How Important is Family Entertainment Center Master Planning?
So, you want to open a family entertainment center. Great! Now what?
If you’re considering opening your own business and believe the art of fun is the right direction for you, then you’ll have to know a thing or two before you start looking at locations, themes, and attractions.
In fact, family entertainment centers such as a trampoline park, bowling alley, or skating rink have increased significantly over the years, earning billions of dollars. Although fun is always a good start, a “good” time is no longer good enough. You need to immerse guests in an experience or they’ll just stay home.
One important aspect of designing that wow experience and immersing guests in the entire fun factor is family entertainment center master planning.
In order to know what to expect, you should first know what a is master planning. In a nutshell, it’s a long-range plan for your facility that takes in to account physical location, building layout, project analysis, and feasibility. Think of a master plan as a blueprint for your long-term goal and the future expansion for your family entertainment center.
If you’re not sure what to expect when either searching to partner with a family entertainment center design firm or have secured one, these are the four things you should know about family entertainment center master planning.
1. Family Entertainment Center Master Planning for Your Location
As they say, location, location, location…and they say it for a reason. Location is one of the most important factors for any business. Make sure the family entertainment center design firm you select knows the importance of not only the locality but the how it relates to the community surrounding it when implementing into their master plan.
Is the venue you’re considering near shopping malls, local watering holes, business parks, transportation, or neighborhoods? Or is the space less expensive than other similar venues, but it takes some time to get there? Sure, you’re saving money on rent, but losing money due to location.
It may sound like a no-brainer, but make sure when your design firm creates your family entertainment center master planning, it doesn’t talk you into a great space, with less rent, but in the middle of nowhere just to get you into a space.
2. Family Entertainment Center Master Planning in Your Layout
Now that you’re in the ideal venue, how will the space work for operation and guests? What will they see first? How will they interact with your staff? Where will which attractions go? How will the flow of traffic go, or will they be stuck in traffic because the layout wasn’t well thought out?
Some great questions to pose to family entertainment center your design firm to sound like you really know exactly what you’re talking about.
Your family entertainment center master planning should the layout for precisely where your guests will arrive; determine where they may go; predict at what point in their journey of your family entertainment center they may want to take a break with something to eat and drink, and decide what direction they may take after they refuel.
3. Family Entertainment Center Master Planning Per Your Budget
Launching a business is always an investment for the owner(s). This requires understanding your budget and any limitations that may come with it.
Your design firm should be transparent during the family entertainment center master planning phase with how your funds will be allocated. This includes budgets for staff, attractions, marketing, overhead, food and beverage, aesthetics, and operational and projected costs.
The budget in your master plan will set the tone for the entire development process of your family entertainment center, therefore, it must be carefully deliberated, and all aspects of your project must be considered. If not, you’re likely to throw-off your entire investment plan and end up spending more money on one thing and not enough somewhere else.
4. Family Entertainment Center Master Planning to Optimize Operations
What happens day-to-day will influence how you scale your facility. Therefore, a good portion of the family entertainment center master planning should include optimizing operations.
What are your daily operational costs? Is your staff in tune with what their goals are and follow through? Are your managers on top of their game and do all they can to ensure expectation are met for every guest that walks through that door? Is your marketing targeted or are you just doing anything possible to get people through the door (yeah, there’s a difference)?
The answer to these questions is connected to your investment.
If you’re staff wastes time on daily activities that do not generate revenue, you’re losing money.
If your managers are lacking the initiative to make a good experience amazing for guests and therefore, guests end up either leaving sooner than they intended or worse, decide never to come back because of that so-so experience, you’re losing money.
If you’re slapping together some marketing with Facebook posts and a promotion every quarter, you’re losing money.
Learning how to optimize your operation is essential to your long-term goal. The design firm you select should advise you on how everyday operations of your family entertainment center will impact your bottom line. Your family entertainment center should always operate at its highest efficiency to generate the best performance and therefore, the highest return on your investment.
There are plenty of family entertainment centers for customers to select spending their time and hard-earned money. It’s how each guest is treated and their experience that sets your family entertainment apart from others. This experience depends on how well you’ve planned in advance with solid master planning.
If you work with a family entertainment center design firm that completely gets your vision, the complete picture, and how much this investment means to you, then you’re master planning will take you through the journey of a successful business.
