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The swim school brand’s real estate expertise, proprietary technology, and leadership support, coupled with its best-in-class consumer offerings, position it as a successful franchise opportunity.
Big Blue Swim School was founded in 2009 by national champion swimmer Chris DeJong, opening its first location in Wilmette, Illinois, followed by five additional Chicago-area schools.
In 2017, the Atlanta-based investment firm Level 5 Capital Partners acquired a stake in the brand, with a plan to grow to 170 pools by the end of 2021 through franchising. Since 2018, Big Blue Swim School has established an ever-growing footprint with franchise agreements signed to develop 158 locations in strategic markets including Chicago, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and more.
Increasingly, investors are looking at Big Blue as one of the most lucrative opportunities in franchising. But how much does it actually cost to become a franchise partner with the swim school brand?
According to Item 7 of the brand’s 2021 Franchise Disclosure Document, the total investment necessary to begin operation of a new Big Blue is between $2,334,223 and $3,641,998 (including real estate costs). This includes $247,000 that must be paid to the franchisor or affiliate. While this may be a larger investment than average, Big Blue's real estate expertise, proprietary technology, and leadership support, coupled with its best-in-class consumer offerings, position it as a successful franchise opportunity.
The Big Blue investment allows franchise partners to lean into the proprietary, cloud-based enterprise software, LessonBuddy™, to run a high-growth, high-margin model at an accessible price point. The easy-to-use lesson management software and customer self-service mobile app puts franchise partners ahead of the competition in every way. The proprietary technology operationalizes the business and provides a tool that parents love using. This is one of the many reasons the Big Blue investment opportunity is ideal for multi-unit and semi-absentee franchise partners looking to maximize their time and capital. LessonBuddy gives franchise partners a cloud-based business management tool to track KPIs via an easy-to-read dashboard and without the need for their daily on-site presence. This gives them total transparency into ROI and the overall health of the business.
In terms of the higher project cost, prospective franchise partners with Big Blue quickly realize that the higher capital expenditure comes with some other major benefits.
“There is a much smaller opportunity for a competitor to come in and challenge the market,” said Dennis Campbell, vice president of franchise development for Big Blue. “In other words, the high costs build a very defensible moat around the business. With swim schools being a very fragmented industry, there is no dominant player, and the demand for formal swim lessons is so high that the investment makes a lot of sense when you understand how and why Big Blue enters into a specific market.”
The initial investment also includes a $85,000 real estate and construction management fee. Big Blue leverages an experienced team of real estate professionals to handle site location, construction, and facilities management. The team has a tested, proactive, data-driven real estate strategy designed to place a store in the path of least resistance for families, based on local demographics, foot traffic patterns and more.
The team’s approach to site selection laps other swim school franchises. Big Blue is analytically focused on ensuring each location is set to generate ROI as quickly as possible, and the data is also used for pool optimization and expanding market reach.
“Franchise partners may think saving on rent by selecting a cheaper site might be a good decision, but they could easily be giving up $1 million or more in revenue in the long run,” said Big Blue CEO Scott Sanders. “We are confident a site selected by our real estate team is going to perform at least 30% better than a self-selected location.”
The facility itself is a selling point, too. Many swim schools are in poorly lit, dated buildings with uninviting exteriors. Big Blue’s modern, comfortable facilities offer a relaxing environment for parents and a safe and inspiring space for students.
“In the past year, we’ve made significant upgrades to our facility designs that make a better experience for swimmers, parents, and staff,” said DeJong. “Our pools are comfortable and are designed in such a way that maximizes and improves the experience for everyone. From parking to individual changing rooms for students and even areas for parents to work on laptops, we’ve created a comfortable, inviting environment unparalleled in the swim school space.”
Big Blue’s pools aren’t only better, they are also bigger. Big Blue’s research shows most American families have two children approximately 36 months apart in age. That’s why Big Blue’s pools are built with a typical footprint of between 8,500 and 12,000 square feet to meet the demands of multi-children households. In addition, LessonBuddy makes it easy for parents to fit swim lessons into their lives, allowing multi-child families to schedule and reschedule lessons easily on their smartphone or tablet.
“The larger pools may come at a higher price tag, but it creates a major advantage for the community by giving parents the ability to schedule multiple children in one window of time,” said Campbell. “We can have a 7-year-old in a longer lane and a 3-year-old sibling in a small lane at the same time. There are very few swim lesson options with that capability. The combination of more water, the correct number of levels, and our proprietary technology make it very easy for parents to fit multiple siblings into swim lessons, while saving them considerable time and hassle.”
Unlike competing swim school brands, which primarily serve children up to age six, Big Blue caters to children ages six months to 12 years, resulting in a 30% increase in the addressable learn-to-swim market. Plus, because pools are optimized for multiple classes to happen simultaneously, it drives higher revenue and ROIs than competitors in the swim school space. That’s why Big Blue’s strong unit economics and Item 19 stacks up against other franchises in the swim school industry.
As part of the initial investment, the FDD notes that franchise partners must conduct and spend at least $82,000 on a market introduction program for the school. Big Blue’s corporate team has significant marketing experience, including decades of experience in franchising. This allows the brand to implement a scientific approach to local marketing for helping franchise partners become more successful than other brands.
The Big Blue team handles all online and local lead generation for each new pool using the brand’s proprietary New Pool Opening (NPO) system. NPO support occurs four months prior to the grand opening and continues four months after opening. Ongoing marketing support includes the execution of a fully integrated, 360-degree local pool marketing playbook; help with national and local community marketing implementation; social media, content marketing management, and more.
With strong differentiators and an aggressive growth plan which includes signing 170 franchise locations by the end of 2021, Big Blue is continuing to appeal to qualified entrepreneurs as one of the leading players in the $3 billion a year swim school industry.
Multi-unit franchise opportunities are available for qualified candidates looking for their next big opportunity, and veterans can receive a 10-percent discount on the $80,000 franchise fee. The total investment necessary to begin operation of a new Big Blue Swim School is $2,334,223 to $3,641,998 (refer to item 7 in FDD) To learn more or inquire about Big Blue Swim School, visit https://www.bigblueswimschool.com/franchising/.
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