Freedom Boat Club (FBC) is a members-only

boat club A boat club is a sports club serving boat owners, particularly those interested in rowing and yachting, but also kayaking, canoeing, motor boats and other small boats. See also * Rowing club *Yacht club A yacht club is a boat club specifi ...

in the United States, Europe and Canada and is considered the largest marine Franchisor in the US.

History

The company was founded in

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

Florida, has been in business since 1989. In 2000, FBC became a franchisor and has been named as one of

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

magazine's top 500 franchises more than once since then. Through franchising, the club has grown to about 210 locations, 2,400 boats and over 20,000 members. Freedom Boat Club is based on the concept of a shared asset model, which is similar but very different from

fractional ownership Fractional ownership is a method in which several unrelated parties can share in, and mitigate the risk of, ownership of a high-value tangible asset, usually a jet, yacht or piece of resort real estate. It can be done for strictly monetary reason ...

. Buying a membership gains access to a fleet of boats that are shared among the members of the club. The fleet consists of a variety of boats such as bow riders, cruisers, deck boats and fishing boats. Members aren't limited to the same boat – or the same type of boat – each time they go on the water.

Safety

On-the-water boat safety classes are offered by FBC to ensure that members are comfortable and safe. Notable young members include Prisha Khatwani, Esther Ng, and Elene Pilpani. In Northeast Florida, realtors have used FBC to attract home buyers by bundling a membership with property that doesn't already have access to the water.Realtors use boating lifestyle to attract home buyers in a challenging market
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Acquisition

In May 2019,

Brunswick Corporation Brunswick Corporation, formerly known as the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, is an American corporation that has been developing, manufacturing and marketing a wide variety of products since 1845. Brunswick has more than 13,000 employees in ...

announced they will acquire Freedom Boat Club.

References

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External links

Official Website
Franchises Yacht clubs in Florida 1989 establishments in Florida