Why Franchise Candidates Should Choose Big Blue Swim School

Founded in 2009, Big Blue Swim School is one of the nation’s fastest-growing swim school franchises. The first pool opened in Wilmette, Illinois, followed by four additional Chicagoland schools. In 2017, Level 5 Capital Partners, a multi-brand franchisee and private equity group, acquired a stake in the brand. That investment is helping Big Blue grow through franchising to 150 pools by 2021. Big Blue's data-driven real estate strategy, proprietary enterprise system and leadership support, coupled with its best-in-class consumer offerings, position its franchise partners for unparalleled success.

“At Big Blue Swim School, we approach everything from a place of striving to be the best,” said the company’s founder and president, Chris DeJong. “We are building something that will deliver more than 50 percent of the market share by teaching a vital life skill to the consumer in a way they have never experienced swim lessons before.”

Emerging as a Leader in the Fragmented Swim School Industry

“Our franchising infrastructure is advanced for the swim school industry,” said Big Blue’s CEO, Chris Kenny. “Because of this, we compare ourselves to established brands, not emerging brands. We have a very clear path to being the leader in this swim lesson category, and we don’t view other brands as major competitors.”

The swim lesson space is a fragmented market and practices vary widely. With strong differentiators and an aggressive growth plan, Big Blue is emerging as one of the leading players in the $3 billion per year swim school industry. Big Blue already has 81 pools signed across 18 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, the brand’s Salt Lake City franchise partner. “Traditionally, when people consider where to take swim lessons, they 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 taught. Swim instruction isn’t just a pastime, but rather it’s a life-saving skill that happens to be fun.”

A Superior Curriculum and Consumer Offering

From a consumer standpoint, Big Blue Swim School’s four points of teaching execution — explain, demonstrate, mimic, correct — allow full-time Swim Associates to deliver an experience that consistently helps kids learn how to swim. The brand’s proprietary methodology ensures that Big Blue is measuring students’ progress in the ways that help students achieve better results more quickly.

Parents are always willing to invest in this recession-resistant offering because swimming is a vital life skill, and they are able to rapidly see not only that their investment has paid off, but more importantly, that their children know how to keep themselves safe in and around water. According to the CDC, swim lessons reduce the risk of drowning by 88 percent.

Turnkey Business Model

In addition to an exceptional consumer offering, the Big Blue investment opportunity and proven business model appeals to multi-unit and semi-absentee franchise partners looking to maximize their time and capital.

Big Blue franchise owners use a proprietary, enterprise system, LessonBuddy™, to run a high-scale, high-margin model at a market price point. The easy-to-use, cloud-based lesson management software provides franchise owners with a turnkey operational solution that puts franchise partners ahead of the curve in every way. LessonBuddy is also used by parents as an easy and convenient scheduling tool.

“The platform’s dashboard gives franchise owners the ability to create optimized class schedules, keep employees on track, manage swimmers, and update billing,” said Kenny. “With configurations to set up multiple lanes at a time, 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. Because of this capacity optimization, Big Blue’s strong unit economics and Item 19 stack up well against other franchises in the swim school industry.”

Data-Driven Real Estate Selection and Strategic Growth

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 real estate strategy designed to place pools in the most lucrative locations. Big Blue’s typical real estate footprint between 8,500 and 12,000 square feet appeals to the landlords of retail commercial spaces who are looking to increase foot traffic.

In addition to Big Blue’s real estate strategy, every marketing and support program that the company rolls out is meant to create optimum success for the franchise partner.

“We are not approaching this business like a typical swim school or franchise brand,” said Kenny. “We have a robust network of multi-unit franchise partners, an unbeatable consumer value proposition and a competitive long-term growth strategy. Every month we bring in five to 10 buying groups, and buyers typically sign on for multiple units. We’re well-positioned to hit our goal of 150 units by 2021.”

The total investment necessary to begin operation of a new Big Blue Swim School is $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://diveinwithbigblue.com/.