Escape Room Business

[blueyedgibson]

Hello all!
I was hoping to network with anyone who is familiar with an escape room business, or chat with anyone who may have feedback.
While doing research, I noticed that the past year has affected escape rooms differently depending on what part of the world they are located. I know that the entertainment industry (arcades, pool halls, bowling alleys, movie theaters etc) took a huge hit because of closures due to social distancing. Many escape rooms were able to remain open by allowing private games for customers and sanitizing the rooms after each game.
There are many vacant buildings available in my area with lower lease options, so my partner and I are planning to open an escape room. I know it may not be a typical fastlane choice, but it will allow me the flexibility to work on that.
Any input or thoughts are appreciated!

 

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[biophase]

This is something that I have thought about as I think creating the puzzles would be really fun.

However, the thing about escape rooms is that your income potential is relatively fixed. You have 6 participants per hour at $35, so your max is $210 an hour. You can probably get 5 hours a week day and 10 hours a weekend. So that is 45 hours a week. So you've got a max gross of $9450 a week, say $40,000 a month. Obviously, this would be a great income if you were 100% occupied.

Another thing that you don't really have is repeat customers. I've been to about 50 escape rooms and there were only a few that I would come back and do another room with the same company.

My thought about doing this would be to do a longer and more complicated version for people who love doing them. It would be $100 or $150/person and last 2 hours but be way more immersive with actors. Think of how disney world rides look on the inside and how they feel once you begin the ride.

 

[S.Y.]

Google Melissa Carbone.

She went on Shark Tank and was grossing 3 millions a year and growing.

If you make it less escape room and more experiential, you can have a solid business.

If you go experiential nothing stops you from having repeat cx. You just have to make sure to reinvent the experience regularly.

I for one am a huge fan of experiential things. I have spent a ridiculous amount of money with pre-covid.

 

[MaxinVegas]

Google Melissa Carbone.

She went on Shark Tank and was grossing 3 millions a year and growing.

If you make it less escape room and more experiential, you can have a solid business.

If you go experiential nothing stops you from having repeat cx. You just have to make sure to reinvent the experience regularly.

I for one am a huge fan of experiential things. I have spent a ridiculous amount of money with pre-covid.

Interesting on the experiential part of escape rooms. I am an enthusiast and have done quite of them. What sort of angle do you see as being experiential for the concept. They are pretty static and changing a room is quite the undertaking and takes 1-3 months from talking to owners of rooms.

The business has a lot of mom-and-pop operators with many being enthusiasts themselves. Potentially turning the spaces into a "set" with changing themes could be a game changer.

How though is it done profitably and more concerning efficiently?

 

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[Wisith]

I agree with what @biophase said. I've done a couple myself. All were organized as a team building event with my colleagues. All were in industrial parts of town too, guess rent is cheaper.

It was really fun, but the work that goes into setting up the room seems expensive and time consuming. As mentioned, once you've done once, you're not going to come back unless it's been rearranged.

The lifetime value of one client seems really short...just that 1 hour they're there.

If I were to do this, I would totally reach out to the nearby businesses and organize corporate packages for team building events. Maybe work with a catering company to have food on premise and they can use your space for a 1-2 hour meeting to talk about their agenda. For us, this would've been awesome. I worked at a place where we were all remote so having a central place to meet that's not a coffee house was difficult.

 

[blueyedgibson]

This is something that I have thought about as I think creating the puzzles would be really fun.

However, the thing about escape rooms is that your income potential is relatively fixed. You have 6 participants per hour at $35, so your max is $210 an hour. You can probably get 5 hours a week day and 10 hours a weekend. So that is 45 hours a week. So you've got a max gross of $9450 a week, say $40,000 a month. Obviously, this would be a great income if you were 100% occupied.

Another thing that you don't really have is repeat customers. I've been to about 50 escape rooms and there were only a few that I would come back and do another room with the same company.

My thought about doing this would be to do a longer and more complicated version for people who love doing them. It would be $100 or $150/person and last 2 hours but be way more immersive with actors. Think of how disney world rides look on the inside and how they feel once you begin the ride

I think puzzles are super fun too!

I created a business plan and crunched some numbers with local demographics, and the projections (conservative) look good. We were just trying to create an environment where we could have repeat customers without completely remodeling a room (since its one and done). I was thinking along the lines of some type of story that has different episodes or reveals each month, similar to TV shows where viewers get attached to the characters/story and keep watching week after week.

The local competition have rooms that are very low production value, so we are aiming for more of a Disneyland type quality like you mentioned.

Our biggest decision at the moment is whether the location should be in a high foot traffic area with higher lease or off the grid with a cheaper lease and heavy online presence. I know that a lot of people use the internet to find things to do, and don't think an escape room is really the type of business that gets too many walk-ins.

Google Melissa Carbone.

She went on Shark Tank and was grossing 3 millions a year and growing.

If you make it less escape room and more experiential, you can have a solid business.

If you go experiential nothing stops you from having repeat cx. You just have to make sure to reinvent the experience regularly.

I for one am a huge fan of experiential things. I have spent a ridiculous amount of money with pre-covid.

Thanks for the info, she has created a great business!

I agree that it should be more of an experience than a one time visit (from both a customer and business standpoint).


@MaxinVegas What are some of your favorite themes of the escape rooms that you have played?

 

[MaxinVegas]

I think puzzles are super fun too!

I created a business plan and crunched some numbers with local demographics, and the projections (conservative) look good. We were just trying to create an environment where we could have repeat customers without completely remodeling a room (since its one and done). I was thinking along the lines of some type of story that has different episodes or reveals each month, similar to TV shows where viewers get attached to the characters/story and keep watching week after week.

The local competition have rooms that are very low production value, so we are aiming for more of a Disneyland type quality like you mentioned.

Our biggest decision at the moment is whether the location should be in a high foot traffic area with higher lease or off the grid with a cheaper lease and heavy online presence. I know that a lot of people use the internet to find things to do, and don't think an escape room is really the type of business that gets too many walk-ins.



Thanks for the info, she has created a great business!

I agree that it should be more of an experience than a one time visit (from both a customer and business standpoint).


@MaxinVegas What are some of your favorite themes of the escape rooms that you have played?

@blueyedgibson Great question! Some of the best themes or stories that I have seen are:

Fairy Tales (Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and Snow White)
Objective (find the real will of a recently deceased relative)
Escaping an Asylum
Old West
Scooby Doo
The Jersey Devil (a New Jersey Themed room)

I have done a few Jailbreak type rooms, not a huge fan. However they are really popular.

Location doesn't matter as much as the quality of the room (s) and how you treat people. In my market most rooms are in industrial areas off The Strip (no more than a 5-10 minute drive). A few are starting to popup on The Strip itself.

 

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