Double Act

The Stagecoach franchise gave Cris and Heather Salvador the chance to go into business together

Heather Salvador and her husband, Cris, knew the corporate lifestyle wasn’t for them. Heather narrowly avoided a career as a solicitor to develop her passion for the performing arts, while Cris, a classically trained singer, saw an opportunity for the dynamic duo to go into business together.

This year marks their 12th year in business with Stagecoach Performing Arts.

Aspirational couple

“I met Cris when we were both at university in Glasgow and shortly afterwards I started working for Stagecoach as a singing teacher,” Heather says.

“In 2002 we moved to Leeds and got married. So much was changing in my life, but Stagecoach remained. I was offered another job as a singing teacher in Leeds, so I could further develop my career and carry on doing what made me happy.”

Heather continued to work for Stagecoach for three years. With their wealth of experience, the aspirational couple began to see the added value of becoming franchisees with the popular children’s services business.

“It was a natural progression for myself and Cris to invest in our own territory,” Heather explains. “I believed what you were buying with a franchise was completely worth it.

“Stagecoach manage everything, from child protection and lesson planning to marketing and PR support. It meant I could concentrate on the development of the children and leave the rest to the experts.”

For almost 30 years, the Stagecoach model has been proven and refined to become one of the UK’s leading performing arts opportunities.

Franchisees build a team of passionate and enthusiastic teachers, qualified to bring out the best in their students.

Stagecoach schools provide a thriving, nurturing and supportive environment for creative learning - just one of the reasons why 40,000 children every week flock to classes nationwide.

Today a network of more than 300 franchisees operate over 680 schools, offering 1,780 classes in eight countries.

Through a varied framework of teaching and development, franchisees have helped to unlock the potential of more than one million students since Stagecoach opened in 1988.

“We made the decision to start our own school and signed the franchise agreement in 2005,” Heather says.

“We were eager to start our training, but there was one small obstacle - I gave birth to our first son around four weeks before training started.”

This didn’t stop the couple from making the most of the training available. They even bought Heather’s sister along to the initial training for unofficial nanny duties.

Further territories

Heather and Cris have since expanded into further territories throughout West Yorkshire.
Their students have performed at Disneyland Paris and Birmingham Symphony Hall, although Heather admits the highlight was a one-off performance with Robbie Williams.

“I love running our Stagecoach business and working as a couple means we can plan our schedule around our two children,” Heather says.

“To be part of Stagecoach, you must be passionate and love what you do. Providing the best experience possible for the children should be your driving force.

“Make sure the children are happy and the rest will fall into place.”