Storied Youth Brands Launches New Identity to Support Growth of Founder-Led Early Education Brands

Platform names Cory Hughes CEO, building on early momentum and expanded capabilities across franchise development, real estate, financing, and technology

RICHMOND, Va., October 20, 2026--Storied Youth Brands, the early childhood education platform formed by Lunchline Partners and Trivest Partners in December 2025, today announced the launch of its new brand identity and the appointment of Cory Hughes as Chief Executive Officer. Formerly known as Lunchline Youth Brands, Storied brings together founder-led early education brands under a shared platform designed to accelerate growth while preserving the identity, leadership, and educational approach that make each brand successful.

The platform provides shared capabilities across franchise development, real estate, financing, technology, marketing, and other operational functions.

Since its formation, Storied has built a strong foundation of shared capabilities to support growth across its partner brands. These include site selection and market analysis, real estate development and financing relationships, franchise development, pricing and competitive intelligence, and systemwide performance reporting. By building these capabilities at the platform level, Storied provides its brands with resources and expertise that would otherwise be difficult to develop independently, while allowing local leadership teams to remain focused on delivering exceptional early education experiences.

Across its brands, Storied currently supports more than 33 schools across six states.

"Having spent years as a franchise owner myself, I understand the importance of providing meaningful support without losing what makes a brand successful," said Cory Hughes, Chief Executive Officer of Storied Youth Brands. "Our role is to provide the infrastructure and expertise that help our brands and their owners grow, while preserving the programs, cultures, and relationships they have built. We're excited about the foundation we've established and the opportunity to bring exceptional early education brands to more communities."

"I started this in 1989 because I believed a sick child shouldn't cost a parent their job, and that a school could be run to a clinical standard as well as educational excellence," said Gail Johnson, founder of LeafSpring School. "Partnering with Storied means that standard outlives me instead of depending on me, and that we can grow and impact the lives of many more children and families."

"Almost every great early education company in this country was started by one person who believed a community deserved better and then figured out how to build it," said Chase Begor, Managing Partner of Lunchline Partners. "We want a lot more of those people, and we want the reasons they give up — the site they could not find, the loan they could not get, the systems they had to invent from scratch — to stop being reasons. If we do this right, there are high-quality schools in communities across the country that exist because someone local was given a real shot at running one."