Soft Play Facility Set Up
Discussion
We live outside of Colchester, and there are a number there. I've only been to one of the main ones, but my wife says that's the preferred one out of three in the town, there are also a couple in Clacton. Funny someone should mention it, but the one in question is in an old Focus building, been going about five years.
In our eyes they do really seem to get it right. Pricing is circa £5 for our five year old. Slightly less for the little one I think. Parents don't pay.
Food and drink is where they really seem to have majored as others suggest; good quality 'home made' dishes - they claim it's all home made and I'm reasonably inclined to believe them. Their 'pizzas' are on pitta bread as one example. The food seems to be pretty natural, and is all cooked/made to order. It's certainly no hardship to eat there either as an adult or a kid (I had a really nice coronation chicken sandwich the other week). They seem to do pretty much everything; breakfasts, sandwiches, 'light bites', meals (spag bol etc.), jacket potatoes, pancakes, sundaes and 'home-baked' cakes and tray-bakes for both kid and adult portions. They also have a range of weaning foods for the really small people. The tea is from tea pigs, and coffee is Illy.
In terms of the kit, they have a toddler's area, the main play area, and then a football court, trampoline bit and a small climbing wall.
There's a number of rooms for private parties, but they also accommodate groups in the main seating area.
Certainly at weekends and in the holidays, the place is buzzing. But to be fair, it does seem to tick over nicely on 'normal' weekdays when #1 was a bit younger and we've visited. I believe they do host various kids groups in the day time as well.
In our eyes they do really seem to get it right. Pricing is circa £5 for our five year old. Slightly less for the little one I think. Parents don't pay.
Food and drink is where they really seem to have majored as others suggest; good quality 'home made' dishes - they claim it's all home made and I'm reasonably inclined to believe them. Their 'pizzas' are on pitta bread as one example. The food seems to be pretty natural, and is all cooked/made to order. It's certainly no hardship to eat there either as an adult or a kid (I had a really nice coronation chicken sandwich the other week). They seem to do pretty much everything; breakfasts, sandwiches, 'light bites', meals (spag bol etc.), jacket potatoes, pancakes, sundaes and 'home-baked' cakes and tray-bakes for both kid and adult portions. They also have a range of weaning foods for the really small people. The tea is from tea pigs, and coffee is Illy.
In terms of the kit, they have a toddler's area, the main play area, and then a football court, trampoline bit and a small climbing wall.
There's a number of rooms for private parties, but they also accommodate groups in the main seating area.
Certainly at weekends and in the holidays, the place is buzzing. But to be fair, it does seem to tick over nicely on 'normal' weekdays when #1 was a bit younger and we've visited. I believe they do host various kids groups in the day time as well.
Interesting how you thought this type of business must be a gold mine as with a 3 year old I've had to take him to loads of these things and I've always thought the opposite. A few reasons why and talking from experience here not out of my arse: heating they are usually in big uninsulated buildings that are difficult to heat and keep warm likewise electricity for lighting and your food set up it's not as if your hours are defined like in a restaurant where you can predict busy periods your going to be open early and close late all the time heating and lighting a massive warehouse. Next massive cost is staff your going to need plenty your insurance will require it you can't have one doing admissions and something else admissions is full time then kitchen staff, cooks, waitresses etc... then the staff just supervising the kids so no fights break out of someone takes a dump in the ball pit! Staff are expensive. Add to this cleaning which you can't scrimp on as kids are sick, snotty, s
tting creatures who won't give a toss about your equipment. A money pit for 5/7 days if you ask me.
But hey good luck if you fancy taking the plunge.
tting creatures who won't give a toss about your equipment. A money pit for 5/7 days if you ask me. But hey good luck if you fancy taking the plunge.
Mrs BigBen has recently opened one, it has been going 2 months.
There are some good points made above but the one I would stress is heating a high ceilinged warehous costs loads.
If you are serious you are welcome to come and visit and have a chat, we are just outside Cambridge. So far I wouldn't be making any claims of it being a goldmine and indeed I don't think it would be possible to say until she has 12 months trading under her belt.
Ben
There are some good points made above but the one I would stress is heating a high ceilinged warehous costs loads.
If you are serious you are welcome to come and visit and have a chat, we are just outside Cambridge. So far I wouldn't be making any claims of it being a goldmine and indeed I don't think it would be possible to say until she has 12 months trading under her belt.
Ben
Thanks a lot Ben. Initially just doing the math and looking into it as a possible. Nothing decided yet as to whether i'll give this the go ahead or not.
