Thread: How to take my B&M business Fastlane?

I have a business idea - basically an indoor playground for kids. Big, clean, safe, with healthy snacks and lots of room for parents to relax. Not a new idea, but I think I can do it better than anyone in my area and there is not a lot of competition in this region. I've been a stay at home mom for six years and have three small kids, so "what parents want" is an area I know well.

My problem is I am having trouble figuring out how it will eventually be a fastlane business? I understand selling franchises would fastlane it, but that seems pretty far away considering I will be starting from scratch.

I have a good chunk of $ to start (about 200K) - do I get investors to supplement and start big (open a few locations at once)? I'm worried I'd spread myself too thin. Or do I start with one location, try to make it very successful and then start opening new locations?

I know this type of business lacks scale. There will be a limit to the number of kids in the space at once and I can only charge a few bucks a kid or else no one will come. I don't want to find myself working 8 hours a day at my indoor playground, serving snacks and counting dollars for a whopping 40k a year or something .

So, additional locations is one option. Franchising. Any other thoughts?

8 hours a day...I'd imagine you'd be looking for at least 12 hours to get maximum value from the lease and to make a decent profit.

But the good thing is you don't have to actually be there once you get it set up and your systems in place...which you'd absolutely have to do in order to franchise. Rules are strict and you have to document every single little thing. With something like that I'd start with one location and grow from it. I mean you need a prototype location to make it happen at a larger level anyway and really...that IS how the best franchises are born, great results from one location. Like McDonalds, that original location only gained the interest of the right people to take it franchise after it hit a million in sales a year. Which was amazing when you consider that was at 10c for a burger!! But the thing was it was unique enough on it's own to gain traction outside it's original market.

So you have to consider how marketable it might be...not only in your community or city or what have you...but across the country (at minimum) and around the world (if you're thinking huge picture)...

Remember too...when people are doing marketing surveys and such they often give the answers they think you want to hear or the ones that makes them sound good. So even though you're certain that parents would pay for a play experience for their kids with healthy food...will their actions follow their intentions or will they still be down the street at McDonald's because the playground part is free and doesn't require reservations on a rainy day.

I think the key to making it big fast will be in the marketing and getting the word out...partnerships and outreach with and through schools? community groups? moms&tots groups and so on and so forth on a local level with additional pushes through social media and traditional media (paid and publicity...)

The one problem with this type of business is that kids and parents do grow out of it rather quickly and there are only so many visits you can expect in a given time frame (depending on income levels around your location and your prices...it's more than likely going to be considered a "treat" rather than a budget line item in the average family's budget)...so marketing will have to be ongoing to catch the kids and parents at the right stage. This stage is (it seems to me) getting ever shorter as the digital goodies move into younger and younger hands daily.

With some businesses you can throttle back and let buzz and referrals carry the business through, but this one wouldn't really be one of them I don't think.

$200k should be plenty to open 1 location. I would definitely start with 1 location, once you've proven it's profitable and repeatable, you can take on investors to open more locations or franchise it out after that.

A single location isn't fast-lane, but it still could be quite profitable - you could easily pull $100k/yr in profit if successful, and the option to expand is always there.

There was a similar business open near me that was quite successful, but closed because the owner's couldn't make it run without them being there day in a day out. That's the biggest challenge to opening a B&M location, IMO.

Defintely start with ONLY 1 location. No reason to open up multiple locations when you haven't even proven the business to be profitable yet.

As for the idea itself, I like it. There is only 2-3 of them around me and I live in a densely populated area.

Originally Posted by Cparsons

$200k should be plenty to open 1 location. I would definitely start with 1 location, once you've proven it's profitable and repeatable, you can take on investors to open more locations or franchise it out after that.

A single location isn't fast-lane, but it still could be quite profitable - you could easily pull $100k/yr in profit if successful, and the option to expand is always there.

There was a similar business open near me that was quite successful, but closed because the owner's couldn't make it run without them being there day in a day out. That's the biggest challenge to opening a B&M location, IMO.

How are you able to reach these conclusions from the information given?

I am just wondering, did you do anything with this business berry987?