Franchiser’s Success Wasn’t Child’s Play

The Arizona Republic:

The Little Gym International Inc. has experienced enormous growth and soaring profits in the past decade, so it’s hard to imagine that its chief executive has made many missteps along the way.

But Bob Bingham readily admits a few, namely his overconfidence that the company’s plan to go public would be a slam dunk. It wasn’t, and with no solid Plan B, he was left with few options to survive.

Bingham, 62, president and CEO of the Scottsdale-based company, talks about what happened and how he turned it around:

The Little Gym, which offers non-competitive, fun programs to help kids develop motor skills, was a fledgling company when Bingham was asked to take the reins in 1993. At the time, he had a background in broadcasting and was in the process of selling radio stations he owned in several Western states.

Bingham didn’t know anything about franchising, but he knew how to turn around companies, something he did in his broadcast career, and that’s exactly what the Little Gym needed.

Photo: Mark W. Lipczynski / The Arizona Republic.