If I do, I would certainly be grateful of a visit and a chat, hearing it from the tough end is exactly what we'd need!
Thanks a lot everyone, for good insight and lots to think about.
If I do, I would certainly be grateful of a visit and a chat, hearing it from the tough end is exactly what we'd need!
Thanks a lot everyone, for good insight and lots to think about.
heating keeps getting mentioned. The 2 I've been to recently were both clearly unheated or barely heated. Parents kept their coats on and kids were running about so didn't need it.
Professional hat off: Just use old fashioned hi-bay bulbs that kick out loads of heat instead of LED's and have underfloor heating under the area where parents sit and then a couple of fan blast heaters for those days where it's so cold you need to take the edge off. The one we went to this weekend had a bouncy castle and the fan for that was pointing towards the play area so that probably helped heat it too and the open kitchen. Couldn't see a single radiator except in the low ceiling sectioned off party rooms.
Bonkers idea that might work: The relatively new flooring that generates energy for high traffic areas, put that under the ground floor of the softplay zone and it will contribute too.
Professional hat off: Just use old fashioned hi-bay bulbs that kick out loads of heat instead of LED's and have underfloor heating under the area where parents sit and then a couple of fan blast heaters for those days where it's so cold you need to take the edge off. The one we went to this weekend had a bouncy castle and the fan for that was pointing towards the play area so that probably helped heat it too and the open kitchen. Couldn't see a single radiator except in the low ceiling sectioned off party rooms.
Bonkers idea that might work: The relatively new flooring that generates energy for high traffic areas, put that under the ground floor of the softplay zone and it will contribute too.
Remember: Turnover and profit are two separate things.
Heating, staffing and regulatory requirements will be your biggest ongoing issues, even if you can find a suitable unit with adequate parking. Memberships are an excellent idea to bring cash in during the quiet summer months. Employ staff on zero-hours contracts, as you can't afford to have them hanging around doing nothing when the place is quiet. All staff will require the appropriate levels of CRB clearance, and food handling certification, so there will be costs and delays in recruitment.
And there's always the danger of somebody else opening up and doing the same thing, but better (or just differently) just up the road.
Heating, staffing and regulatory requirements will be your biggest ongoing issues, even if you can find a suitable unit with adequate parking. Memberships are an excellent idea to bring cash in during the quiet summer months. Employ staff on zero-hours contracts, as you can't afford to have them hanging around doing nothing when the place is quiet. All staff will require the appropriate levels of CRB clearance, and food handling certification, so there will be costs and delays in recruitment.
And there's always the danger of somebody else opening up and doing the same thing, but better (or just differently) just up the road.
I've thought about this a bit too.
Around us there's a big warehouse one at least half an hour away and I did think the running costs must be huge. Parties at the weekends seem to draw a lot in.
There's a much smaller one maybe 20 minutes away which has some random animals for the kids to look at in a separate area and a terrible coffee shop. Caters mostly for preschool age kids. There's some outside space, some inside space but really not much to it. It seems to have a much more consistent throughput of people and people pay for passes over a longer period of time. Probably less risk involved.
Just not sure I could be bothered!
Around us there's a big warehouse one at least half an hour away and I did think the running costs must be huge. Parties at the weekends seem to draw a lot in.
There's a much smaller one maybe 20 minutes away which has some random animals for the kids to look at in a separate area and a terrible coffee shop. Caters mostly for preschool age kids. There's some outside space, some inside space but really not much to it. It seems to have a much more consistent throughput of people and people pay for passes over a longer period of time. Probably less risk involved.
Just not sure I could be bothered!
Hoofy said:
Yeah, that's a possibility; depends how much space is taken up by the softplay stuff as some of that might have a weight restriction eg netting and rope bridges designed for under 10s.Certainly when my kids were young enough for Softplay, I never had any concerns going after them (other than "oh f
k, I'm going to get stuck!! ) and, believe it or not, I'm slightly heavier than a 10yr old! 
Kermit power said:
I doubt that... Most of it seems to be made out of scaffolding poles and industrial strength cargo netting!
Certainly when my kids were young enough for Softplay, I never had any concerns going after them (other than "oh fk, I'm going to get stuck!! ) and, believe it or not, I'm slightly heavier than a 10yr old!
I have to go after him (honestly) especially down the massive slides racing the other dads Certainly when my kids were young enough for Softplay, I never had any concerns going after them (other than "oh f
k, I'm going to get stuck!! ) and, believe it or not, I'm slightly heavier than a 10yr old! 
