The mantra of quality not quantity can be heard loud and clear from the key players among the mid-market nursery chains who have decided to run 'boutique' chains rather than become the largest providers in the sector.
They prefer to retain a personal, hands-on style of management and generate healthy profits without running on a treadmill of continual expansion. A recent study by the healthcare consultancy Laing and Buisson reported that some groups offering relatively few places are generating an annual revenue of more than 1m.
As Ian Millar, a director of Child & Co, says, 'A lot of people are making not unreasonable revenues from providing the best quality care they can. Controlling the quality is the thing.
'We know every parent who uses Child & Co nurseries can pick up a telephone and speak to one of the directors now about anything at all. If the company got too big they wouldn't have the first inkling who they were talking to.
'It is very easy to expand. There are venture capitalists out there lining up to give you money. It is a trendy sector, but what we won't do is compromise our standards. For us it is quality not quantity. We want to deal with people -not numbers.'
Alan Bishop, who with his wife Janet founded the Kinder Groups chain, adds, 'We are entirely family-owned. We are not tied to venture capitalists. We have not got a huge influx of money from venture capitalists and we are not on the receiving end of huge development loans from the banks. It means we are free from outside pressures to concentrate on standards and quality.'
Ashoob Cook, who founded the Happy Child chain in West London 12 years ago, explains, 'Several years ago we were looking at getting some venture capital and trying to grow quite large. It was very exciting setting out from our offices in Ealing to go to high-powered meetings in the City and having corporate hospitality thrown at us left, right and centre.
'We thought about it but felt it was not the right move for us to make. We decided we will grow organically and remain in complete control. I did not want the financial pressure of having to meet these people's targets. They offer you massive amounts of money but they take a stake in what you have worked so hard to create.'
Another mid-sized group, the Childcare Corporation, also aims to expand without seeking to dominate the market. Communications director Stephanie Nimmo explains, 'When our chairman Alan Bentley interviewed me for this job he said, "In supermarket terms we don't want to be number one. We don't want to be Sainsbury's or Tesco. We want to be Waitrose." We see it as a growth sector but it is not just about making profits. We have obligations to our investors but we care passionately about the quality of our childcare provision.' NC
