Water Wings Swim School
Bottom line
- Total investment $994K – $1.4M including a $50K franchise fee.
- Average unit revenue of $1.6M/year (median $1.4M). Estimated payback in 1.9 years.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 62/100.
- Emerging franchise — only 1 year of franchising with 12 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one Water Wings Swim School unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
20%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Water Wings Swim School units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
37.6%
4.94× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.21×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$4.2M
on $13.1M purchase
Total debt
$8.9M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Water Wings franchisees operate swim schools offering learn-to-swim programs, water safety training, and competitive swim coaching for children and adults. Day-to-day operations include managing instructors, scheduling classes, maintaining pool facilities, recruiting students through local marketing, and handling enrollment and billing. Success depends heavily on consistent student retention, instructor quality, and facility maintenance in a capital-intensive, location-dependent business.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 10 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Modest unit count with litigation-plagued parent company and undisclosed going concern issue presents meaningful legal and operational risk despite strong unit-level economics.
Score breakdown · what drove the 62 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE — suggests potential financial instability at corporate level despite healthy unit economics
- 02HIGHLitigation across parent company's entire portfolio (5+ brands) indicates systemic compliance/governance issues, not isolated incidents
- 03MINOROnly 12 units with unknown growth trajectory — insufficient scale and opacity on system expansion or contraction
- 04MINORHigh initial investment ($994K-$1.4M) paired with aggressive royalty structure (6% or $2,500 minimum) creates cash flow pressure for underperforming locations
- 05MINORFranchise fee ($50K) low relative to investment size suggests thin franchisor margins and potential under-capitalization of support infrastructure
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
12 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Water Wings Swim School · FDD (2025) PDF