FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

PROMISE, MISSION AND VALUES

Hello Future Big Blue Swim School Franchise Partner,

Since you’ve made it to this step of the franchise awarding
process, you have likely come to the same conclusion I did —
that Big Blue Swim School is a very special brand. We’re excited
that you’re exploring the opportunity and we’re eager to share
with you our brand book, which contains a lot of information
that will help you in your decision process. We show kids they can do anything
by unlocking their full potential in the water.
Because we feel confident that Big Blue Swim
School is the future leader of the
dedicated swim school franchise OUR VALUES
space, we need to make sure we
align with franchise partners that
support our 2030 vision of having
400 Swim Schools throughout
the US. We hope you share our
vision and we look forward to
Show Passion Reach Beyond Embrace
continuing the conversation. for Our Mission Your Grasp Our Differences
be the change you want to see be better today be inclusive
than you were yesterday
To your success,

Scott Thompson

Radiate Energy Go the Make Teamwork

be the sun Extra Mile Happen
be awesome be a champion for others
 THE AMAZON EFECT
WHY THIS INDUSTRY?

$20 BILLION INDUSTRY

Swim school financials stack up against other
franchise concepts with the added bonus of
contributing to the health and well-being of
children

GROWING INDUSTRY
Athletic participation for kids ages 6 through 12
is down almost 8% over the last decade.* But
participation in swimming is growing, with 52%
growth in year-round swim memberships from
2000 to 2017**

ESSENTIAL LIFE SKILL

• Can’t be outsourced or automated
• Amazon-proof
• Parents will always invest in their children

NO DOMINANT NATIONAL PLAYER

With no dominant players in the swim-lesson
space, and recent decreases in state and local
spending, the market demand for quality swim
schools focused on basic skills is high.

Other brands in the space leverage existing

pools, or have dedicated swim lessons but poor
real estate and difficulty finding and retaining
talent. This opens up an opportunity for Big Blue
Swim School to emerge as a national player.

*Sports & Fitness Industry Association and the Aspen Institute.

**USA Swimming.
WHY FRANCHISE WITH BIG BLUE?

REAL ESTATE ADVANTAGE PROPRIETARY MANAGEMENT

SOFTWARE
LOCATION IS KEY CUSTOMER FACING MOBILE APP
Competitors in the swim school space typically Families can schedule and reschedule lessons for their whole
connect franchisees with local real estate brokers family with the touch of a button and track their swimmers’
who source Class C or D locations in warehouse progress all in one place.
areas. Big Blue Swim School’s dedicated real estate
team uses its data-driven real estate assessment CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT AND DATABASE
methodology to identify prime real estate in trade Track and manage families and swimmers with ease, add
areas that set up franchise locations for optimal new swimmers and update billing.
results.
CAPACITY PLANNING
Create class schedules that maximize
BEST IN CLASS POOL DESIGN the amount of students and the
variety of class levels in the pool
Our pool design gives us a structural advantage over
at the same time, which optimizes
the competition by driving customer lifetime value
revenue potential.
and allowing franchisees to better serve multi-kid
families during prime demand times.
SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT
Optimize your capacity utilization by
managing and tracking the team’s
daily schedule in a convenient
HIGHER REVENUE POTENTIAL dashboard.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT (CRM)
Ensure nothing falls through the
cracks.

DAILY TASK LIST

Keep the team on track with ease.

REPORTING
Comprehensive tools to help
managers maximize profitability.
STRONG CONSUMER POSITIONING
We have made a name for ourselves in the Chicago
market but are ready to take our distance-based
curriculum and scale our brand marketing strategy
across the United States

DISTANCE-BASED CURRICULUM
Big Blue Swim School provides so much more than swim
lessons; Our series of distance-based goals shows kids they can
do anything by steadily growing their confidence. Every one of
our levels is focused on inspiring BIG MOMENTS for kids.

2
LEVEL

2
LEVEL

LEVEL
2 3
Parent pass

LEVEL

LEVEL
1
15-foot

LEVEL
3
swim
LEVEL

600-foot

1 1
LEVEL

swim

3
LEVEL

1
LEVEL 200-foot 1000-foot

LEVEL
60-foot swim swim
Assisted swim
Submersion swimming
5-foot swim 30-foot 300-foot
swim swim

I can do
anything!
#bigbluemoments

I’m
becomming
a swimmer!
#bigbluemoments

I’m a
swimmer! I’m
#bigbluemoments a strong
swimmer!
#bigbluemoments
MARKETING STRATEGY
To Support Our Mission, Brand Recognition
and Drive High Customer Lifetime Value.

