What do you actually need to open an indoor playground or play space in your community? Before you think about creating activity plans, hiring staff, and purchasing materials, you need a business plan, budget, and so much more to get your business off the ground successfully. 

In addition, it’s important to ensure that you are meeting the legal requirements for your state, city, and county. These vary, so look up exactly what is needed in the location that you wish to open your indoor playground.

Indoor playground business plan

Writing a business plan should be the first step when you want to open any new business, including an indoor playground. When you write a business plan, you clearly state your goals, decisions about your business, and research. Plus, if you are looking to apply for funding assistance (small business loans or grants), they often require a business plan as part of the application.

Business plan template

• Executive summary: The first, and most important, piece of your business plan is the executive summary. As the name suggests, it summarizes your plan and it is often what grant and loan readers use to decide whether to keep reading. The executive summary outlines the problem you are trying to solve and your proposed solutions. A brief description of who you are and the necessary financial information about your business should also be included in the executive summary.
• Description of your business: What are the services you’re offering at your indoor playground? Will you be teaching classes, opening up the space to partner providers, offering open play, or something else? Will you have after school classes and summer camps? In addition to what you will do and provide, make sure to include information about how you are planning to operate as well. What state are you in? Are you an LLC or a non-profit? Give your readers a detailed explanation of who you are.
• Market analysis: In this section, outline your target audience and how you’ll deliver your services to them. What age groups will your indoor playground service? What types of activities will you offer? In addition, take a look at what your competitors are doing to get a sense of the market.
• Your team: Whether you’re a mighty team of one or a room full of wonderful staff, it’s important to talk about the team making your business come to life. Who is in charge of what roles and responsibilities? Why are they right for those positions? What are their credentials?‍
• Financial plan: This section should be a detailed overview of all of your finances. If you are just starting out, include your budget, projected profit, overhead costs, and any other financial information. A precise section of your financial plans will help you forecast your growth.

Use our guide for more support on creating your business plan.

Business budget and investment

In order to run a successful business, you need a budget. You can stay on track with your business goals and objectives by using a budget. That way, you can ensure you are doing what you need to not only maintain your day-to-day operations, but also scale and grow when ready.

What to include in a business budget?

• Income sources: How much money are you planning to bring in (projected income) or currently bringing in (income)? Make sure you take into account all of your revenue sources. For example, if you have a revenue share with partner providers, if you sell food or drink, or if you offer gift cards. If you tend to see seasonal trends in sales, make sure to take these into account for the respective months.
• Fixed costs: Once you know how much money is projected to come in (or is already coming in), you can begin to determine how much you can afford to spend. Start with fixed costs, which stay the same each month. Rent, utilities for your business like Internet, insurance, employee salaries, and platform subscriptions are examples of fixed costs. 
• Variable costs: On the other hand, variable costs change each month. This makes them slightly trickier to budget, but it is important to try. In strong months, you can spend more on them and in lighter months, you likely need to cut back. Commission on item sales, holiday gifts for employees, travel, or consumption-based utilities like gas and electricity, and shipping costs are examples of variable costs. Keeping track of variable costs can help you determine seasonal averages so you can budget more accurately moving forward.‍
• One-time costs: If you have any planned one-time costs, like buying a new computer or a large piece of equipment that you need for the space, then you can include that in this section. Otherwise, consider this section acts as a buffer to protect your business from large, unexpected costs. This helps keep you prepared for broken equipment, damage to your space, slow months because of a global pandemic, or something similar.

Review our guide for more information and guidance on building your business budget.

Indoor playground license

There are a few different licenses that are needed to open an indoor playground. Beyond these, of course it is also necessary to regularly adhere to tax laws and other regulations.

• Company registration: Your company has to be registered as a legal entity before you can open your indoor playground. A small business is usually registered as an LLC while larger businesses and franchises are usually C Corps. 
• Employee Identification Number (EIN): All businesses are issued an EIN from the IRS after they register.
• Certificate of Occupancy (CO): Once you have acquired the space for your indoor playground, you will need to ensure it passes inspection and receives a CO from your local government.‍
• Doing Business As (DBA). A DBA license allows you to use a different name than the one you registered as your LLC. Sometimes businesses choose to do this to include more information in their public name. For example, their LLC can be “Play Gym LLC” and their DBA name can be “Play Gym & Cafe.”

Indoor playground safety requirements

Safety is the most important part of successfully opening and running an indoor playground or play space business. Parents want to be sure that their child will be safe in your facility. ASTM International is a globally recognized leader in the development and delivery of voluntary consensus standards. They developed the ASTM F1918-12, which is the first safety standard that was made specifically for indoor playgrounds. When purchasing equipment, make sure it is tested and certified to the standards set by the ASTM F1918-12.

In addition, establishing safety rules for within your indoor playground is a good way to keep children safe.

Examples of indoor playground safety rules

• Proper footwear should be worn at all times (different surfaces might require different types of footwear or no shoes at all, so be specific in each area of your playground).
• Children must be supervised at all times (either by a parent/guardian or an instructor if it is a class).
• No food or beverages in the playground area.
• No pushing, running, hitting, or throwing things. 
• Age specific rules based on equipment regulations and safety measures.
• Use the equipment as it is intended (for example: do not climb up slides, do not double up on the rock wall, etc)

Registration and management software

Even though software is an added cost at the start of your business journey, it is worth it.  Using a class registration and management software like Sawyer can help your business get started on the right foot.

Rather than manually accepting bookings over the phone or via email, class registration and management software like Sawyer lets you take bookings 24/7 so you never miss a sale. Plus, software helps you make schedules easily, keep track of important student information, seamlessly take payments, and analyze financial reports.