Crock A Doodle, Canada’s premier pottery painting studio, is steadily expanding its footprint across the country with more growth planned.
“We have 40 in Canada, one in the U.S.,” said Annette Brennan, CEO of Crock A Doodle. The U.S. location is in Bentonville, Arkansas – “home of Walmart,” Brennan noted.
Founded in 2002 at Blue Mountain, Ontario, Crock A Doodle’s concept is simple yet powerful. There are locations in Alberta and Manitoba but the bulk are in Ontario.
“We’re a pottery painting studio,” Brennan explained. Customers of all ages choose from a variety of pottery pieces – “mugs and plates and piggy banks and bowls” – then paint them with the support of the studio staff. The pieces are then glazed, fired, and finished into bright, shiny, food-safe, and functional keepsakes.
But Crock A Doodle is much more than a pottery studio.
“We want to wrap this experience in a big hug and make people feel welcome and like they belong,” Brennan said. “Everyone says, ‘I’m not creative,’ but you are. We cultivate a sense of community where everyone belongs, and a comfort and confidence in just playing with colour.”
This joyful, accessible experience is designed for “every age, every ability.”
The average Crock A Doodle location is roughly 1,200 square feet with an open studio layout. Many studios feature dedicated party rooms or areas to accommodate the brand’s popular birthday parties and corporate events. “We get a lot of group bookings,” Brennan confirmed.
Growth through franchising has been a core strategy.
“Franchising has been a really good model for growth for us,” Brennan said. “There was certainly a lot of work to set it up right and understand that not everyone should be a franchisee. It’s about having a really strong partnership between franchisor and franchisee in terms of commitment and mutual obligation.”
After some COVID-related slowdowns, Crock A Doodle is now back on track with plans to open eight locations this year and cross the 50-location mark next year.
Looking ahead, Brennan outlined the company’s expansion plans: “We want to complete Ontario, focus on markets where we know there’s demand, then go east, then go west.”
When scouting locations, Crock A Doodle targets neighbourhood shopping plazas with grocery anchors and family amenities.
“We want to be part of a family destination in the shopping centre,” Brennan said. The brand also strategically targets resort communities such as Blue Mountain, Unionville, Canmore, and Niagara Falls to tap into the tourist market hungry for experiential activities. “People are hungry for activities, and we’re an experience,” Brennan noted.
Their Canmore location, part of a newly built shopping centre called The Shops of Canmore, is currently just outside downtown, but a downtown relocation is planned to be “where the action is.”
Crock A Doodle currently operates 40 franchises, with two corporate locations in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario. The Woodstock studio will be franchised once established.
With its unique blend of creativity, community, and strategic franchising, Crock A Doodle is poised for continued growth as Canada’s go-to destination for pottery painting experiences.
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