22 Locations, One Platform: How Soccer Stars Academy Run a Scalable Franchise on Pebble

The Challenge: A Growing Franchise Needs More Than a Booking System

Soccer Stars Academy is a UK-based recreational football provider founded in Scotland by Siobhan and Mark, built on the belief that football should be fun and accessible for children from as young as four months old. Over time, that belief translated into a franchise model now spanning 22 locations across the UK.

Growth like that is a success story. It is also a management problem.

As the network expanded, the software holding it together began to show its limits. Registers, attendance, subscriptions, and customer data, each manageable at a handful of locations, became increasingly complex to run across a growing franchise. The previous platform had served a purpose, but it was not built for where Soccer Stars Academy was heading.

And then there was the prospect of switching.

"Initially, the thought of having to transfer all of our customers to Pebble was terrifying for us," says Siobhan. For a franchise operating across 22 locations with coaches, parents, and children all dependent on the system, migration is not a small undertaking. The risk of disruption was real.

On the ground, the old system made even routine tasks harder than they needed to be. Leigh Harris, who is the head coach of one of their franchises, describes the pre-session attendance process as a bottleneck: "With a previous provider, you would scroll through all the dates of the booking that the children have, and then click yes if they're in or not. It would be a bit of a hassle when you're trying to get kids through the door."

The Solution: Pebble as a Multi-site booking platform

Soccer Stars Academy migrated their entire operation to Pebble, and the experience did not match the fear.

"What I will say is the guys at Pebble made it really easy, really seamless," says Siobhan. The migration was completed with zero disruption to customers or coaches across the network.

But the platform itself is what changed how the business operates day to day. Leigh's pre-session routine now runs entirely on Pebble registers. A single view that gives every coach everything they need before a session begins; ages, medical information, photo permissions, and readiness notes for children moving up to the next class. Attendance at the door is a tick. In or out. Nothing more.

For Siobhan and Mark at the franchisor level, Pebble handles subscriptions and customer credits across the network. Features that became part of the platform in direct response to Soccer Stars Academy's input. The team's access to Pebble's product roadmap is not a formal process or a support ticket queue. It is a conversation.

"Getting our feedback to you guys to then get that installed into your roadmap, it is literally a conversation that we have," says Siobhan. Three features have already shipped as a direct result of that loop: white labelling, customer credit functionality, and a series of subscription updates that give the whole franchise network greater control over recurring bookings at scale.

The Results: 22 Locations, One Conversation at a Time

Six months after switching, Soccer Stars Academy is running 22 franchise locations on Pebble. From co-founder oversight at the top to franchisee operations on the ground.

The operational simplicity is felt at every level. Coaches arrive prepared. Attendance is captured in seconds. Parents and children move through the door without friction. And when the business identifies a gap in the platform, that gap becomes a product feature rather than a workaround.

For Mark, the case is settled: "Easy, efficient, and productive." Siobhan adds innovative and user-friendly. Mark is also direct about the trajectory: "I definitely think you will be the number one kids activity system provider in no time."

What sits behind that confidence is something more than feature satisfaction. Mark frames it plainly: "My last software provider did really well and got me to a certain point. But for me to get to where I want to get to, I believe that Pebble is going to be the best provider for that."

That is the distinction Soccer Stars Academy draws between their previous platform and Pebble: not just a system that manages where they are, but one built to go where they are going.

"I think what surprised me the most about Pebble is… it's a conversation. It's nothing complicated."

— Siobhan, Co-Founder, Soccer Stars Academy

Running a multi-site activity business and outgrowing your current platform? Find out how Pebble supports growing businesses.