Let’s Get Social!
News and Notes
Birthdays
Congratulations to Riverside and San Jose on Luv 2 Play birthdays. Both locations over the past month, (Riverside this weekend), have hit awesome milestones in their respective territories. We salute you and wish you a more prosperous 2022. San Jose hit the #1 spot for revenue in April, in just one year, they have become a million dollar business. Hats off!
May 2022
All businesses have cycles. Growing from an idea to opening the doors is one journey. Once you get open, you move through the year in waves. May is typically one of our months after the wave. You can see it in your entries, to your parties. As you map out your fiscal years, use these lulls as indicators to rev up for the next wave. Summer is coming, and with that, kids are out of school.
Lastly, one of the main reasons why I worked so hard to revamp the membership revenue stream can fall directly into this reason. While waves are great, they eventually end. Then what. The membership model is to help keep your ocean as calm as possible. To weather the storms. To know you have revenue coming in the door before you open it. Never lose sight of it.
Inside The Numbers
April 2022 Top 5 Revenue Streams
Parties:
- Dublin: $29,413
- Chino: $25,672
- Metairie: $24,128
- Norterra: $23,238
- Sutton: $22,254
Food/Beverage:
- Appleton: $24,486
- Grande Prairie: $19,752
- Stockton: $17,707
- San Jose: $12,879
- Norterra: $12,773
Entries:
- San Jose: $49,485
- Appleton: $47,119
- Riverside: $38,818
- Stockton: $37,389
- Grande Prairie: $32,279
*Arcade:
- Grande Prairie: $28,613
- Appleton: $15,765
- Sutton: $15,689
- San Jose: $15,303
- Stockton: $14,663
*Partial numbers, please see your own records for complete analysis
*Active Members:
- Norterra: 680
- Surprise: 460
- Sandy: 409
- Appleton: 408
- Chino: 396
*As of April 30, 2022
Our Corporate (Portal) Website is where you can place purchase orders, submit warranty requests, grab “to go” marketing graphics and mingle with your fellow franchisees.
Past Issues of Newsletter are now in the portal. Check them out by clicking the blog tab on the company portal.
Update: Socks are IN! We have the following sizes in stock and ready to ship.
- Toddler
- X-Small
- Small
- Medium
- Large
- X-Large
- XX-Large
Please use the company portal to place your order. In order to expedite these orders, we are requesting orders of 200 per size, which is 1 box per size.
Also, check out our Franchise Blog, it has timely information and updates on training and development. The blog showcases tips and tricks for increasing revenue and buy in.
Please check this regularly, as new content will be posted weekly to assist each of you succeed! Do you have your own tips and tricks? Please submit them and we can use it in a future issue.
Revenue Stream Spotlight
Memberships are a key revenue source that helps maintain a monthly expectation of revenue. As mentioned in the opening of this newsletter, it is a leading indicator of a healthy business.
Norterra continues to push the medal to the pedal. Sandy is not far behind them and Surprise is doing amazing with this. For the few who were grandfathered in, and have yet adopted this model, we can discuss it when I see you at your location this year.
We offer training and ongoing support to keep you riding the wave, instead of taking a fall. And by no means are we waiting to jump any sharks.
From Sophia’s Desk
Last month I sent out an email letting everyone know about the order we were preparing to ship out at the end of April. Unfortunately, shortly after that email China was hit with another COVID lock down that has been ongoing now for several weeks, read more about the shut down here: Shanghai faces mental health crisis as covid lockdown drags on (msn.com).
Sadly, this means that the bulk order of socks will be delayed along with other items that were ordered. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this is causing anyone who may have placed an order with us recently.
New Location Alert
Now on to some lighter and hopefully brighter news! We are super excited to announce a new location we are preparing for in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This location will be corporately operated and spans over 25,000 SF of space. The main playground alone will be approximately 5,000 SF. The location will also feature a kid friendly ninja course. What’s this you ask? Our team has worked hand in hand with our manufacture to come up with a fun design that will allow kids and adults a like to take part in this fun activity. We are thrilled to be able to bring this fun concept to the community of Green Bay!!
Insurance Reminder
Lastly, earlier this year I sent out an update regarding insurance requirements as a reminder to review your current coverage to ensure you are complying with what is outlined in your Franchise Agreement, Ops Manual, and Sublease. Our risk management team at Assured Partners will be reaching out to each of you individually in the coming weeks to request a copy of your current insurance certificates and limits. Please forward to Greg Morrison and/or Daniel Caudill upon their request, and without delay. Please keep in mind they are not attempting to solicit, but merely to review your current limits and provide feedback to you and the Luv 2 Play team. See sample certificate below if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. You can also contact Greg or Daniel to go over any concerns, or questions on your current coverage.
Questions? Email me!
New Waiver Reminder
Please see the link below to update your waiver for entry. All locations will need to use this going forward. Please see yellow highlights, and enter your store information and state accordingly. Our recommendation is to save the document to your local drive, edit it to be specific to your location. If you have any questions, please reach out to the corporate team.
Marketing 101
Partnership marketing is a great way to increase your brand presence and advertising reach. It should also be mutually beneficial for both parties.
In selecting a partner, you want to choose an organization or business with a similar target demographic in which both parties can benefit from the partnership and your customers can also benefit from the partnership.
There are few different ways that you can partner with other businesses such as through an affiliate partnership, distribution partnership, joint product partnership, content marketing partnerships, event sponsorship, and charity partnership.
