W. Berry Fowler, the Spokane entrepreneur who founded such franchising powerhouses as Sylvan Learning Centers and Little Gym International Inc., has sold his most recent franchising venture, national tutoring provider KnowledgePoints.


Earlier this month, Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Capistar Franchise Holdings Inc. announced that it had acquired KnowledgePoints, the corporate name of which is A Thousand Points of Knowledge Inc., in a stock transaction. Fowler has been named a director of Capistar, which also operates two other franchising-industry subsidiaries.


Im really excited for all of our franchise holders, says Fowler. So far, this has all been financed by me. We were out looking for money, and we hit pay dirt (with Capistar).


Fowler began developing KnowledgePoints here in 1998 and sold the companys first franchise in late 2000. KnowledgePoints franchisees develop and oversee tutoring centers that typically are operated by nonprofit organizations, which keep about half the revenues the centers generate. The centers provide after-school instruction at below-market rates to children who need help with reading, math, and general study skills.


Early this year, KnowledgePoints moved its headquarters to Portland, Ore., though Fowler, who remained chairman and majority owner of the company until it was sold to Capistar, continues to reside in Spokane. The company employs about 15 people, most of whom now are based in Portland.


KnowledgePoints currently has sold about 60 territorial franchises that collectively have opened about 100 tutoring centers in 23 states, Fowler says. Though the franchisees mostly have signed up nonprofit entities to run the centers, some for-profit businesses, such as health clubs and bookstores, have opened centers within their operations, he says.


KnowledgePoints, which typically gets about 12 percent of the revenues generated by each center, plus new franchise fees, had sales last year of less than $2 million, says Capistar CEO Jeff Elgin.


Elgin says that based on the setup work Fowler had done to launch the chain and the capital that Capistar will be able to inject in it this year, KnowledgePoints should generate about $4 million in revenues next year.


There are two ways to grow a franchise company, by adding outlets or getting more production out of your current ones, Elgin says. For now, were going to concentrate on the latter.


As a unit of Capistar, KnowledgePoints has hired as president Mike Stice, a Portland resident who once owned 13 Great Clips franchise outlets then worked for the Great Clips headquarters developing new franchisees, Fowler says. He adds that Stice also helped develop a foundation that raised millions for nonprofits.


Capistar also owns FranChoice Inc., which Fowler describes as the nations largest network of franchise brokers and consultants. They were involved in about 15 percent of the franchise sales last year, he says. Its third holding is an Internet company called Bison.com, which is a portal of information on franchising.


Elgin says privately held Capistar expects to do between $12 million and $15 million in revenue this year, up from about $5 million last year. Most of that increase will have come from the very rapid growth of its FranChoice unit.


This move is a significant step forward in the growth of our company, he says. This acquisition brings us the third independent operating subsidiary for Capistar. Its also our first franchise company, which is our main focus for future growth.


Meanwhile, Fowler and his wife, Anne, have retained the Eastern Washington franchise for KnowledgePoints, and plan to expand its presence. That franchise currently has four tutoring centers in the Spokane area, all of which are operated by the YMCA. They are located in the Manito shopping district, at Whitworth College, at the main YMCA center downtown, and in a Tidymans Northwest Fresh Markets store in Spokane Valley. Fowler says he plans to add additional centers throughout Eastern Washington.