(Ambrosio’s note:  This is a guest blog post by Kari Denton, President of Fun Bus Fitness Fun on Wheels.  For me, one of the joys of franchise blogging is hearing from successful entrepreneurs who saw a need, had a novel idea to meet that need, and ran with it.  Kari is a perfect example of this.)

My name is Kari Denton and I am the President of Fun Bus Fitness Fun on Wheels.  It is my mother and business partner Dawn McGarry that owns Fun Bus.

We are former daycare owners and saw the need back in 2000 for something unique, fun, affordable and positive.  We began to put a bus together in 2000 with the intention of selling our successful daycare and going out and tapping into the up-and-coming market addressing childhood obesity and lack of stimulation at the daycare level everyday, and the multi-billion dollar market for children’s entertainment (hence birthday parties/special events on the weekends).

We sold our daycare in 2001, had one bus ready to go, and went out marketing ourselves as the mother-daughter duo who wanted kids to experience fitness, while making it fun and structured, all aboard a refurbished school bus that NEVER moved with kids on it. We did just that for about 6 months, adding a second bus and driving all over New Jersey.  By the end of 2002, with enough business and enough of saying “no, we are booked,” we weighed our options and by 2003 had our first Uniform Franchise Offering Circular ready to go and sell franchises.

To date, we are in 14 states, we have 36 owners, 41 buses on the road, and we are still offering that feel good, quality of life, Fun Bus franchise, combining both kids and fitness for under $100K in total investment.

We have master franchisees that own whole states, owners that have more than one territory, and owners that own more than one bus in their territory. We are the only franchise doing the mobile fitness and kids program aboard a bus.

We appeal to both men and women who are looking to have flexibility and the fun factor in their lives, or those that want to control their own destiny and income level, while still being able to enjoy their life, their family, and make their business as large as they want. It is a rather simple model to follow, that works, and focuses on keeping monthly costs down for our franchise partners allowing them to be more profitable.  There is no long term lease or high monthly overhead to scare one away.