Investment Firm Level 5 Capital Partners Invests in Big Blue Swim School

Level 4 Yoga, LLC is CorePower Yoga’s largest franchisee. A holding of investment firm Level 5 Capital Partners, Level 4 operates 34 CorePower locations in six states, making the group the third largest yoga studio operator in the nation. Level 5 is working towards a similar position in the growing swim school segment, with a commitment to open 16 Big Blue Swim School franchise locations.

Founded in 2009 by a team of Fortune 1000 retail services and technology executives to invest in high-end wellness and lifestyle businesses, Level 5 has a wealth of experience in the segment. In addition to operating their CorePower Yoga locations, Level 5 has investments in a leading franchisee of Orangetheory ® Fitness and recently invested in Restore Hyper Wellness + Cryotherapy.

Chris Kenny, managing partner at Level 5, said the focus on lifestyle brands has proven to be a lucrative niche and a comfortable fit for his firm.

“We are focused on the best brands in the thriving health, wellness, and family services sector,” he said. “These are brands that people tell their friends about and defend passionately. When we work with passion brands like these, we can deliver a mission-driven, values-based management philosophy that delivers excellent value for our customers, our employees, and our partners.”

With Big Blue Swim School, Level 5 is not only a franchise partner of 16 new locations, they also invested in the company in 2017 to help Big Blue grow through franchising.

Scott Thompson, the chief development officer for both Big Blue Swim School and Level 5 Capital Partners, said Level 5 is leveraging its franchise partner experience with CorePower Yoga and Orangetheory Fitness to become a powerful ally to Big Blue’s new franchise partners.

“As experienced owners of Level 4 Yoga, we know what it means to be a franchise partner, and we know the importance of a good franchisor-franchise partner relationship,” said Thompson. “We know what services and systems to expect and how to optimize a capable semi-absentee business model.”

Kenny said his team’s focus as the majority owner of the Big Blue franchisor is to provide support to franchise partners so they can focus on delivering the best customer experience possible.

“Our strategy is to offer a very high level of franchisor support, such that the franchise partner is focused on service delivery to the customer and on hiring, retaining and training the best employees possible to deliver those services,” Kenny said.

That support includes data-informed real estate selection, negotiation and management,  multi-channel marketing, and on-site management through Big Blue’s cloud-based enterprise system, LessonBuddy.™  These services are major differentiators in the industry and allows franchise partners to manage the day-to-day operations from anywhere.

“LessonBuddy allows our franchise partners to remotely manage their business through dashboards and KPIs all the way down to the shift level,” Thompson said. “They can track their costs and efficiencies so they have total transparency in terms of ROI and health of the business. LessonBuddy also allows families to schedule, and if necessary reschedule lessons, at the touch of a button, solving availability problems and maximizing reach.”

This year, Big Blue Swim School is looking to significantly expand its already strong position in the growing swim-school industry. The franchise is on track to achieve its goal of 170 units signed or in development by the end 2021, and with a powerful partner in Level 5, it is quickly becoming one of the most exciting growing brands in franchising.

Multi-unit franchise opportunities are available for qualified candidates looking for their next big franchise opportunity, and veterans can receive a 10% discount on the $80,000 franchise fee. The total investment for one Big Blue Swim School ranges from $2,329,223 to $3,636,998. To learn more or inquire about Big Blue Swim School, visit https://www.bigblueswimschool.com/franchising/.