Competitive Socialising Builds - Top 3 considerations

The Competitive Socialising market seems to have exploded over the past 5+yrs. The leisure industry in general has reinvented itself numerous times in my (fairly extensive) experience as an end-user! It used to be a few beers in the pub playing pool, followed by a club and a kebab. This progressed into much livelier venues, DJs warming you up for the rest of the night with clubs going on until the early hours of the next day. Then, casual dining became a popular choice as an alternative to the pub.

Competitive socialising has obviously always been around from snooker halls and video arcades to darts and bowling alleys - just to name a few. These places offered entertainment for all generations, but recently some incredible, imaginative venues and ideas have been opened. They concentrate predominantly on competing with friends and family while enjoying no-fuss drink and food offerings.

We at Socius Projects are very fortunate to have been engaged by several clients with new ideas looking for a Project Management and Quantity Surveying company to support them in literally making their dreams become a reality.

During my time managing these types of projects I would say the top 3 challenges for any new concept breaking into this market is;

• Raising the interest and investment.
• Selecting the right venue in the right location.
• Understanding the end product early.

The first venue is always challenging and has to be done as economically as possible.  A fine balance is required between Capital expenditures (CapEx) and producing something as close to your goal as possible to prove it works and pique the interest of investors.

Location is key. Are you offering a destination type venue or one that relies on footfall (or both)? This will determine where you should set up shop.  The venue must also work practically. Aside from general access, utility requirements such as sufficient power, water, gas, whether or not it relies on fibre or a dedicated leased line, HVAC and the possibility of including kitchen extract are incredibly important. How much you need to invest in order to tick these boxes will have a huge bearing on the feasibility of the project.

The initial idea of venue operations rarely matches up to reality on your first site.  Practical and financial challenges can have a big impact on whether or not a design will work, so finding this out early in a particular site will save a fortune down the line.  Once the project hits site, the clock is running and the budget is set, so any changes to the design will cost you on both time and bottom line. This is why it is so important that any queries are answered and addressed before this happens.

Once the premises deal is done you want to open as soon as possible, but proceeding with a full design and little understanding of what the costs are will ultimately cost you more in re-design, slow you down considerably, and frustrate your designer!

This is where we come in.  Engaging Socius Projects early in your journey, whether you are brand new with big ideas or an experienced operator who wants to improve their pipeline efficiency, we can help. Let's connect and get talking.