Affiliate partnerships or content marketing comes in the form of digital marketing with bloggers/influencers or other businesses. Usually, they place a link or banner on their website to your website or provide a discount code of some sort. In return these people receive some form of payment either an in-kind payment like a membership or an agreed upon percentage of the sales. We piloted a program called Luv 2 Share in which we partner with local moms who share our social posts in exchange for free passes, membership, or party. These moms share every post asking friends and family to pass the word along. They also share on group pages on Facebook and NextDoor
Distribution partnership bundles both businesses or organizations products/services allowing them to cross market to each other’s customers this sometimes utilizes coupons or vouchers. Some partners do this with activity passes. They sell passes or cards for multiple places for a fee we provide an offer in exchange for the offer. Here are some partners that may be beneficial for your location:
• Kidpass
If the listed are not currently available in your area do a local search for kid’s activity passes or reach out to one of these partners as they may be expanding to your market soon.
Event Sponsorship or Charity Partnerships can be beneficial as it demonstrates commitment to the community, and it helps reach a larger audience.
Organizations committed to children and families are the perfect partners. Partner with a local non-profit to host a food, clothing, pajama, book, or toy drive for example. Local children’s hospitals, local shelters, reading non-profits or foster families through children services these are just a few examples of organizations that all host events and look for partnerships. Big Brothers, Big Sisters is an example of a national brand that can be a great partnership through offering a special play pack for Bigs to hang out with their Littles.
Joint Product Partnerships are a fabulous way for two businesses to work together. Some great partners for the Luv 2 Play brand are party decoration companies, character companies, cookie/cake businesses, fitness businesses, kids’ therapy, photographers, and local paint people. We have seen some great partnerships with some of our own Luv 2 Play locations and other businesses. Luv 2 Play Metairie has developed a fabulous partnership with a local character company called Pixie Dust- they help host wonderful character events at the location.
Luv 2 Play Chino has partnered with ThinkLocal this is also somewhat of a charity/sponsorship company. This partnership has helped Chino to expand their local community reach while supporting other community partners like schools and teams. Luv 2 Play Surprise has partnered with a cookie company and Paint by Julie to create fun paint days/nights for kids and parents alike. Luv 2 Play Fairfax is partnering with Highest Speak to provide camps at their location. These types of partnerships allow both parties to support each other’s businesses and is a great opportunity for cross-marketing.
We would love to hear more about who you are partnering with and your success stories. If you need support to develop a partnership you are thinking about please reach out we can discuss and develop a plan.
SOCi Reminder
As a reminder we are continuing to build out marketing materials on SOCi. This is a great resource to utilize for scheduling out social posts as we have a ton of graphics readily available, responding to reviews, and managing listings
Set Up a Time to Chat With Christina
As always please reach out if you have any questions or want assistance to build your program of offerings. Schedule a meeting here: https://calendly.com/luv2playmarketing/planning
Brand Colors
SOCI Reminder
You should have received an email with an invite from SOCi and you probably have already begun to see notifications. If you cannot find this email please let me know and I can have it resent. As a reminder it is very important to be responding to reviews and posting to Google often to help increase your SEO. Below are directions for self-guided resources on how to use the platform. You may also schedule a time with me to review if you have questions https://calendly.com/luv2playmarketing/planning.
For more information on SOCI and other marketing programs, email Christina. Use our marketing portal on the corporate website to submit requests. We highly recommend using the company portal for your communication with our marketing department. This will help us give you the tools you need in a way that has accountability on both sides of the coin.
In The Field
Tips and Tricks from the Field!
Here are some tips and tricks, do’s and don’ts from our Party Director, Lacey Meadows. Questions? Please email her at lacey@luv2play.com, we are here to help and assist.
Training and Development Corner
Ongoing Sales and Operation Training Available
Norterra is moving to hard floors in between the play structures. Dublin had some great ideas to refresh their play area. Never stop being an entrepreneur. For this, believe in the E-Myth Philosophy. It is the backbone of how the 8,3 and 1 was born.
An area that I focus on is employee management. How to motivate and keep good employees. Check out the link below for more info how E-Myth helps out!
https://www.emyth.com/inside/how-to-manage-employees
The tried and true method is the 8, 3 and 1!
Each employee, whether they are in the kitchen, the floor or up front, engage!
- Talk to 8 people a day
- Get 3 stories to share with your team
- Remember 1 persons name a day
If your team can consistently do this, you will see increased memberships, online reviews and revenue through your door.
News, News, and News!
You can now suspend memberships in house. We have done a lot of work to help you in getting memberships up and running and help retaining them. Click the link below!
Items we are continuing to work on, include cancellations through our POS site and Docusign membership forms similar to how waivers are handled.
Site Visits
Site visits will be conducted over the summer and into the fall. We typically do these each year. Due to Covid-19, these visits were suspended. The format will follow the same visits we did in 2019. These typically are 1-2 day visits and would prefer to have you present. With that in mind, be on the look out for an upcoming email as we get you scheduled.
With the seasonality of our playgrounds, one of the ways you can set a plan in. For questions, please email me at edward@luv2play.com and I will be happy to elaborate or offer one on one or group training.
Luv 2 Play Monthly Conference Call
Each month we want all Franchisees to take an hour out of their day to discuss the daily operations with us. We go over staffing, pricing, competition and MUCH MUCH more. It’s our way of keeping a pulse of each of you and to better help you succeed in your business. We would LUV to speak with you. The corporate team of Edward, Lacey, Christina and Sophia are eager to help.
To set up a time use the link below 👇👇👇
Did You Know
Your air compressor found in many of our locations requires weekly maintenance. It helps keep it operating at peak performance. There is a valve under the cylinder that lets out excess water that gets trapped in the tank. By spending a few minutes each week draining your tank, this will keep the fluid from entering the valve lines. For more information please reach out to Brandon or myself.