In 2008, new parent Clare Roberts was struggling to find a suitable nursery, so she opened her own, Kids Planet. Right from the start, she knew that an engaged team would be critical for success, particularly in a sector with historically low pay and—as anyone who’s tried to look after more than two children at once can attest—high stress.
The nursery did well, so Kids Planet began to expand. There were 16 sites in 2016, when Roberts first took minority private equity funding from BGF, later selling a majority stake to Fremman in 2021, remaining as CEO. Since then, the chain—she prefers ‘family’—has grown to 252 sites around the U.K., primarily through acquisition.
Given the importance of culture to employee engagement, this created a challenge for the firm, which features on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For – Europe list 2025.
It’s hard enough to ensure that a culture is consistent across thousands of employees, particularly when the CEO and founder can’t be in 252 places at once. It’s harder still when a large proportion of the nurseries are staffed by people who, by definition, haven’t been part of that culture for very long.
For Roberts, keeping culture consistent through M&A-led growth begins with values. “My values as a new parent 17 years ago have been the foundation blocks that our values and our culture have grown out of,” she says.
