How U.S. National Champion Swimmer Chris DeJong Launched Big Blue Swim School and Created a Multi-Million Dollar Business Despite a Recession

When five-time U.S. National Champion swimmer Chris DeJong left his competitive swimming career in 2009 to start Big Blue Swim School, the economy wasn’t exactly primed for starting a business. In the decade since, DeJong has led the learn to swim franchise to become an emerging leader in the lucrative swim school industry. Big Blue now has five schools open in the Chicago area and has signed 59 franchise locations across 12 states.

According to DeJong, this recession-resistant business model is a result of many factors, including a consistent need for quality swim lessons, the brand’s commitment to exceptional and innovative services, and LessonBuddy™— Big Blue Swim School’s proprietary enterprise software system.

“Although I’m a competitive swimmer, I didn’t start out that way,” said DeJong. “In fact, as a child, I had a real fear of water so I understand what developing confidence in the water can do for kids. As a parent, I also know how important it is to ensure my own kids learn to swim, and are safe around water,” said DeJong.

He started teaching swim lessons as a way to make ends meet and to share the gift of swimming with others. It didn’t take long for their concept to blossom into Big Blue Swim School.

In 2009, he began teaching swim lessons at a local pool. In April of 2012, he raised capital from the parents of the kids he was teaching to build a dedicated learn-to-swim facility in Wilmette, Illinois, where he and his team taught 1,500 lessons a week. It was during this time that DeJong realized, despite the recession, he had a concept that was ready to grow.

“According to the CDC, swim lessons reduce the risk of drowning by 88%,” said DeJong. “No matter what the economy looks like, water safety is a need that all parents have. Young families are becoming increasingly more aware of this need and in their approach to promoting water safety. From day one, our state-of-the-art swim school has used both proprietary technology and an innovative curriculum that employs full-time swim associates to set children, and our schools, up for success.”

By establishing the best-in-class swim lesson offering, Big Blue delivered a consistent experience that made it continually attractive to investors.

After opening two more locations in Illinois, Big Blue’s recession-resistant offering caught the eye of the multi-brand franchisee, and private equity group, Level 5 Capital Partners. In January of 2017, Level 5 acquired a stake in the company to support the brand’s growth through franchising.

“As a business model, swim lessons fill a vital need for safety that cannot be outsourced or automated. And swim lessons are impervious to Amazon - unlike other franchises,” said DeJong. “Beyond that, Big Blue is able to lean into our proprietary enterprise system, LessonBuddy™, which allows us to run a high-scale, high-margin model at a market price point.”

DeJong also notes that during the challenging times, franchisees need to be hyper-aware of their expenses and that is when LessonBuddy™ differentiates Big Blue from the competition.

“Our enterprise management technology system is built to provide the swim school owner with the ability to optimize resource allocation and meet the customers exactly where they are,” he said. “The actionable insights that we get from LessonBuddy™ allow us to program optimized capacity planning for our pools and cut excess staff costs for franchisees.”

“At Big Blue, our only experience with the recession has been continued growth,” said DeJong. “Whether it is our best-in-class offering, innovative curriculum, data-driven capacity planning or proprietary technology, Big Blue has persisted through economic downturns by focusing on a high-quality product for our customers and an attractive investment opportunity for our most profitable franchise partners.”

Big Blue was recently ranked among the Top 100 Game Changers by Franchise Dictionary Magazine. The annual Game Changer list is part of the magazine’s December issue. Franchises on the 2019 Game Changers list were evaluated on a variety of criteria including how they serve communities, if they create an opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to fulfill a niche, if they impact veterans, and how well they appeal to millennials.

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 $50,000 franchise fee. The total investment for one Big Blue Swim School ranges from $1,825,500 to $3,687,000 (refer to item 7 in FDD). To learn more or inquire about Big Blue Swim School, visit http://YourBigMomentStartsHere.com.