Swine Flu outbreak & Soft Play centres...take these precautions

In recent weeks, we have received numerous messages asking if Soft Play centres are safe to attend whilst other parents have simply stated;

"the family will avoid indoor play areas while there is an official public health emergency for the swine flu"

The implications for any small business are significant but in the case of an outbreak, soft play centres are particularly vulnerable because of a parents natural desire to protect their children and the potential for the disease to spread in enclosed environments.

During a recent Workshop, we took the opportunity to interview a supplier with experience of working with the NHS and Schools to protect against Swine Flu and other diseases.

The video and supporting documentation suggests taking these simple precautions:

- Provide wipes capable of killing Swine Flu (and other bugs) at reception for use when entering and leaving the play centre
- Provide tissues throughout the play centre
- Provide bins (preferably with lids) throughout the play centre for disposal of tissues
- Provide wipes and/or foam so that parents and children can clean their hands
- Clean with non-toxic disinfectant in high-contact areas on the soft play equipment
- Reassure parents of the steps you are taking to protect their children by providing signage throughout the play area

Although nobody knows the impact of an outbreak of swine flu, following these steps might help protect your soft play area or reassure parents that are staying away, "just in case".

Thank you to Mike Phillis of Whitewater Environment Protection and Harry Stephens of PlaySpace Bristol for their help in recording this video / providing this information.

Shareandcompareplay.com is the Indoor Soft Play Comparison website.
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How to start an indoor play centre (Business Planning)

This is the second episode of the "Entrepreneurs in Play" series interviewing Wendy Attwood of Parents Paradise, the topic is business planning for soft play areas (see episode one here http://tinyurl.com/ofj2az).

More videos have been recorded and will be shared soon, we hope you find it useful.

Shareandcompareplay.com is the Indoor Soft Play Comparison website. You can subscribe and unsubscribe to e-mails with special offers and information releases by e-mailing us at contact@shareandcompareplay.com

"How to choose a soft play equipment supplier"...Save £10,000's

Shareandcompareplay.com was established to provide a free-to-use website where everyone involved in the play industry could come together and share information and experiences so that together we could create the best possible play experience for families.

Whilst we aim to produce content of value, we also encourage everyone else to share their content and opinions using our website; the fundamental belief is that the more people that participate, the stronger the industry we have to share with future generations.

In terms of valuable information, we thought we would start by discussing the most significant (and risky) expense when starting a Soft Play area, the Soft Play Equipment. It is for these reasons that the first of many "How to..." guides focusses on how to choose a Soft Play supplier.

This document is available now at http://tinyurl.com/ow9q3q and we will soon be publishing it in a downloadable format (if you cannot wait then drop us an e-mail and we will send it to you).

If you review this guide and utilise the information in the right way, you could save significant time and money; please let us know what you think as we will continually update this document.

We would like to say thank you to the following play operators who reviewed our later Drafts and shared their experience to ensure it was a useful and accurate document;

• Ian Kearney: Cheeky Monkeys, Bamber Bridge http://www.cheekymonkeys.biz
  
• Russell Gardner: Fun 4 All, Macclesfield and Chester http://www.fun4all.co.uk
  
• Lyn Presence: Parents Paradise, Bushey http://www.parentsparadise.eu/

Shareandcompareplay.com is the Indoor Soft Play Comparison website. You can subscribe and unsubscribe to e-mails with special offers and information releases by e-mailing us at contact@shareandcompareplay.com

Soft Play suppliers and embracing transparency

Over the coming weeks, more and more suppliers will be appearing on www.shareandcompareplay.com to provide our users, with useful, transparent and relevant information to help them make better informed decisions in the world of Indoor Play.

Part of my job is too try and ensure that these suppliers utilise all the services on the site to help improve the services they can offer and to educate our users, but also to encourage them to look at their overall business to try and get them to embrace the notion of transparency and giving information away for free

I recently received this newsletter from VEQTOR, a supplier currently appearing on our website. I decided to share it with you to show how certain suppliers do understand the value of keeping in touch with their customers, are open to constructive feedback and are prepared to share information for free.

