smART Explorers vs Challenge Island Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of smART Explorers vs Challenge Island including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees
	smART Explorers Franchise	Challenge Island Franchise
Investment	$27,500	$48,300 - $62,950
Franchise Fee	$19,500	$39,900
Royalty Fee	7%	6%
Advertising Fee	-	2%
Year Founded	2006	2003
Year Franchised	2007	2012
Term Of Agreement	-	-
Term Of Agreement	-	-
Renewal Fee	-	-
Business Experience Requirements
	smART Explorers Franchise	Challenge Island Franchise
Experience	-	-
Financing Options
	smART Explorers Franchise	Challenge Island Franchise
	In-House/3rd Party	In-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees	No/No	-/Yes
Start-up Costs	No/No	-/Yes
Equipment	No/No	-/-
Inventory	No/No	-/-
Receivables	No/No	-/-
Payroll	No/No	-/-
Training & Support
	smART Explorers Franchise	Challenge Island Franchise
Training	-	3 days of classroom and hands-on training. Some of the key aspects of the training is provided by the Founder of Challenge Island, Sharon Estroff. Once you return to your market and are ready for business, Challenge Island will have a support person come to your market for one-full day and provide on-site training and assistance. On-The-Job Training: 8 hours Classroom Training: 24 hours
Support	-	Purchasing Co-ops Newsletter Meetings/Conventions Toll-Free Line Grand Opening Online Support Security/Safety Procedures Field Operations Proprietary Software Franchisee Intranet Platform
Marketing	-	Co-op Advertising Ad Templates National Media Regional Advertising Social media SEO Website development Email marketing
Operations	* Franchise can be run from home * Absentee ownership of franchise is NOT allowed. (100% of current franchisees are owner/operators)	-
Expansion Plans
	smART Explorers Franchise	Challenge Island Franchise
US Expansion	Yes	Yes
Canada Expansion	-	-
International Expansion	Yes	Yes

Company Overviews

About smART Explorers

NO LONGER FRANCHISING

About Challenge Island

Challenge Island Founder and Creator, Sharon Duke Estroff M.A.T. is an award-winning educator with over two decades of teaching experience in Atlanta public and private schools. She is the author of the popular parenting book Can I Have a Cell Phone for Hanukkah? (Random House) and a feature parenting and education writer for numerous national publications including Woman's Day, Good Housekeeping, Parents Magazine, and Huffington Post. Sharon created Challenge Island while on maternity leave with her fourth child. Maxed out on late-night reruns of a popular, realityTV show, she began wondering if the same basic principals (minus the voting and island part) could become a means of motivating her students to take on complex higher level thinking tasks. She poured everything she'd learned about children into developing this idea, incorporating cutting edge research and educational thought. By the time her daughter graduated from 3 am feedings, Challenge Island was ready for primetime. It's been growing by leaps and bounds ever since. Now over a decade later, thousands of children have experienced the magic and benefits of Challenge Island, as Sharon continues to develop fresh curriculum and content for this popular enrichment program.
 *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.
*Year-round income with camps during school vacations and birthday parties anytime.
*Thrive in any economy by providing affordable classes to parents who put education first on their list of expenditures.

Veteran Incentives  10% off franchise fee

#151 in Franchise 500 for 2021.