Running an indoor playground for kids is a lucrative business despite a high investment cost. However, the success of your business will depend on the model you put in place from preparation work, choosing the right indoor playground equipment to actually operating the facility.
Whether you’re looking to start as part of a franchise or run an independent business, there are important steps that can ensure your business is off to a great start.
Are There Demand for Indoor Playgrounds?
Given that times have changed and most children are on their screens instead of playgrounds, you’re probably wondering how profitable is this business.
Indoor playgrounds are becoming a common thing in most family entertainment or recreational centers, amusement parks, shopping stores, restaurants and churches. They offer a nice and safe environment for your children to play, which is highly beneficial to their motor growth and cognitive skills development, and a place where families come to socialize.
These facilities are also a great child care alternative. Almost one-third of families spend at least 20% of their household income on child care. Businesses with indoor playgrounds allow parents to bring kids along and keep them occupied without the need for a babysitter or daycare service.
Start with Market Research
When starting a new business it’s important to know and study well the market before venturing in. There are many commercial indoor playgrounds you can research from to understand the business better. See what competitors are doing, the kind of services they offer and what you can do differently from them. This will help you to identify gaps in the market that you can exploit and competitively package your services.
Market research can also help understand your customers better and identify creatives ways of marketing your business to keep them coming. The middle and upper-class customer base is the right market to target because of their disposable income, which goes to cover their lifestyle needs such as child care.
Finding a Suitable Location
The success of an indoor playground business is highly determined by the location. Finding a location that is a well-trafficked like family entertainment centers, retails stores and restaurants will help your business enjoy consistent foot traffic, increasing your business revenue.
Generally, you’ll be looking for a convenient, accessible and visible location with ample parking space and enough security. These are the basics requirements necessary for running the business. However, if you find a good place but not that visible, just ensure it’s highly accessible.
After finding an ideal location, you need to find the right place to set up the business. Here, you can either buy a land with a structure already built on like a warehouse, and re-purpose it into an indoor playground. Or, buy an empty land and build the center there. You’ll need to consult the experts when it comes to designing your playground to ensure proper use of space and federal compliance regulations and standards.
Construction and Inspections
The designs for the playground has to be approved by an engineer and must comply with the federal standards of safety. The construction process involves a lot and therefore it’s necessary to hire labor or seek support from friends and family if you’re planning to build it yourself. However, it’s recommended to hire an experienced contractor to do the job for you because of their indispensable skills and proper equipment.
Prefabricated equipment can also be used to construct an indoor playground. Here, prebuilt play equipment are used to fill the playground with interesting games for children like slides, trampolines or climbing walls. Each equipment is built and installed to the right standards.
Launching and Marketing
Once the facility is complete and everything has been installed properly, ensure you all the necessary paperwork such as business licenses and insurance. Before the launch, the facility has to be fully inspected by the relevant authority to ascertain that it meets the federal standards and safety precautions.
Now throw the biggest launch and invite families for free day play. Then roll out an effective marketing plan that will help to attract and maintain customers.
