The 10 Reasons To Buy a Big Blue Swim School in 2020

Started by five-time National Champion swimmer Chris DeJong, Big Blue Swim School is emerging as one of the dominant players in the $3 billion swim school industry. The brand has signed agreements for 59 franchises, to expand in South Carolina, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Raleigh, Florida, Atlanta, Denver, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, and Chicago.

Big Blue Swim School's real estate expertise, strong brand, proprietary technology, and leadership support, coupled with its best-in-class consumer offerings, position its most profitable franchise partners for long-term success. Here are the ten reasons to buy a Big Blue Swim School franchise in 2020.

A Fragmented Industry

The swim lesson space is a fragmented market, meaning there is no dominant leader and business practices vary widely. With strong differentiators and an aggressive growth plan to franchise to 150 locations by 2021, Big Blue is emerging as one of the leading players in the $3 billion per year swim school industry. Big Blue already has 59 pools planned across 12 states. 

“Big Blue is an industry disruptor that is offering something completely different from any other swim school or program that exists,” said Zack Groesbeck, Salt Lake City franchise partner. “Traditionally, when people considered where to take swim lessons, they would look to a YMCA, rec center or even a neighbor’s pool. But Big Blue changes the thought process on what swimming is all about and how it can be done. Swim instruction isn’t just a pastime, but rather it’s a life-saving skill that happens to be fun.”

Data-Driven Real Estate Support

Big Blue leverages an experienced team of real estate pros to support franchise partners through site location, construction, and facilities management. The team has a tested, proactive, data-driven real estate strategy designed to place a location in the path of least resistance. “This means we select locations that fall within our customer’s existing daily and weekly habits rather than placing locations that require them to alter their current patterns,” said Scott Thompson, Big Blue’s Chief Development Officer.  

“Within the industry, there isn’t really a dominant player who is removing pain points for parents while also maximizing franchise partner success,” said Thompson. “Not only do we have the franchising expertise and executive team leadership to become that player, but our data-driven real estate methodology positions new franchise partners for immediate success and growth.”

A Sustainable Industry

Swim lessons fill a critical need for families because drowning is the number one cause of death among children ages one to four-years old, according to the CDC. Parents are willing to invest in their child’s safety and as a result, swim schools are a necessary and sustainable industry.  

“The best business ideas are the ones hiding in plain site,” said Big Blue CEO, Chris Kenny. “We’ve applied a better interface to something that has existed for decades. What we deliver is an improved and entirely positive experience.” 

“There are a lot of working parents who are looking for someone to help keep their kids safe and Big Blue has become the choice of millennial moms who want their kids to learn how to swim,” said Thompson.  

And, according to USA Swimming, participation in swimming is growing, with 52% growth in year-round swim memberships from 2000 – 2017.

A Recession-Resistant Industry

Big Blue launched in the wake of the 2008 recession and experienced immediate success right out of the gate. According to founder Chris 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 system and consumer-facing mobile app. 

“According to the CDC, swim lessons reduce the risk of drowning by 88%,” DeJong said. “No matter the economy, it is a need that all parents have and young families are increasingly becoming aware and active in their approach to promoting water safety for their children. In addition, Big Blue’s experiential services can’t be replaced by an online offering. Our swim lessons are impervious to Amazon - unlike so many other franchises. ” 

An Absentee-Friendly Investor Model

The Big Blue investment opportunity and proven business model is ideal for multi-unit and semi-absentee franchise partners looking to maximize their time and their capital.

The franchise’s proprietary enterprise system, LessonBuddy™, is technologically superior to the competition and its cloud-based platform is designed so fitness franchise partners can operate successful pools without needing a daily presence.

“LessonBuddy allows our education franchise partners to manage their business through dashboards and KPIs all the way down to the shift level,” said DeJong. “They can track costs and efficiencies so they have total transparency in terms of ROI and health of the business. The system presents franchise partners with a turnkey approach to operations and revenue potential by providing access to data across the entire franchise system.”

A Fast Ramp-Up From Day One

“We are a very high-service franchisor,” said Kenny. “We connect the dots so that the children's franchise partner is positioned as a market leader from day one. Best fitness franchise partners are able to stay focused on service delivery to the customer, and on hiring, retaining and training the best employees possible to deliver those services.”

This support includes an in-depth pre-opening marketing strategy to generate brand buzz and contribute to a healthy number of memberships sold before opening. 

“Our team excels in providing strong franchise support and we have mastered a weekly process to operate from day one like it is year five,” said Kenny.

A Proprietary, Cloud-Based Enterprise System

Big Blue is able to lean into the proprietary, cloud-based, ERP software, LessonBuddy™, to run a high-scale, high-margin model at a market price point. The easy-to-use lesson management software and customer self-service mobile app puts franchisees ahead of the competition in every way. The proprietary technology operationalizes the business and provides a tool that parents love using.

“The platform’s dashboard gives franchisees the ability to create optimized class schedules, keep employees on track, manage swimmers, and update billing,” said Thompson. “With more than 10 lanes across two 91-degree pools, owners can map out class times by age group and make it easy for parents of multiple children to attend classes at the same time. The customer relationship management tool ensures nothing falls through the cracks while helping managers maximize profitability.”

Recurring Revenue Model for Franchisees

“One of the greatest praises we hear from parents is that Big Blue is able to configure schedules so multiple siblings can swim during the same 30-45 window,” DeJong said. “A family averages approximately two lessons per week. We have some families with four kids and they are able to schedule swimming classes at the same time. Our competitors can’t do that. They just aren’t built to accommodate different levels of swimming all at the same time.”

Big Blue’s market research revealed that most U.S. parents have two kids about 36 months apart, meaning one is learning to swim while the other is progressing to swimming as an activity. 

“We offer total convenience for the family through a breadth of schedule options for busy calendars,” said DeJong. “We have room for progress move-ups immediately when kids are ready, and multi-kid families with varying skill needs can all swim at the same time. This provides the ultimate convenience for parents and it sets us apart from other schools.” 

Strong Average EBITDA

Big Blue Swim School’s strong unit economics and Item 19 stacks up against other franchises in the swim school industry. Our pools are optimized for multiple classes to happen simultaneously, driving higher revenue and ROIs when compared to competitors in the swim school space. 

“The average gross revenue for a Big Blue Swim School with 5 or more years of operations in the 2018 FDD, was $2.2 million, with an average EBITDA of 35.5%. Our goal is to continue this trend as we aggressively open additional schools throughout the U.S., said Chief Development Officer Scott Thompson.

Hundreds of Available, High-Quality Retail Pools

Big Blue’s real estate footprint—two pools within a typical footprint between 8,500 and 12,000 square feet—has proven to be beneficial for the landlords of retail pools. With commercial retailers facing difficulties when it comes to bringing foot-traffic to their facilities due to the online marketplace, Big Blue offers an incredibly attractive business option. 

“The rise of eCommerce and the Amazon Effect actually means we have more prime real estate to choose from, and landlords love Big Blue’s experiential retail because we bring moms and families to the shopping centers during off-peak hours,” Thompson said.

Multi-unit franchise opportunities are available for qualified candidates looking for their next big opportunity, and veterans can receive a ten percent discount on the $75,000 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: https://www.bigblueswimschool.com/franchising/.