The British Swim School franchise system makes a splash in Canada
By Karen Stevens
British Swim School was founded in 1981 by Rita Goldberg, a former competitive swimmer from Britain. Inspired by her love for swimming and her desire to teach water safety to children and adults, Goldberg started British Swim School in Manchester, England in 1981 and when she moved to the U.S., spent the next 20 years establishing corporate locations. The system then started franchising in 2011 and eventually expanded into Canada in 2017.
British Swim School stands out for its teaching method that emphasizes water safety and survival skills, but also for its focus on fun. “We pride ourselves on having a fun and gentle method of teaching water safety skills because we know that kids, especially, retain more when they’re having fun,” says British Swim School president Ashley Gundlach. “A lot of the times the kids don’t even realize that they’re learning these really critical skills, because they’re having a blast while they’re doing it.”
British Swim School employs highly trained instructors who are well-versed in teaching swimming through a variety of techniques. The class sizes are small, enabling personalized attention, and the curriculum, focused on each student’s abilities, not age, ensures that individuals are equipped with the necessary skills to survive in water, and later, to move onto stroke development.
A winning swim team
According to Gundlach, the rewards of franchising with British Swim School are plentiful. “The fact that we’re creating safer swimmers all across North America is extremely rewarding,” says Gundlach. She adds that many franchisees are people who previously had a negative experience with water themselves or know someone who has experienced a tragedy and want to help people in their community learn safer swimming skills.
Another benefit is the business model—franchisees rent pool space and can start up relatively quickly, instead of going through a time-consuming and costly build out of their own pool facility. “We’re not building swimming facilities, we’re operating out of existing pools that typically are really underutilized,” says Gundlach. Examples include pools in hotels, businesses, and retirement and rehab centres that often sit empty for large portions of the day.
“That means that our franchisees can get up and running really quickly once they sign on to British Swim School, and then they can continue building their footprint by launching into new partner locations as their customer acquisition grows.”
British Swim School is part of Buzz Franchise Brands, so its franchisees get to share in the parent company’s resources. “We have a dedicated team of over 20 people who work specifically on the British Swim School brand team. But then, we have a shared services team of about 25 full-time professionals that work across finance, marketing, and training,” says Gundlach. “The marketing team is especially robust and basically functions as an in-house marketing agency for our franchisees. They do everything from in-house paid digital campaigns to custom graphics, to website development—pretty much anything that our franchisees need from a marketing perspective.”
One of the challenges for British Swim School franchisees can be finding the right partner pools. To make sure that this process goes as smoothly as possible for the franchisees, the system thoroughly trains new franchisees on the pool scouting process. Head office teaches franchisees what to look for in a partner pool and how to build the relationship. “We send one of our coaches to every new franchisee’s territory, and they spend a couple of days with them on the ground, going through the whole scouting process, and making those connections. Our goal is to teach them how that process should be done so that they’re able to handle it on their own moving forward, with us supporting them from the home office,” says Gundlach.
Buoyed by a supportive franchise family
The ideal British Swim School franchisee has a passion for making a difference in its communities. While a business background is beneficial, it’s not a prerequisite. What is essential is a strong entrepreneurial spirit and a commitment to following the established system, says Gundlach. She goes on to say that while many franchisees don’t have a background in swimming, they are comfortable working with families and can deal with the unexpected events that occur with any small business.
She notes that people who can deal with challenges as they arise—whether they be difficult customers or bad weather—and continue on with business tend to be successful within the system.
Training and ongoing support
The comprehensive training process for new British Swim School franchisees equips them with the necessary knowledge and skills to operate a successful franchise. Franchisees go through business and aquatic training through a combination of online and in-person sessions. The in-person business training is at the corporate headquarters in Virginia and training is rounded out by in-water aquatics training at one of the franchise’s certified locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. Gundlach notes that most franchisees will hire instructors who will take care of the actual swimming lessons, but they go through the training so they understand the program and understand what great instruction looks like.
Ongoing support includes continuous training, marketing assistance, operational guidance, and access to a network of experienced franchisees. Each franchisee is assigned to a business coach, who is their primary operations support for the life of their business. “They help them with profitability, their staffing strategy, and connect them with any of the subject matter experts within the business,” says Gundlach.
“Our franchisees will attest that we are a very hands-on organization; we maintain a strong relationship between our franchisees and their coaches for the life of their business,” adds Gundlach, explaining that they help franchisees keep a close eye on their business goals so that they can remain profitable and successful.
Furthermore, a team of six aquatics professionals support franchisees with ongoing on-site training, panel discussions, and group calls on new curriculum and one-on-one consultations.
British Swim School dives into an exciting future
Being newer to the Canadian market, there are still many territories available for development. So far, British Swim School has 20 franchisees in Canada. “But definitely, we have availability, especially as we look out into central and Western Canada, where there are quite a few open territories,” says Gundlach.
British Swim School has ambitious expansion plans aimed at spreading its mission of water safety education to more communities. “Right now, we’re sitting at about 150 franchisees across the United States and Canada. I think 10 years from now we can double that footprint across those two countries. Our intent is to sell out our available territories in Canada in the next 12 to 18 months,” says Gundlach. She also sees British Swim School considering other countries for expansion outside of North America as a longer-term priority.
“As much as the geographic expansion is a priority, it’s also just as much about helping each of our franchisees really maximize the opportunity in the territories that we have.”
Gundlach explains that thanks to the unique business model, franchises are well positioned to grow their businesses within their individual territories. “Typically, we’ll see a franchisee launch with one, maybe two pools, but then as their business grows, they’ll start to add additional pools, time, or lanes. So that allows them to service more customers and add more lessons to their schedule.”
As the brand continues to grow and expand through franchising, it remains committed to providing exceptional instruction and making a positive impact on the communities it serves.