This particular newsletter was sent to around 5000 prospective or existing customers and as you will see, it guides the reader through to www.shareandcompareplay.com where they can review this particular supplier and find information on VEQTOR's competitors.

This is just one of a number of recent examples I have seen, where some suppliers to the Soft Play market are opening themselves up in the knowledge that it will help to improve their products and services, and in the long run, the industry as a whole. Here's hoping the message will eventually get through to the majority!


Tue, 28-Apr-2009

Dear Sara,
Happy No Pants Day! No, we’re not making it up. People really do mark this day, across the globe, in a bid to flaunt societal convention - or just as an excuse to go pantless!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Pants_Day

So, if you’re feeling a little adventurous, take a look at one of the most innovative and forward-thinking companies supplying today’s leisure industry.

VEQTOR’s latest range of projectile launchers and air cannons could be just the thing to promote your leisure attraction in the holiday season that fast follows this May Day.

http://www.veqtor.co.uk/1362/59541/p18/Air_Cannons_and_Targets.html

Note: Sale of Air Cannons restricted in USA and Canada to comply with patents which apply in those countries. Please contact us to discuss what we can do for you in these locations.

If Air Cannons aren’t your thing, take a look at our other shooting gallery options to raise your attendance and your income

http://www.veqtor.co.uk/1362/59541/p173/FRIZBUZZ_Shooting_Gallery.html

Just email us or call +44 1428 685660 (USA Tollfree: 1-888-801-4429) and talk with one of the team.

For more information about the Play industry take a look at this recently-launched website where you can read about VEQTOR as well as other companies’ Play offerings

http://www.shareandcompareplay.com/dotnetnuke/Compare/PlayEquipmentSuppliers.aspx

Note: If you do wish to partake in No Pants Day celebrations, please take care not to scare children and dogs. Kilts are acceptable.

If you do not see this until after the Holiday Weekend, you can still celebrate! Monday is officially Star Wars day - May the fourth (be with you).

Cordially and with great respect,

VEQTOR Sales Team

The play inspector calls.....part 7

I’ve certainly spread myself around the UK since my last blog! Two jobs in Scotland followed by yet another early morning flight across the Irish Sea and finally a trip down the motorway to Essex. Fortunately I have a number of days in between each job both to stay on top of report writing and to catch up on some much needed relaxation. How do I relax? Well a wonderful wife helps and then there is jazz! Being the Chairman of Stafford Jazz Society I organise around 35 live concerts a year as well as acting as MC. This music ought to be available on the NHS it’s certainly got me through some difficult times!

Friday: To Scotland and to a very large new Play Centre. I decide to let the train take the strain for this one. Glasgow bound I settle down to a Sudoku puzzle – well it keeps the brain active! Glasgow Central then to Glasgow Queen Street, a brisk walk between the two and I am soon on my way to Falkirk. Quite the largest toddler play frame that I have seen for a very long time and the junior frame is huge too with a large Go-Kart circuit adjacent. I do admire operators who take on a business of this size. It demands both vision and a degree of bravery especially in these very uncertain financial times. They deserve to succeed.

Monday: Off up the M6 to Border country just beyond Carlisle. I enjoy this journey north once the green rolling hills and mountains of the Lake District surround me. Then there is my favourite Motorway Service Station at Tebay to savour. A Cumberland sausage? Why not! Destination - an attractive new site in a small border town and a Play Centre with a very agricultural theme to it. A good mix of traditional soft play features and others presenting more adventurous challenges, including a climbing wall! These have been installed in a growing number of play centres in more recent years but I have had little feedback on how popular they are.

Wednesday: Another 4 o’clock rise for the early morning flight to Northern Ireland. This time it’s Manchester to Belfast International and then a hire car to Carrickfergus. I really like driving in Ireland. The countryside is delightful and the roads are generally much more relaxed than over here. Hardly ever see a speed camera not that I am a fast driver. This job is at a newly refurbished Leisure Centre. I’ve had quite a number of these recently, must be some money to spend in local government. Quite a large three-tiered play frame and part of it designated for disco dancing! That’s a first!

