Freedom Boat Club recently completed the largest franchise conference in company’s 30-year history and its first since being acquired by Brunswick Corp.
The theme of the event, Expanding Horizons, celebrated more than 200 locations and a strong focus on future growth.
Over the course of four days, franchisees were able to experience new products while ordering new boats and engaging with other franchisees and members of the Brunswick leadership team, including CEO Dave Foulkes and business acceleration president Brenna Preisser.
“It just validated everything we have done and everything we have been doing to get people on the water,” said Jacksonville Freedom Boat Club owner Lisa Almeida in a statement. “We bring a lot of people on the water and we turn them into boaters – and owners. It was so nice to see that someone as big as Brunswick understands who we are.”
“This conference has been great,” said Matt O’Hara, owner of Freedom Boat Club of Lake George. “A couple of Brunswick representatives came to see us recently and I left on fire from that meeting because of the opportunities ahead of us. They showed they want to be a good partner, have a lot of manpower dedicated to us and embrace the Freedom Boat Club culture.”
During the conference, franchisees were presented with the opportunity to engage Brunswick boat brands including Boston Whaler, Sea Ray, Bayliner, Cypress Cay and more. All are powered by Brunswick-owned Mercury outboard engines.
In addition to testing new products, the Freedom franchisees were able to participate in a range of strategy sessions presented by Brunswick and Freedom teams about operations, sales, product knowledge and communications.
The conference culminated in an 80s themed award ceremony in which many franchisees were presented awards based on performance and contributions over the past year, including Franchise of the Year, awarded to Dan and Jennifer Hasbrouck from San Diego.
Check out a full list of award recipients here.
