Aqua-Tots Swim Schools is a franchise swim school that offers year-round swim lessons for children of all ages and skill levels. For over 30 years, Aqua-Tots Swim Schools has helped children around the world become confident and safe swimmers. The franchise is known for its top-notch customer service, state-of-the-art facilities and convenient locations in shopping plazas that are popular with families.
Husband-and-wife team, Stephanie and Ruddy Lopez, recently opened their own Aqua-Tots Swim Schools franchise in Toms River, New Jersey. Ruddy spent his career as an architect coordinating multi-million-dollar jobs for his clients. Stephanie is currently a corporate financial controller in international and domestic financial operations. Although they have diverse business backgrounds, they’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. After taking their son to an Aqua-Tots Horsham location for swim lessons, Stepanie and Ruddy fell in love with the franchise concept and decided to open their own location to leave a legacy for their children.
To achieve their dream, they needed long-term financing to open the location. They enrolled in a 401K Rollover as Business Start-up (ROBS) plan, which required an SBA loan. They reached out to Capital Franchise Solutions, a company that connects prospective franchisors with financial institutions. That’s how they were introduced to Dennis Wagner, one of our experienced Business Development Officers. Dennis helped them gather the necessary paperwork and guided them through every step of the SBA loan process. Ultimately, Dennis was able to craft an SBA 7(a) loan that enabled Stephanie and Ruddy to achieve their dream of becoming small business owners.
Here is what Stephanie had to say about her experience partnering with Dennis and the team at FNB Small Business Finance:
It was really easy to work with Dennis. He was very knowledgeable and we were able to go straight to him with any questions. Dennis was very supportive throughout the entire process. I would absolutely recommend him to other business owners.
Congratulations to Stephanie and Ruddy on successfully opening their own Aqua-Tots Swim Schools Toms River location! We can’t wait to see what they achieve in the future.
