This Franchise Owner’s Journey with Huntington Learning Center Franchise
Ever wondered what it’s like to switch gears from your career to running an educational franchise? Meet Bob Mack, who did just that. Bob and his wife Lisa jumped into the world of Huntington Learning Center franchising back in 2019, setting up business in Indianapolis. In this interview, Mack reflects on why his family chose Huntington, how they’re teaming up with local schools to make a real difference, and what it’s like to see kids go from struggling to thriving.
What inspired you to decide to invest in a franchise?
Mack: My wife Lisa and I started our Huntington Learning Center franchise here in Indianapolis in 2019. I had been working in the beer industry for about 15 years prior to coming to Huntington. We had an elementary age daughter, and we were kind of struggling navigating the school system. That led us to believe that we could do something together as a family that would be our own. We explored a number of opportunities around education and finally settled on Huntington Learning Center. I think Huntington provides the opportunity to really excel and go beyond what you think your capabilities are as a student.
What drove you to choose Huntington Learning Center?
Mack: We looked at a handful of educational opportunities, essentially tutoring opportunities, and some very creative educational opportunities that were kind of new and different. The biggest things that stood out to us with Huntington were their track record in history. Ray and Eileen Huntington have been doing this since 1977, and they really worked out the kinks.
By far, the Huntington system was better planned, more well thought out, and very rich in content. All the curricula are there and in place, not something we had to reinvent or really get too familiar with. It was already there for us.
We spent a decent amount of time vetting and talking to a lot of people, including other franchise owners. It was clear there were things happening that sometimes are frustrating. But it was also clear to me that there were people at Huntington who were working diligently and hard to make the system better and better. We believed in Ray and Eileen Huntington. We believed in the people we met and what they were doing. They were able to give us something that we could hit the ground running with.
Can you speak about your PPP with your local school district?
Mack: PPP stands for public private partnership. It is the partnership between a private business like ours, Huntington Learning Center, and a public entity. Our biggest partner is our local school district. We started working with them right after the immediate after effects of the pandemic, when kids were really struggling, especially younger kids.
We have since developed such a strong partnership that we’re able to work with hundreds of students in this district to help them catch up, to give them a potential for a brighter future. We’ve been working with this partnership now for about three years, and we occasionally have kids that we worked with two or three years ago come by the center with great success stories about how they’re thriving in high school, about how they’re in college now.
In some cases, these kids have had doors open to them that they wouldn’t have had otherwise due to their academic record and some of the personal struggles. We just had a young student in his first year at Purdue University, and his grandmother came in and visited us last week.
It was so exciting to see them, because we remember when he was really struggling in high school to get the grades to get into Purdue, and now he’s there. Those are the kinds of things that we really get excited about.
What is your experience with Huntington franchise support?
Mack: The ongoing support has been especially huge for us, especially with the public private partnership.
Huntington is out there identifying opportunities, helping us to write grant applications, connecting us with the people that we should be talking to in our local area. That’s absolutely huge for us. Additionally, Huntington is constantly refining those systems and processes, whether it’s software or the curricula. There’s a lot of work being done to keep up with the changing landscape of learning and technology. Education requires a lot of upkeep, and Huntington really helps us navigate that.
Who do you think is an ideal Huntington franchise owner?
Mack: Number one thing for me is someone who’s going to be passionate about working with kids. You don’t need to be a PhD or a master’s in education. You don’t have to have that degree, but you’ve got to be passionate about working with kids. If you can take satisfaction from seeing a child at any age, whether they’re five years old or 15 years old, becoming a better student, and knowing that opportunities in the future will open up because of their experience. That to me is the number one thing I would encourage people to think about with Huntington Learning Center.
You’re going to put in some hard work and some long hours, but if you are patient and stick with the system and stick with your heart and your passion, you will see it pay off. You will see those students grow, and it will become rewarding to you in more ways than just financial. It will become very emotionally rewarding for you.
Why is now a great time to franchise with Huntington Learning Center?
Mack: Now is a terrific time to invest in Huntington Learning Center for a couple of reasons. We’re not far from the impact of the COVID -19 pandemic, which identified a lot of deficiencies in the education system. Today, people are working hard on education, to apply resources, to come up with improved methodologies to help kids learn, to help kids be better students, and to give them more opportunities. I believe right now, there is more energy and effort than I have ever seen before in this industry. There are a lot of communities that don’t have Huntington Learning Centers that would benefit from what Huntington Learning Center brings to the table.
What are your plans for growth?
Mack: We’ve proudly helped over 1200 children over the last three years. Today we are asking ourselves, how can we be more impactful? In the next five years, we want to keep our relationships strong and expand into one or two other school districts. We are currently in the process of applying for a federal grant from the US Department of Education. That’s a big lift for us. It’s not normal. It’s the first time we’ve ever tried anything like this. But if we are successful in getting one or two of these grant programs and the ability to participate with our school district partner in those, it’s going to be a game changer for a lot of kids. Even then, we’re still scratching the surface.
What are you most proud of in your experience with Huntington?
Mack: I’m proud because I have done something together with my family. Six years ago, my wife was working, I was working, our work life was largely separate from our personal life. There are challenges combining personal and work life, but we have done things together that we never would have had the opportunity to do.
I gained a newfound respect for my wife when I see her working with kids and parents. My daughter too has really blossomed. She’s great at working with kids, and she really takes great emotional satisfaction in that. As I look back on the last six years of our journey, that’s what I really take the most pride in.
I do also take a lot of pride in being a part of the Huntington organization nationally. We’re just one franchise out of almost 300, but I do see the results. Huntington helps our kids, and I take a lot of pride in being a part of that.
Learn More about Investing in an Education Franchise with Huntington
If you feel inspired by Bob Mack’s story, and are interested in exploring the Huntington Learning Center franchise opportunity, we encourage you to learn more by visiting our research pages here. To start a conversation with our franchise team about becoming a franchise owner today, we invite you to fill out our form here. Once we receive your information, we’ll be in touch to start your journey to franchise ownership.