BRAND MATERIALS TO SUPPORT OUR MISSION

• Strategy and execution of fully integrated,
360-degree local pool marketing playbook

• National and local community marketing

implementation and PR support

• Digital marketing strategy and ongoing

optimization

• Social Media and Content Marketing

management

• Blogger partnership management We encourage and motivate kids using branded

ribbons and stickers that they can proudly showcase
• In-pool marketing creative development
including wall mural, progress ribbons and We have a mural wall that kids can take pictures in
stickers, promotional flyers and more front of as they progress in order to share it with
their family and friends
 BIG BLUE’S BEGINNING LEADERSHIP

Chris Kenny Scott Thompson Kevin Bostick

CEO CDO CFO

Chris DeJong
Founder and President

Not many franchisors can give credit to the start of their business
to losing to Michael Phelps. A competitive swimmer at the
University of Michigan, ranked fifth in the world in backstroke and
fourth in the U.S., Chris DeJong trained under the same coach as
Phelps. For the 2008 Olympics, DeJong finished behind Phelps Casey Morford Michael Lonergan Justin Waltz
and missed qualifying by just four-tenths of a second. CTO EVP of Operations VP of Operations

DeJong soon moved to Chicago to coach a local swim team in

Evanston, teach lessons and run the aquatics program at North
Shore Country Club in Glenview. He developed great contacts
during this time, including Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts
(now a member of the Big Blue Swim School board) and, through
his combined swimming and teaching experience, created a
curriculum focused on achieving fast results. DeJong opened his
first standalone swim school concept in Wilmette in 2009, which
grew from 600 to 2,200 families essentially overnight. He opened Brooke Mallick Michael Chin Jennifer Falbo Danny Kenny
VP of Marketing President of L-5 Real Director of Human Director of Launch
locations in Buffalo Grove (2015), Niles (2016), Hoffman Estates Estate Services Resources Support Services
(2017), and opened a fifth location in Chicago’s North Center
neighborhood in March 2019.
OPERATIONS TRAINING
& SUPPORT

LAUNCH SUPPORT SPECIALISTS THE ROAD TO CHICAGO

Each franchisee will be assigned a Launch Support Next, franchise partners will engage with additional
Specialist upon the signing of their franchise modules that provide weekly tasks that are more
agreement, who will work with them through the in-depth than the foundational training, including
point of profitability. setting up merchant accounts, buying computers,
setting up email and more.

BUILDOUT SUPPORT MONTHLY SUPPORT CALLS

Big Blue Swim School’s team will guide franchisees Franchisees will have monthly support calls to track
through site selection, lease negotiation, full pool business progress. Additional financial support
design and construction management. includes KPI management, benchmarking, and unit
economic coaching.

ONLINE TRAINING IN-PERSON TRAINING

The first step in Big Blue Swim School’s training Big Blue Swim School franchise partners and general
program is online LMS training to learn the managers will receive training at a corporate location
foundational aspects of the business, like brand in Chicago, and at their location. The training
vision, mission, values and the four levers that drive includes lifeguard, CPR and CPO (certified pool
the business. operator) and general operations training.
 ONGOING SUPPORT

• Licensing compliance
• IT support and training
• Technology development support
• Annual In-Market Visits
• Hands off, AI-driven facilities management

FRANCHISE FIELD SUPPORT

Once profitable, each franchisee will work with a Franchise Field
Support Team member to help manage ongoing profitability and
growth. This team member holds weekly calls with the franchisee,
and is on-call to help troubleshoot issues.

ONGOING EDUCATION
Big Blue Swim School will host regular ongoing training sessions
for franchisees, including regional town hall meetings and power
groups, during which a top-performing franchisee shares best
practices with new owners or those who are in need of additional
support.
NEW POOL OPENING (NPO) Big Blue Swim School will also have a Franchise Advisory Council
(FAC) comprised of several committees -- marketing, technology,
national brand fund and more -- that will work directly with the
corporate and serve as the voice of the franchise system.
Franchisor will handle all online and local lead generation for your
new pool using our proprietary New Pool Opening (NPO) system;
NPO support occurs four months prior to your grand opening
through four months after your grand opening

Once the facility’s doors are open, the NPO team is deployed to
help the franchise owner with in-market training for two weeks.
They help the franchisee organize grand opening events, develop
partnerships with other small businesses in the area, and more.
The NPO team will visit quarterly in the first year of business, then
bi-annually after the first year.
 www.yourbigmomementstartshere.com
[email protected] | 844.600.1933