About Raring2go!™ - Our Story

The original idea for Raring2go! came from two mums from Wolverhampton. In the early 2000’s Kirsten Williams and Sally Frost, both parents with young children were increasingly frustrated that it wasn’t easier to find ideas and suggestions for local places to go and things to do for families with primary school age children in Wolverhampton. There was no single go-to reference guide, magazine, website or resource for them to refer to.

Their frustration at the absence of a single point of reference grew but instead of resigning themselves to just accepting that ‘it was how it was’, they resolved to do something about it. One day, whilst sat around Kirsten’s kitchen table, the idea for Raring2go! was born and just a few months later the first edition of Raring2go! Wolverhampton hit the streets. It was an instant hit with countless families.

Kirsten and Sally immediately saw the potential of Raring2go! as a franchise business and quickly found out all they could about franchising. They enlisted the help of a franchise consultant and before they knew it, the Raring2go! franchise model was born and Kirsten and Sally became the first franchisees.

After a period of settling in and ironing out all aspects of the business, Kirsten and Sally began marketing Raring2go! as a franchise business across the UK. Relatively quickly Raring2go! franchise grew and began to emerge in new towns and cities across the UK. It promised to be the definitive local guide of what to do and where to go for families with children at primary school.

It was clear that demand for the magazine and the concept was high amongst ‘chief planning officers’ in family’s… aka Mums. It was also evident that the desire for a flexible home based and low cost business opportunity like Raring2go! existed and was enthusiastically welcomed.

In 2005/6 Mojo Publishing Limited bought Raring2go! and set about taking the business to the next level. Until then, Raring2go! had been predominantly a print based business with only a tentative toe in the water of the digital space. There was a website, but it really was quite flat and uninspiring. Their vision was to develop an online platform to complement the magazines and present a multichannel option to all service users.

Mojo sought to balance the proposition and position Raring2go! as a quick reference, go to guide Magazine and Website for families.

Today Raring2go! is the GO-TO GUIDE FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILD

It is still a handy local magazine guide of what to do and where to go for parents and their children aged between 0 and 12 but it is also this vibrant, informative and engaging interactive website.

There are now over 85 Raring2go! editions operating across the United Kingdom and we are growing. Four times a year our amazing franchise partners (editors) produce their magazines and distribute on average 13,500 copies each in their local areas. Our online reach is growing too and our digital editions are seen, interacted with and engaged with by thousands more.

Each edition of Raring2go! is packed full of family friendly editorial, events listings, quirky features as well as highly relevant family facing advertising. This advertising is aimed at informing parents of the wide range of activities available to them on their own doorstep and much further a field across the UK. Our website provides a national focus and pools together all the local content for all visitors to enjoy irrespective of where they are or where they will be.

Each edition of Raring2go! is centrally produced by one print company, a carefully chosen partner who understands our business and strives to exceed our expectations. By printing centrally we ensure on-going integrity of the Raring2go! brand, we eliminate quality issues and maintain a common style and feel across all editions from Worthing to Warrington and from Anglesey to Aberdeen.

As an advertising medium, Raring2go! provides advertisers with demonstrable value for money and proven return on investment at local, regional and national levels. If you would like to learn more about Raring2go! please do drop us a line. You will find our full contact details listed on the Contact Us page.

We welcome and value feedback and we look forward to hearing from you with any comments or suggestions you may have to help us make Raring2go! even better.