Franchisee: Richard Cromwell

 / PBN PHOTO/KATE WHITNEY LUCEY
/ PBN PHOTO/KATE WHITNEY LUCEY

The pitch:

We make boating simple

Years in business:

Since 2009

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Employees:

7

Cost to obtain franchise:

$38,000 initial franchise fee; $140,000-$240,000 total investment

Before opening franchise:

“I’ve owned Maritime Solutions, a boat dealership in Portsmouth, since 1995. That business is the support mechanism for Freedom Boat Club – we do all the service work. Prior to that I was a franchise owner in the restaurant business.”

Reason for opening:

“A friend of mine started the FBC franchise in R.I. and it wasn’t a perfect fit for him. He was looking to move on, so I helped him out of it and it took off for me.” n

“FBC works like a country club, where you pay a one-time joining fee of $3,600, and $329 per month. You are not locked into a contract. When you join as a member, you can make a reservation in our online system, come down to the marina, where we help you onto the boat, go out and have fun and then we help you tie it up and you go home. You don’t have to clean or maintain the boat. There’s a lot involved with owning a boat, so we take the headaches out of boating.”

“We have two major categories of customer: one is younger families who are busy with limited time, but looking to enjoy recreational time rather than spend it maintaining something. The other category is the retired boater – people who understand boating and really don’t want the headache anymore, but still want to get out on the water and enjoy it.”

“We have a diversity of boats, pontoons, sailboats, center consoles and sailboats. You aren’t limited to a specific boat, and you have unlimited usage. You can go out every day, and if you have a membership you can use any of the clubs nationwide. Our entire fleet is 2013 or [newer], and we change the fleet over every year.”

Franchise owners interested in being included in an upcoming Franchisee feature can contact PBN Researcher Nicole Dotzenrod at (401) 680-4838 or research@pbn.com.

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