RYE, NY (June 23, 2026) — Rob Rubicco, co-owner of Ann and Jack’s Treehouse daycare centers, addressed past coverage by Talk of the Sound during a “Walk N Talk” video filmed at Gagliardo Park in Rye last November.
In the video with interviewer Angelo Scarfone of the PolyMaf Network, Rubicco discussed plans for a new daycare location at the former Rye Pet Mall site and responded to prior reporting.
Rubicco described merchant cash advances taken during COVID as “very very high interest rate loans” on which his companies defaulted but “paid them all back,” and stated that “merchant cash advances are now illegal and we fell victim to them.”
Merchant cash advances are not illegal. They remain a legal form of alternative financing. While certain predatory practices by specific funders have faced enforcement actions, the product category itself has not been banned. Courts repeatedly rejected Rubicco’s arguments that his MCA agreements were usurious loans
Rubicco also referenced business expansion, including opportunities in Scarsdale and Sleepy Hollow and a Hawaii partnership. He said, “if we don’t keep growing, we’re going to lose teachers.” As of today, those Scarsdale and Sleepy Hollow deals have not materialized. The Rye site itself has been sold to another buyer. Rubicco had to sell the Norwalk operation (post-Larchmont opening), meaning the chain is shrinking rather than expanding.
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