Children’s Lighthouse

The vendor opportunity at Children's Lighthouse

Children's Lighthouse operates 69 franchised early education centers, all under a single franchisor headquartered in Texas. The system reported a $1,941,556 average unit volume in its 2024 FDD, with year-over-year unit growth of nearly 3%. For software vendors, the addressable market is concentrated: 69 locations with no company-owned units, meaning every sale runs through the franchisor's approval process. The royalty rate sits at 3.5% on a 20-year initial term, giving franchisees a long horizon but tying technology decisions closely to HQ mandates.

Who controls software purchasing

The buying center at Children's Lighthouse is small and centralized. Michael Brown, Jr. serves as President, Treasurer, and Director, while Shelly Pair holds the Vice President of Operations role. Stephen Dixon, Chief Development Officer, and Matt Kelton, Vice President of Development, round out the leadership team alongside Stephanie Russ, VP and General Counsel. With no multi-unit operators mapped in our corpus and no parent company on file, software purchasing authority rests entirely with this HQ group. Vendors should target the operations and executive layer—Pair for day-to-day platform decisions, Brown for budget and strategic approvals.

Mandated and current tech stack

The 2024 FDD mandates Procare as the operational system across all franchised locations. Procare is a well-established child care management platform covering attendance, billing, family engagement, and compliance. No other mandated technology vendors are named in the filing. This single-vendor mandate means any software selling into Children's Lighthouse must either integrate with Procare or demonstrate a compelling gap that Procare does not fill. The absence of disclosed POS, payroll, or marketing tech mandates suggests those categories may be open—or simply not addressed in the FDD.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The FDD does not include an Item 8 extract, so the formal procurement model—whether designated supplier, approved supplier, or open—is not disclosed in the available data. However, the renewal terms in Item 17 offer a clear timing signal. Franchisees must provide 12 to 24 months' written notice before their current term expires to qualify for a 10-year renewal. At renewal, they must execute the then-current franchise agreement, which may include materially different technology requirements. This creates a recurring window where HQ can introduce new mandated systems, and vendors who are already known to the operations team have an advantage.

How to read the Children's Lighthouse FDD

The 2024 FDD is embedded below for full review. Pay closest attention to Item 11 for the franchisor's obligations around technology and Item 8 for any supplier restrictions that may appear in the full document. The executive roster in Item 1 identifies the decision-makers you need to reach. With 69 units and a centralized HQ, Children's Lighthouse represents a compact but high-AUV target for vendors who can align with the Procare ecosystem. For a ranked list of franchise targets matched to your software category, talk to FranCloud.