Tappy Toes began as one little dance class for 2-year olds in Watford back in 2002. This small local business has since grown to have 20 award-winning franchises across the UK.
Claire Munday, founder of Tappy Toes says ‘I was seriously concerned for my business when Covid hit and could never have imagined that 20 months on, we’d be 4 times as big as when the pandemic started! This week has really made me reflect on all that we have accomplished over the last couple of years. We were runners up in the What’s on 4 Kids Awards this week, finalists in the Virtual Franchising Awards for Marketing Excellence, and WINNERS in the Best Franchise Awards, which is based on anonymous franchisee feedback! I couldn’t be prouder!’
Tappy Toes had 5 franchises at the start of Covid, but stepped up a marketing campaign to recruit, realising that many people would be looking for new career opportunities, and it certainly paid off. 9 new franchisees were trained via zoom and launched their businesses during the lockdown and an additional 6 trained and launched once the lockdowns had ended.
Sara Tuohy joined Tappy Toes in April 2021 and says ‘Starting my Tappy Toes business was the best decision I could have made for myself and my family! I love the flexibility and I finally have a work/life balance.’
Tappy Toes has gone from strength to strength since March 2020. Winning the Virtual franchise awards 2020, sponsored by Barclays, for Best Franchisee Support and runners up for Best Adaptation to Change. They have shown that resilience and adaptation are the best ways to grow in unprecedented times, taking classes live online and creating a community hub for their customers during these difficult times.
Claire Munday said, ‘We wanted to share our success story to show people that not everything is doom and gloom since Covid took hold, some businesses are still managing to thrive despite it. We have kept our dance families going throughout the lockdowns and beyond, with many of them telling us Tappy Toes is the highlight of their week. The more children we can get into dance at a young age, the better! It is such a healthy hobby to have. We’d love to continue expanding at our current rate and have franchises all over the UK and globally in the next 5 years!’.