Corrections or additions?
Author: Melinda Sherwood. Published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on March 8, 2000. All rights reserved.
Learning Studio
Education may be wasted on the young, but school is
not: the lackluster teachers, boring seminars, stifling classrooms,
gum-littered desks, fluorescent lights, and tedious homework assignments
— these are enough to dull even the sharpest minds.
With that idea in mind, two entrepreneurs set out to create the anti-school
— a place where adults could satisfy their hunger for learning
outside of an institutional setting. The result: The Learning Studio.
Billed as a “Health Club for Your Head,” the Learning Studio
began serving up educational fare, courses on cooking and self-improvement,
back in 1997 at a facility near the Oxford Valley Mall in Langhorne,
Pennsylvania. It started with only 15 courses; two years later, the
Learning Studio offers more than 300 courses on everything from holistic
health to dating.
On its way to becoming a national chain, the Learning Studio recently
opened a fourth location at 4250 Route 1 North, where students can
now take evening courses such as “Schmoozing Your Way to Success,”
(March 13, $55), “Exotic Dancing,” (March 8, $59), “Great
Wines for $10 or Less,” (April 12, $69), “Back to Black: Get
Completely Out of Debt” (March 29, $39), “The Ultimate Singles
Class: 50 Ways to Meet New People,” (March 10, $35), “Aromatherapy”
(March 21, $35), and cooking classes taught by chefs such as Bobby
Trigg of the Ferry House (March 23, $45).
More like a Starbucks coffee shop than a school, the Learning Studio
has done away with traditional classrooms, and instead offers different
learning “environments:” an art studio, dance studio, computer
library, conference room, computer room, holistic study room, and
club room.
It’s education made a lot more fun, says David Mergen, who runs the
Princeton franchise. “It sort of takes the school out of learning,”
says Mergen, 28, a former chef at the Lambertville Inn. “People
can hang out at any time of the day.”
Summer camp for adults is what co-founders Joy Miller and Rob Clancy
call it. In 1996, Clancy, the former CEO of Benetton, teamed up with
Miller, who worked in sales and marketing at Wilson Sporting Goods,
to research the market for adult education. They discovered a considerable
demand for adult education outside the traditional continuing education
venues such as the community college and YMCA. After launching the
pilot Learning Studio in Langhorne, Clancy and Miller found enough
enthusiasm to put more studios in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and in Cherry
Hill, while raising $1.4 million from investors.
A good portion of the financial backing comes from franchisees, like
Mergen, who sunk his life savings — roughly $50,000 — into
a partnership with the two co-owners. Mergen owns 49 percent of the
business; Miller and Clancy retain the other 51 percent. It’s an attractive
business partnership model for the beginner entrepreneur, says Mergen,
who had been considering running a franchise of Einstein Bagels or
Blockbuster. “If you are younger and don’t have all the capital,
it’s nice to know that these people have just as much invested in
getting your business up and running,” says Mergen.
Mergen, a native of Washington Crossing who attended the Culinary
Institute of America, Class of 1993, was burned out after five years
working as the executive chef at Lambertville Station. An avid sailor,
he looked forward to the weekends, but almost never got a break from
work. “I wanted to get out of the restaurant business because
it’s all that I’ve ever done,” he says. “But I still wanted
to be around people.”
Meanwhile, he was also teaching a cooking course at the Learning Studio
in Langhorne. When he found out he had a shot at running his own Learning
Studio, he threw in the towel at work, and threw his savings into
the business.
The Learning Studio on Route 1 is the fourth studio to open since
1997 and Clancy and Miller have made it known that they intend to
open studios in Bridgewater, Montclair, and Red Bank once they raise
the necessary capital — $3 million. The company is also poised
to go on the Web, offering several of its courses, including chat
rooms, at https://www.learningstudio.com this month.
Instructors for the Learning Studio come from a wide variety of backgrounds
— some are on the national circuit, such as Ed Pankau, who teaches
“Learn how to make $100K a year as a private detective,” while
others are plucked from the community. Farida Mistry, for example,
a financial consultant at the Lawrenceville Edward Jones office,
teaches a course on financing long term care (March 13, $35), and
chefs from Marsilio’s, Lambertville Station, and the Frog and the
Peach all kick-in to teach cooking classes.
Seven Learning Studio catalogs are published each year, with courses
that run the gamut from kickboxing to Web design, massage to shamanistic
journeying. With courses like “Investment Club for Singles,”
and “Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right,” the Learning
Studio has also gained a reputation as a singles haven. “If you’re
single it’s a great place to meet people — it keeps you out of
the bar scene altogether,” says Mergen. “One of the best classes
teaches 50 things for singles to do outside of bars.”
Not everyone who comes to the Learning Studio is single (Mergen himself
is recently engaged), but they do share at least one thing, says Mergen.
“Everyone that comes through the door has an open mind.”
— Melinda Sherwood
The Learning Studio, 4250 Route 1 North, MonmouthJunction 08852. David Mergen, manager. 609-688-0800; fax, 732-355-0617.Home page: https://www.learningstudio.com.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
