2024 Economic Impact Awards 21-35 Years in Business: Little Sunshine’s Enterprises Inc.

The end of last year marked a new beginning for Little Sunshine’s Enterprises Inc. as it relocated its headquarters to Galloway Village from Farmers Park.

The December 2023 move to 4022 S. Lone Pine Ave., Ste. 150, was motivated by growth of the private preschool and child care program operator, says CEO Brett Roubal.

“Our space here, it’s not like double the space or that much more space than we had at Farmers Park, but it’s laid out so much better for us to accommodate all of our different departments,” he says, noting Little Sunshine’s occupies 4,200 square feet in Quarry Town that was previously used by the Cast co-working business. “It’s been a good move for us.”

Roubal says the company, which does business as Little Sunshine’s Playhouse and Preschool, has over 950 employees, including 113 locally. The companywide employee count is up 8% from 2022, as Little Sunshine’s network of schools expands.

Little Sunshine’s currently operates 35 locations in 11 states.

“We have three more schools that are slated to open in 2024,” he says of Colorado locations set to launch in Colorado Springs and Denver and another location in Omaha, Nebraska. “In 2025, right now we are on track to open eight schools, and that’s all over the country.”

While the company’s school development pipeline doesn’t yet extend beyond 2025, he says locations are being scouted that should allow Little Sunshine’s to keep up its current brick-and-mortar growth pace in 2026.

“As we do grow, we do want to add new markets,” he says. “That might be a new state, or it might be a new metropolitan area within the state that we’re already in.”

The new schools have helped fuel revenue growth in the company, which nearly reached $79 million in 2023, roughly double the total since 2019, according to officials.

Aside from making an intentional effort to improve employee compensation and benefits over the last few years, Roubal says Little Sunshine’s has utilized a Teacher of the Month program since its inception.

The company sends each school’s monthly standout teacher a gift card, along with a second one for the honoree to pay it forward to another staffer who has made a positive impact on them.

“The Teacher of the Month program is really part and parcel of our internal development and recognition for a true job well done,” Roubal says.

He adds that the company takes great pride in developing and promoting its leaders. “A vast majority of leadership teams in our schools were promoted from within, and that’s another big reason for expansion in our existing markets is that we can then enable growth opportunities for people who are within Little Sunshine.”