Florida-Based Franchise To Expand Orlando Footprint

National daycare franchise The Learning Experience announced it is expanding in the Orlando market with 10 new locations opening over the next three years – bringing 100,000 square feet of freestanding commercial real estate space, full-time jobs, and consistent traffic to nearby businesses with parents dropping off and picking up their children twice a day, five days a week.

The Learning Experience locations each consist of up to 10,000-square-foot of indoor building space with up to a 5,000-square-foot playground. Each new center will also employ as many as 30 staff members and certified teachers to serve upwards of 180 children between 6 weeks and 6 years of age with daycare and early childhood education.

The Learning Experience, which currently has more than 40 centers operating across the state of Florida, plans to open new locations in:

• St. Cloud at 4930 E. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in March 2025
• Longwood at 387 Wekiva Springs Road in Q2 2025
• Clermont at 3444 S. U.S. Hwy 27 in Q3 2025
• Palm Coast at 19 Market Ave. in Q4 2025
• Davenport at 6215 U.S. Hwy 17-92 N. in Q4 2025
• Sanford at 3284 W. 1st St. in Q1 2026
• Clermont at U.S. Hwy 27 and Golden Eagle Blvd. in Q3 2026
• Minneola at 18130 U.S. Hwy 27 in Q3 2026
• Casselberry at 1533 Seminola Blvd. in Q3 2026
• Winter Springs near Michael Blake Boulevard in Q3 2027

The expansion underscores an overall increase in the development of new early learning assets, which shows no signs of slowing down as demand in this segment is sky high and growing. Net lease real estate investors remain attracted to the early learning sector’s recession-resistant nature, high-quality real estate, long lease terms, escalating demand, and value creditworthy large operators like The Learning Experience as tenants.

When identifying potential sites and markets for expansion, The Learning Experience’s Chief Development Officer David Slavny and his real estate team analyzes a number of factors, including daytime population of the surrounding area; traffic patterns; population of children ages 6 and under in a one-, three- and five-mile radius; and average household incomes within those same areas.

Headquartered in South Florida in Deerfield Beach, the franchise pursues growth in new markets by establishing both franchise and corporate owned sites in each major metro market. Once it identifies a market, it then establishes franchised sites in the surrounding suburban areas. Franchisees sign 15-year agreements with the company.

The Florida-based franchise, which is owned by the San Francisco private equity group Golden Gate Capital, has opened more than 80 centers over the past two years and now has more than 420 in 30 states, as well as three locations in the U.K. It plans to add more than 160 new locations over the next three years. The Learning Experience was ranked No. 25 overall in Entrepreneur magazine’s 2025 ranking of the world’s top 500 franchises.