THE RISE OF THE FAMILY
Entertainment Franchise
Family-friendly franchises help familes enjoy time together away from home. By Christopher Conner
as well as the family unit, have long flour- game environments in just the last five ished in the marketplace. I have been in years or so. Brands like VR Junkies, Virtual t all started around March of 2020. the franchise industry for two decades and X, and Virtual Sting have homed in on Families’ consistently busy schedules have seen this evolution take place before the concept to span generations. Virtual came to a screeching halt thanks to my eyes. Culture places more and more reality may require a larger upfront investthe onset of coronavirus. Children and emphasis on the whole family—which ment, but these have reasonable overhead their parents suddenly found themselves is great—and we are seeing more busi- and an incredible opportunity for revenue under the same roof and within the same ness opportunities because of it! These based on per minute or per hour charges. four walls day after day. At first, it was places serve as anchors for other small uncomfortable, but then, something hap- businesses as an added economic bonus. Escape Together pened: families learned to not only get The global family entertainment market Who doesn’t love a good escape room? along, but to enjoy each other’s company. is expected to reach over $40 million by These businesses have done a fantastic What does this unprecedented priority 2025 according to Allied Market Research, job at taking precautions for groups and shift mean for family entertainment? It and we are seeing this in a variety of dif- sanitizing to keep the environments safe means that the culture has experienced ferent packages. (using sanitizing technology from franan evolution that welcomes the nostalgic chises like Bactronix and Jantize America). mentality of time spent together. Get Your Head in the Game The game levels keep it interesting even It’s not just from this pandemic. Fran- Likened to something from Star Trek, vir- for the youngest player, and they typically chises and businesses focused on the con- tual reality technology has made huge rotate their games for fresh experiences. stantly replenishing consumer. The child, advances in graphics, presentation, and All in Adventures is one such business
I
10 FRANCHISE CONNECT | JUL-AUG 2020