Kermit power said:
Hoofy said:
Yeah, that's a possibility; depends how much space is taken up by the softplay stuff as some of that might have a weight restriction eg netting and rope bridges designed for under 10s.Certainly when my kids were young enough for Softplay, I never had any concerns going after them (other than "oh f
k, I'm going to get stuck!! ) and, believe it or not, I'm slightly heavier than a 10yr old! Just that one website I checked the other day, they were saying the equipment was strictly limited to under 10s in terms of weight.
Hoofy said:
Oh, right.
Just that one website I checked the other day, they were saying the equipment was strictly limited to under 10s in terms of weight.
Which is utter nonsense, as any parent of a toddler will tell you. They invariably manage to climb up high before running out of talent, start bawling their eyes out and require the parent to climb up and rescue them. Typically via the big slides. What? They're the fastest route down....Just that one website I checked the other day, they were saying the equipment was strictly limited to under 10s in terms of weight.
BigBen said:
Mrs BigBen has recently opened one, it has been going 2 months.
There are some good points made above but the one I would stress is heating a high ceilinged warehous costs loads.
If you are serious you are welcome to come and visit and have a chat, we are just outside Cambridge. So far I wouldn't be making any claims of it being a goldmine and indeed I don't think it would be possible to say until she has 12 months trading under her belt.
Ben
Hi Ben,There are some good points made above but the one I would stress is heating a high ceilinged warehous costs loads.
If you are serious you are welcome to come and visit and have a chat, we are just outside Cambridge. So far I wouldn't be making any claims of it being a goldmine and indeed I don't think it would be possible to say until she has 12 months trading under her belt.
Ben
Have you got anti-stratification fans installed? If not you need to do it - this is what'll be costing you a fortune!
See here: http://www.airius.co.uk
Not affiliated by the way! We use them all the time for our A/C installations.
Rick.
Wills82 said:
I like the idea of a recognised coffee brand,
Do not underestimate just how hard it is to get one of these on board!We work with one of the biggest. They are very protective of their brand identity and reputation and have some very strict criteria regarding where with who they'll do business.
I asked them to look at a newbuild drive-through operation on one of my client's forecourts - the answer was 'we are not looking to expand our portfolio at this time'.
Even getting a takeaway machine is tricky if you don't have the correct brand image for them.
I'll just add this, too - one of the many retail roles I've had over the years saw me overseeing the creche for a large supermarket chain. The one who used Clarkson for their voiceover back in the day. We had a soft play area, games consoles and toys. We needed childcare qualified staff, I recall the creche manager needed a higher level qualification. Child to assistant ratios were heavily controlled. Some of this may or may not apply, as parents are technically 'supervising'. However... the business closed all the creches, as they were costing each store tens of thousands a year to run. And that's with a captive audience and chargeable entry.
Edited by Trabi601 on Monday 16th January 20:05
eltawater said:
Hoofy said:
Oh, right.
Just that one website I checked the other day, they were saying the equipment was strictly limited to under 10s in terms of weight.
Which is utter nonsense, as any parent of a toddler will tell you. They invariably manage to climb up high before running out of talent, start bawling their eyes out and require the parent to climb up and rescue them. Typically via the big slides. What? They're the fastest route down....Just that one website I checked the other day, they were saying the equipment was strictly limited to under 10s in terms of weight.
Fair enough. More scope for evening use. Bondage dens!!RJD223 said:
BigBen said:
Mrs BigBen has recently opened one, it has been going 2 months.
There are some good points made above but the one I would stress is heating a high ceilinged warehous costs loads.
If you are serious you are welcome to come and visit and have a chat, we are just outside Cambridge. So far I wouldn't be making any claims of it being a goldmine and indeed I don't think it would be possible to say until she has 12 months trading under her belt.
Ben
Hi Ben,There are some good points made above but the one I would stress is heating a high ceilinged warehous costs loads.
If you are serious you are welcome to come and visit and have a chat, we are just outside Cambridge. So far I wouldn't be making any claims of it being a goldmine and indeed I don't think it would be possible to say until she has 12 months trading under her belt.
Ben
Have you got anti-stratification fans installed? If not you need to do it - this is what'll be costing you a fortune!
See here: http://www.airius.co.uk
Not affiliated by the way! We use them all the time for our A/C installations.
Rick.
I can tell you are right because it is plenty warm enough on the top level of the frame......
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