feet of space; marketing costs; and payroll for the local students who work for you after school. The result? Kumon can provide you with an income potentially better than that earned by the teachers you'll be supplementing. The franchisor is conscientious about assisting in your growth and will even help franchisees with rent for up to a 12-month period during the first 36 months of operation.

Kumon—the top-ranked miscellaneous training systems franchise and No. 23 overall in Entreprenuer's 1999 Franchise 500®—is a low-cost opportunity that's been refined during its more than 40 years in business. The franchisor offers marketing and financial support, and boasted 2,617 franchise locations in North America as of March 1999.

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Comments

Kumon, I think, is basically an export of the Japanese notion of juku -- "cram schools".

Another export that has done well is Shoto-Kan karate. I took SK to the brown belt level in the late 80s and then quit. One thing that was starting to bug me was the ritual at the beginning where everyone bows to the Japanese flag (and the American was up there too).

I hope you don't have to bow to the Japanese flag at the beginning of every Kumon session.

-- CarolynJohnston - 20 Oct 2005

Is the 'code' print hard to read???

I'm going to change the font if so.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Oct 2005

Wow!

A brown belt!

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Oct 2005

I find the code print a little hard to read. But then, I'm having difficulty reading anything small anymore.

$1,000 bucks to be your own franchise is not too bad for an individual without a store. (I think Curves is 30-something thousand due to all the equipment). I imagine the franchisee can set the cost for each student, but if it's too low they won't make any money. However, if you're in a richer city or suburb you could clean up. Especially a rich suburb with Everyday Math.

-- SusanS - 20 Oct 2005

I'm going to get rid of the code print.

It was horribly small in the past, but looks big on my browser.

Obviously it doesn't look big on anyone else's.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Oct 2005

However, if you're in a richer city or suburb you could clean up. Especially a rich suburb with Everyday Math.

Except....don't they require you to rent commercial space?

I saw that in the franchise agreement, I think....

otoh, the Kumon by me is definitely not in commercial space, although it's not in someone's home, either.

It's in the Women's Club, as I mentioned.

The zoning around here is strange, though; lots of people have businesses in their houses--businesses with signs outside.

So it's possible that, on paper, the Women's Club technically is a commercial office.

Still, one of the requirements was that the business post a Kumon sign out front, and there's no Kumon sign at the Women's Club. I would never have known there were Kumon classes there. (Definitely true, since I drove by that place five days a week all last summer.)

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Oct 2005

I've heard of them being in all kinds of buildings. One was in a church basement around here for awhile.

If Kumon made them rent commercial spaces that would seriously cut down on the number of franchisees in the $100,000 club, that's for sure.

They can certainly give them basic square feet requirements about the space they rent, along with other little rules, but you do lose a lot of flexibility (attracting people who just want to teach math) when the rules are too rigid or expensive.

I'm sure that one around here was in a church basement because I asked about it. Things may have changed, though. Or maybe it was illegal.

-- SusanS - 20 Oct 2005

I bet there's a gap between what the online legal documents say and what happens in practice.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Oct 2005

The Women's Club is an old buiding; I'm sure it's not to code in many respects; there's no signage whatsoever.

But, it's directly across the street from a $26,000 "liberal" school!

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Oct 2005

I would LOVE to know how many Masters School kids go to Kumon after school.

-- CatherineJohnson - 20 Oct 2005