If you know me, you know I’m a bit of an escape artist. Or at least I try. I love room escapes, escape rooms, escape experiences, “escape the rooms,” whatever you want to call it. As I graded the best escape rooms in Los Angeles this year, I dropped by EscapeIQ–one of downtown L.A’s biggest new escape venues–to speak with owner Spencer Wong escape room business how to start one. EscapeIQ was founded in October 2014 by Wong, an entrepreneur and former employee of Cisco Systems, IBM and CDG.
What I can say is how to use your escape game knowledge
To me it’s simple. escape room business how to start one have become one of the last bastions where a pack of millennials can be in the same room together, and actually enjoy each others company offline without staring into their phones or scrolling through social media. Whatever it takes, even if you just get locked away from your phone for an hour. What you get is not something of Twitter or whatever, it is a immersive experience that is about real life.
Who are your customers?
Young professional mostly employed from 24 to 35 years. They are the ones who get the thrill out of trying something new. Experience seeker types; always searching for new things to do. These are the ones who go to Coachella and Burning Man but people with strict partying. You were likely with a bar and want a group that can do more than trivia night or karaoke. That’s when they come to us.
How did you get into the escape business?
Those games got popular first in Asia before I started living there. Global Account Manager Cisco we did team building at an escape in Hong Kong 3. I was hooked. We did one the following week, followed by another and then another escape room business how to start one In the time that I settled back into L.A. — it was 2013 then, and even back to present day there are much many escape rooms than before. At the time, I believe there were five. I knew it could be a big market, so I just tried. Fast forward a year and a half, and there are about 40 rooms in L.A.
Did this incur a large cash outlay at the outset?
We got lucky with a decent lease in an area of downtown that has not yet fully taken off. We moved in less than 10 years ago when the area was much more industrial, now its thriving. That’s good enough for that kind of escape room business how to start one. It does not need to be in the best most beautiful location. The first dollar costs for getting started in my case were around the ballpark of $100,000. It mostly was savings from some of my past jobs in the last few years. The area was not staffed to capacity, and I am at least close to breakeven. Three rooms we do have but operating two.
How to Get Your Customers?
We do a lot of our marketing and most of it is paid ads on social media. Some of the influencers have come by to check out the space. So we invited some lifestyle bloggers to write about it for you. Kristin Bell tweeted that escape room business how to start one IQ was the most fun she has had in years when she came in for a visit. That was a big boost. We run Google advertisements.
The built-in problem of escape rooms After you do one of those rooms, it is sort of hard to go back because you know all the secrets. For you, how do you get by year after year without repeat customers?
It is less about the competition we have established a business community and more about getting people excited about the escape room business how to start one. If someone calls up and asks what the best rooms are, we tell them, and we know that other venues will do the same by us. If Customers Play One Room In One Place, They Are The Type Of People Who Will Stocks Companies.
The Only Thing You Can Do Is Look For Another. This is why we consider our competitors to be helping one another so long as they’re all working towards this goal together escape room business how to start one. This is a one and done gig so referrals are where we all need to be here.
So where do you send people?
In L.A., we like Countdown. Exit Game. We heard The Basement was very good but perhaps a little too strong and scary for some.
How is the industry adapting to a now-changing landscape with more choice?
You have more to pack into the rooms this time. All the rooms are becoming more theatrical because a lot of the early ones that came out were basically locked boxes with keys and codes. But the high-tech piece is emerging as the centerpiece. You see even more keypads, remote-contol devices (the kind that would open up an automated garage door), the remote-control car we have.
There are mazes of laser, there are projections, LED lights and revolving trap doors. We don’t like being bored as operators either so we always think of new ways to make these rooms thrilling. There should be one thing in each room that you have never witnessed before escape room business how to start one.
What is the most difficult part of the days you run an escape?
The wear and tear. So we constantly have to replace things, as you get a lot of traffic and things wear out very fast. That can get expensive escape room business how to start one. Things disappear, too. We lose an incredible number of keys, batteries for flash lights, and even locks. Things that can be stuffed into a pocket move fast, and people are often otherwise occupied as they try to dig themselves free from whatever situation they’re in. Your spares have to run into bits and pieces escape room business how to start one.
What’s the future of escape?
More locations, more people, all the escape rooms that will now be part of this national franchise. In the next five years, I envision about three to five locations per year. I would love to either do an escape land ten to 15 years down the road. Imagine Disneyland if it was all escape room business how to start one themed around the theme park That would be amazing escape room business how to start one.
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