Is the Real Estate Fee for Goldfish Swim School refundable?
Goldfish_Swim_School Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
n of the franchise, see ITEM 17.)
You will pay us a non-refundable Real Estate Fee in the amount of $2,500 when you sign the first Franchise Agreement related to your leasehold property. If you develop multiple Swim Schools, the Real Estate Fee will not be assessed on any Swim School after your first. The Real Estate Fee will cover our expenses related to your real estate and site selection, including providing certain information and services to you, such as demographic information, site criteria information, our attendance at meetings or calls with you and your real estate broker, our attendance at in person and telephonic conferences with landlords or local real estate brokers, our expenses related to site tours, and our access to certain real estate database information of potentially available properties.
If you sign an Area Development Agreement, you must develop an agreed-upon number of Swim Schools within the Development Territory within a certain period of time (the "Development Schedule") and simultaneously execute the Franchise Agreement for your first Swim School. You must pay an Initial Franchise Fee for the Area Development Agreement based upon the number of Swim Schools that you develop in the Development Territory (the "Development Fee"). The Development Fee is equal to the Initial Franchise Fee for the first Swim School ($50,000) plus $20.000 [one-half of the reduced Initial Franchise Fee ($40,000)] for each additional Swim School developed under the Area Development Agreement.
Source: Item 5 — INITIAL FEES (FDD pages 16–17)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Goldfish Swim School FDD, the Real Estate Fee is non-refundable. Specifically, you must pay Goldfish Swim School a $2,500 Real Estate Fee when signing the first Franchise Agreement related to your leasehold property. This fee covers expenses related to real estate and site selection services that Goldfish Swim School provides.
The FDD specifies that if you develop multiple Goldfish Swim School locations, the Real Estate Fee is only assessed on the first swim school. This means you only pay the $2,500 fee once, regardless of how many locations you eventually open.
Furthermore, if a franchisee fails to commence operations of the Approved Location for the Franchised Swim School within the Development Period, Goldfish Swim School has the right to terminate the agreement and retain the entire Real Estate Fee paid by the franchisee. The Real Estate Fee retained shall be specifically understood and agreed by the parties to be in consideration of the services provided, time expended, work performed, and other efforts of Franchisor up to the date of Franchisee's failure to timely commence operations of the Franchised Swim School and shall not be construed as nor considered to be a penalty.