---
title: "Business Insider: Big Blue Swim School Founder Chris DeJong on How He Expanded His Business Nationwide"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/dfe7388e-64a7-4c9f-8d4b-70c5a15f1c9f
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/business-insider-big-blue-swim-school-founder-chris-dejong-on-how-he-expanded-his-business-nationwide-2714089
category: "Fitness"
industry: "Fitness"
published: 2020-10-16T19:14:28.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:26:08.522Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/b8c84844c11346f8cde643cc953c85dc8858.jpg
---

# Business Insider: Big Blue Swim School Founder Chris DeJong on How He Expanded His Business Nationwide

**TL;DR:** Big Blue Swim School founder Chris DeJong discusses his journey from Olympic training to business ownership, expanding the brand nationwide through franchising. Big Blue Swim School has grown across the country with six corporate owned locations and 83 upcoming franchises opening soon across 16 states.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2020-10-16. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/business-insider-big-blue-swim-school-founder-chris-dejong-on-how-he-expanded-his-business-nationwide-2714089).*

## Story

**In a recent article by Business Insider****,** **Big Blue Swim School** **founder Chris DeJong discusses his journey from training alongside Olympic champion Michael Phelps to business ownership.**

**After his olympic training days, DeJong turned to teaching swim lessons in the Chicagoland area. He then opened** **Big Blue Swim School** **in 2008 and has since grown across the country with six corporate owned locations and 83 upcoming franchises opening soon across 16 states.**

**"Our goal is to be in all the major metropolitan areas across the US, hopefully opening 400 locations and teaching a third of the kids in the U.S. how to swim," DeJong told Business Insider. "Franchising allows us to do that on a much larger scale and much faster."**

**Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Big Blue Swim School has proven to be a recession-resistant opportunity. DeJong told Business Insider the margins of his established schools put the brand in the top 20% of profitable franchise opportunities.**

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Fitness (sector)
- franchising (topic)
- expansion (topic)
- Big Blue Swim School (company)
- Chris DeJong (person)
- swim lessons (topic)
- recession resistant (topic)
- Michael Phelps (person)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/business-insider-big-blue-swim-school-founder-chris-dejong-on-how-he-expanded-his-business-nationwide-2714089). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/dfe7388e-64a7-4c9f-8d4b-70c5a15f1c9f).