Ralph Lee made the decision to get out of the restaurant industry long before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
But he and his wife, Jamie's, decision to launch a Tampa franchise of Tutor Doctor could not have come at a better time, they said.
"More people are looking to tutoring than would have before," said Jamie Lee, an educator for the last 14 years. "Often times in education there's the 'summer slide' where once the summer comes, skills can be lost and with Covid-19, it's called the 'Covid slide.' People are feeling a lot of angst of where their students are in relation to where they should be, or if they're doing virtual school, they find it more challenging."
Ralph and Jamie Lee lived in Washington, D.C. for the last nine years, and with a daughter in tow they wanted to find a higher quality of life. Ralph Lee was a part owner in Mindful Restaurants Group, which has six restaurant concepts. He was also longtime friends with Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman, the co-founders of Tampa-based College Hunks Hauling Junk and Trash Valet.
"We had been encouraging [Ralph Lee] to move to Tampa; we moved here from D.C. to grow our business, too, and we knew it was a great environment," Friedman said. "You have a lot of opportunities and he could have pursued opportunities in the restaurant space down here, or other business areas. And we told him about Tutor Doctor."
Tutor Doctor is comprised of more than 300 franchises across the world, located in 15 countries, offering both in-home and virtual tutoring. The Lees launched their franchise last month after moving to Tampa in June.
"We hadn’t heard of the business model or the franchise but when [Friedman] told us about it, we thought it sounded like a great opportunity," Ralph Lee said. "With Jaime's background and my experience in business management, we thought it would be a good opportunity to go all in and still have some flexibility with our time and where we allocate our resources."
Their franchise is financially backed by Friedman and Soliman for an undisclosed amount.
"Every franchise is a person that is putting their savings and professional life on the line to pursue the American dream," Friedman said. "The only difference is we always say with a franchise, you're in business for yourself, but not by yourself. You have the network to be successful with branding and marketing, but you're still an independent, small business owner creating jobs in the local economy."
The couple currently has 15 families and 30 tutors, with a goal to have 130 families by this time next year. Tutoring is offered anywhere from preschool to university levels on a number of subjects and experts.
"Our tutors do run the gamut. We have current teachers in our roster who will tutor on the weekend and then people who are experts in their fields, like marine biology or biochemists," Jamie said. "At one point, I was filling in for one of my tutors and I just thought, 'This feels like a dream job for me,' because the one-on-one is so amazing. You can pinpoint exactly what the student needs to work on and you see the progress so much quicker."