Friday: A long car drive to Essex. Veronica joins me. It’s good to have her company in the car. An interesting annual inspection - the original owner was Italian and there is green, white and red prominent everywhere. The three-lane slide closely resembles a long flowing Italian flag and you will by now have guessed the colours of the balls in the ball-pool. Pizzas and garlic bread are on sale. How to have a wide circle of friends! Catch up with me next week.

Nick Balmforth is an inspector of Soft Play areas and is renowned for his expertise and knowledge of creating and operating safe Indoor Play areas. This blog is an excerpt of his diary which he shares with the Shareandcompareplay.com community in the hope that regular communication and insight will benefit the industry and raise standards.

Soft Play Centres: Controlling your Costs

Video of Richard Tyler, Enterprise Editor of the Daily Telegraph titled "Reducing Costs during a Recession"

In the second part of my series looking at some basic principles to help Soft Play Centre’s prosper in these tough times, let’s consider the costs associated with the business and some simple guidelines to help keep control of them http://tinyurl.com/qtdu68.

If your costs are not under control, you will spend your days treading water as an Indoor Play Centre operator. The more revenue you generate, the greater your costs, keeping your profit margins at the same level and hence becoming very busy but seeing little rewards for that extra effort.

Principle No 2: Control your Costs

1. Keep large costs in-line with your turnover – When considering the major costs associated with your Soft Play Area; rent, staff costs, loan repayments etc, it is imperative to apportion each of these as a percentage of the turnover you generate. An Indoor Play Centre in Blackburn have a strict policy of never allowing staff costs to escalate above 20% of turnover. This means some tough decisions have to be made during slow periods, but ensures the right profit margins are achieved every month and the business can prosper. Flexible employment contracts are advisable to give you the opportunity to tailor staff rotas to your needs http://tinyurl.com/rxx3e4.

2. Consider every cost, no matter how small – Don’t assume that small costs aren’t that important when running a Soft Play Centre. This is the attitude I adopted when opening my Indoor Play Centre, particularly in respect of my party food. We initially worked with the local McDonalds restaurant to supply our party food. After operating for about a year, it became apparent that, not only were the kids leaving most of the food, I was wasting 75p on every meal served. Within a month we changed our offering to food that we could prepare on site for half the price, resulting in each party generating at least an additional £10 on to my bottom line. Analyse every single cost associated with your business, no matter how small, as every saving you can make will positively impact your profit. A simple rule of thumb; for every £1 you spend, you have to earn £10 in revenue so think carefully before spending.

3. Don’t be afraid to re-negotiate – You will no doubt be tied in to long term agreements in regard to rent and loan repayments. Every Soft Play Centre has such agreements, and any saving you can make on these items, will have a significant effect on your business. In the current climate, landlords and banks may be more accommodating if you approach them to change the payment plans on such agreements (and the earlier the better). An Indoor Play Centre in Longford, Ireland, has recently re-negotiated their rent with their landlord, and in the process literally saved thousands on their annual costs.

My next blog in this series will look at marketing and how Soft Play Centre’s can target the right audience and utilize free applications on offer.

Inspiration for (Soft Play) Entrepreneurs

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

Like all Entrepreneurs, people starting soft play centres have the odds stacked against them.

However, Entrepreneurs like any small group of committed people can change industries and add significant value, whatever the economic circumstance; this video is worth a few minutes of your time if you are thinking of starting a soft play centre.

Shareandcompareplay.com is the Indoor Soft Play Comparison website. You can subscribe and unsubscribe to e-mails with special offers and information releases by e-mailing us at contact@shareandcompareplay.com

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant” / “Radical Transparency” for Soft Play

If “hope is the best of things” then perhaps fear is the saddest, the most desperate and the most likely to result in actions that lead to decay.

Inevitably, fear results in attachment to the status quo rather than a willingness to embrace what is new, fresh, challenging but ultimately more rewarding; this is the same for individuals, organisations and industries.

Although we use the Internet everyday, I am not sure any of us comprehend the degree to which it changes everything. Organisations are generally woefully ill-prepared for change enabled at lightening speed, they fail to realise that decisions based on fear will result in organisations and whole industries becoming irrelevant.

