Children's Leisure Franchise Opportunity with Funky Monkeys

Funky Monkeys

A Tearaway Triumph!

June 11, 2008

Want to become a part of a growing franchise that’s more fun than your first egg and spoon race and just as challenging?

Want to become a part of a growing franchise that’s more fun than your first egg and spoon race and just as challenging? Funky Monkeys, brainchild of entrepreneurial couple Zoe and Nick Hearn, is a newly franchised facility giving children stacks of fun time, and their parents a well-deserved rest. Matt Pigott reports.

Every booming business begins with a good idea: when Zoe and Nick sat down over a cup of weak, tasteless coffee served in flimsy polystyrene cups at their local soft play centre, and watched their young boy Samson trying to have a good time; they knew something had to be done.
Says Zoe: "It’s like going to a top restaurant and being served water and dry crackers when you ordered fresh orange juice and a croissant – you’re either going to say something or you’re going to get up and do something about it."

Fortunately the couple decided to take the latter route. Convinced that parents deserved a better deal, Nick and Zoe began drawing up the blueprint for their first Funky Monkeys children’s activity centre. Now, just eight months after launching as a franchise they have already signed up ten franchisees.

Says Zoe: "The response has been overwhelming. We had hundreds of people coming to our stand at the Olympia franchise exhibition in March, and we’re still vetting some of the people we met."

In fact, Funky Monkeys was so inundated by prospective franchisees after the launch, that the couple were forced to make a tough business decision and pulled out of working in a hands-on capacity at their Warwick branch.

"It’s hard to let go of the reins," admits Zoe, "But we needed to concentrate on the continuing rollout of the franchise. And it’s more important for us to support our new franchisees and help them to build a successful business.

"We know from experience how complicated certain aspects of starting a Funky Monkeys franchise can be – particularly finding suitable premises. With our kind of enterprise, it’s not about simply buying a van and taking to the road.

"Now that we’ve moved away from handling the Warwick branch," she adds, "We’re in a much stronger position to help new franchisees source the right locations. We’ve also employed a specialised consultancy firm to assist us with site finding."

So what sort of people, aside of those with the right level of capital to invest, is Funky Monkeys looking for to expand the network?

"Ultimately, we’re on the lookout for individuals with integrity, enthusiasm and plenty of get-up-and-go, not to mention a belief in our fun-loving philosophy.

Zoe emphasises that if she has ten applicants, all with the required £90,000 to invest in one of her franchises (which typically relates to about £30,000. combined with a bank financing package), then it will be the ones who connect most directly with Funky Monkeys’ business ethos that will be selected first.

"We want people who believe in what we’re doing, love the concept and understand that Funky Monkeys came out of a genuine desire to bring about positive change in a badly serviced area."

The positive changes she’s talking about include: good, healthy food, great coffee, a relaxing environment for parents, a fun educational environment for the children and a strict adherence to health and safety guidelines, plus much more.

"If the business didn’t provide a high level of service for kids and parents, what would be the point in starting it?" says Zoe. "It would only be a matter of time before somebody improved on the format, and took the lead. This is why we want franchisees that tick all of the boxes for us. It’s not easy to do; the right candidates will reap great rewards on a number of levels."

An illustration of Zoe’s passion came into play when she turned down a property developer who wanted to buy into the brand, but was simply looking at things from a financial point of view.

"He wasn’t concerned about the meaning behind the business, only about the money he could make from it. He liked the business model and the projections, but that was where his interest ended. We want people that can put in at least six months of their time to get a Funky Monkeys franchise well off of the ground. After that, of course they can expand or put in a manager. But without the grassroots experience that, say, Nick and I have, they wouldn’t get the most out of it.

"We want franchisees to be at the centre of their business, not peripheral to it, and give good customer service in a safe, clean and appealing environment. These “qualities”, if you like, will quickly slip without franchisees’ hands-on approach in the early stages."

It’s because of the passion of the Hearns', their consummate execution of the Funky Monkeys project plus a well-devised marketing package, that overseas investors are already showing an interest in the procurement of master licenses

Says Zoe: "We were surprised to find that individuals abroad are keen to translate the Funky Monkeys concept into their own country. So far we’ve had exploratory talks with investors in Dubai, Italy and, more recently, Ireland. But we’re keeping our options on these possibilities because, right now, our priority is to get our network established in the UK first and think about the rest of the world later."

In addition to developing the UK network and fostering a smooth rollout, Zoe also believes in the importance of treating Funky Monkeys as a work in progress, constantly sourcing new ideas and revising old ones.

"We’re always looking to develop the franchise further," she says. "Although we know we’ve got a fantastic format, and have had an excellent response from parents who come to relax, read the paper and have a fresh coffee while their children play, we know there’s always room for improvement.

"Nick and I even went travelling around France in summer and treated the journey as a holiday-come-field exercise. We visited a number of facilities similar to Funky Monkeys…it was a good way of getting new ideas. We’re now considering the inclusion of sandpits and water play in the soft play areas among other things."

Funky Monkeys centres already have a number of unique and enjoyable features for the children, with various play zones along with different theme-based activities on rotation. In addition, Zoe and Nick recently trialled a commercial V-Tech pod, an educational computer instalment that teaches maths and reading, and stimulates cognitive processes through intelligent screen-based games. The pods were brought on site for the children to play on at no extra cost to the parents, and they have proved very popular, she says.

Funky Monkeys for you
With a high level of births in the UK at the moment – some 800,000 a year – future projections for a Funky Monkeys franchise look promising, with demand almost certain to outstrip supply in the foreseeable future. Of course, this is great news for franchisees looking to buy into a lucrative business with minimal risk, particularly those people with so-called ‘soft skills’ that readily translate into this marketplace.

Adds Zoe: "We want people who possess a bit of business acumen, but who are also tuned in to the needs of children and their parents. When we tried to find the right kind of service for Samson we were really disappointed, but we didn’t allow it to get us down. It gave us a kind of impetus. We knew we wanted to set a new benchmark in this niche area of the children’s sector. Watching Samson play in a sub-standard place, while we drank a dismal cup of coffee made us realise that there was a great deal of scope for improvement."