“Radical transparency” http://tinyurl.com/2eu2f5 is one such reality and it is changing the way that markets operate and decisions are made; take a minute to look at http://www.yelp.com, amazon.com (http://tinyurl.com/9j87t8) and http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk; why should soft play be any different?

Staggeringly, even witnessing the continuing decline of the soft play market (study the financial statements of indoor play suppliers and it has nothing to do with the credit crunch), some organisations continue to cling to the status quo and are afraid to embrace the transparency and opportunities provided by Shareandcompareplay.com.

During our recent workshop outlining the impact of the “Social Web” on the Soft Play industry, after five minutes one of our guests (the Manager of the Soft Play centre) stated it best, “we have lost all control of what is said about us”. Once we all accept that is the case, we can begin to work on how we can adapt and benefit from the chaos.

Perhaps for people or organisations of a certain mindset, this loss of control is impossible to take and difficult to grasp; unfortunately this is the case with some suppliers of soft play equipment.

For example; in the last few months, we have invited indoor soft play suppliers and their trade body, the Association of Play Industries (http://tinyurl.com/ded7rt) to participate in our website.

In its own words, “The Association of Play Industries (API) is the lead trade body in the play sector; with over 70 members it represents the interests of manufacturers, installers, designers and distributors of both outdoor and indoor play equipment and safer surfacing.

Working together through the various steering groups and committees, members separate themselves from commercial interests for the good of the industry, customer and suppliers.”

Shareandcompareplay.com aims to take a holistic approach involving play suppliers, trade associations, soft play operators, children and families to form a collaborative play focussed community to enable growth and innovation; as such, we hoped to share a common purpose with the API and find productive ways to work together.

Unfortunately, we recently heard that some member companies of the API (we should emphasise here that this relates only to the Indoor Play division and that the Outdoor division has made progress on some important issues) encouraged the Association to boycott http://www.shareandcompareplay.com.

This seemed a little dramatic and so we contacted an API representative and it was confirmed that a few larger suppliers (we decided to withhold their names for now) had suggested the website was not a positive thing for Members and so the API decided not to participate.

Apparently, the justification for this action related to questions regarding the independence of the website and the honesty of the reviews.

If this is the case, not only is this decision based on fear and false, biased and misleading information; it would seem to directly contradict with their mission to “separate themselves from commercial interests for the good of the industry, customer and suppliers."

Unfortunately, we were never given the opportunity to prove our independence or to demonstrate the current and future steps we take to ensure that reviews are genuine.

This decision does not impact us greatly because of the range of suppliers we list and the markets we will soon be covering. However, it is disappointing and potentially damaging to the future of indoor play because the larger the number of participants in a community, the great the potential for change and innovation.

Our response is to continue to list more suppliers (new companies are forming to take advantage of our platform), to provide more information for free and to review more sectors of the play industry (more information in the next few days). In time, as with every other market, the voice of reviewers will speak loudest and they will help decide which suppliers prosper and which continue to decline.

Thankfully, the Internet not only enables me to post this blog to a significant number of readers, it also allows new networks and partnerships to be established without the need for top-down approval or the involvement of established organisations interested in preserving the status quo.

Each individual, organisation or company has a choice whether to participate with Shareandcompareplay.com, a trade body or a boycott; surely our choices should be based on what is best for our industry and its customers because then we will all benefit.

I can personally assure you that the decisions of Share & Compare Play are based on helping re-build the indoor play industry by focussing on providing the best play experience for children, to do otherwise is exactly the kind of distraction that leads to the manifestation of all our fears and the decline of a potentially great industry.

In the coming days and weeks, we will continue to outline our plans to radically change the play market and ensure that the next generation of play centres reflect the needs of today’s families and children.

Thank you to people that care enough about the future of play to get involved; an open invitation remains for any individual or organisation that wants work with us in any way to deliver a play market that reflects our collective best hopes.

Having said all of this, we are beginning to witness ‘green shoots’ of recovery http://tinyurl.com/cdlbrn; perhaps first we need a little more sunlight!