Drew Wilson - President & CFO with ROCKIN’ JUMP®

Drew Wilson is a Graduate of Chico State and an entrepreneur that founded several prior businesses prior to ROCKIN’ JUMP®:  A Custom Kitchen Cabinet Company, Real Estate Investment Company and a Construction Company. At each company Drew has been the driver of smart financial growth, effective business management, and establishing processes and procedures for operational efficiency.

As President & CFO with ROCKIN’ JUMP®, Drew has developed an effective and replicable corporate management structure for each park, budgets for the leasing / build out / operations of each park, and guidelines for assembling the best construction team possible to build and prepare each new park for opening to the public. Today, Drew is focused on the future of ROCKIN’ JUMP:  franchising, new park development, marketing and ensuring each location remains financially viable while providing value oriented family entertainment.

1. Tell us about the ROCKIN’ JUMP concept.
   
   1. Launched in 2010, ROCKIN’ JUMP® is The Ultimate Trampoline Park® and franchise, featuring: A massive main jump arena, a dodge ball arena, foam pits, basketball dunk zone, AeroBall, an X-Beam battle pit and a café with comfortable seating. ROCKIN’ JUMP blends fun with fitness in a Safe. Clean. Fun.™ environment. In fact, we are the only indoor activity arena business we’re aware of with an industry leading & trademarked safety program, which we call JumpSafe®. Our parks are typically “THE” destination for birthday parties – for kids and adults who are young at heart. Birthday parties benefit from private party rooms and a dedicated party host staff member. ROCKIN’ JUMP is based in Pleasanton, CA with 4 corporate locations in the state and 27 franchise locations in development worldwide.


2. How and when did you become involved with ROCKIN’ JUMP?
   1. My wife Sue and I started the business with our friends Marc and Shelly Collopy. The idea came to fruition after Marc and Shelly took their 4 kids to a local trampoline park. The saw how much more fun the experience could have been and realized that, done right, this kind of quality, active entertainment would be in high demand by families in the San Francisco Bay Area. So we decided to create our own brand and approach.


3. What are some of the advantages in being a ROCKIN’ JUMP franchisee?
   1. Our proven operational systems – including our JumpSafe® safety program, cloud based proprietary e-waiver management system which is fully integrated into our online reservations and point of sale system, automated cash management and online employee scheduling platform.
   2. The strong support and true sense of collaboration a franchisee will experience working with us. We also offer one of the most comprehensive training programs in the industry.
   3. We offer great children’s entertainment and fitness for a much broader age group than most family/children focused businesses. The best part is that it’s Fitness Disguised as Fun – kids don’t realize what a great workout they’re getting, but their parents do.
   4. Our focus on Safe.Clean.Fun.® for everyone, which ensures safe play for all guests and gives families a great reason to keep coming back.
   5. Our unique marketing recipe for driving guests to our parks – very grass roots focused and involves giving back a considerable amount of money to local communities.
   6. Our brand – what can I say, kids love the frog. We hand out a lot of small branded items and we find kids wearing them all over town.
   7. Lastly, and most importantly, our Culture. We’ve gone to great lengths to define who we are, how we act internally and toward our guests, and what each guest experience should look like through our positive cultural prism. It’s the essence of what will continue to set us apart from our competition, and a standard we will hold each of our franchisees to. It will be the foundation of their success.


4. Who is your ideal franchisee
   1. Whether it be an individual or a couple or a group of investors, it is ideal (but not required) when the following skill sets are present within the ownership/operating team:
      1. Prior experience running a business (large or small) at a Director/VP/Executive level – big picture thinking
      2. Experience with managing hourly employees
      3. Strong desire to work with kids and families
      4. Affinity for an active lifestyle and encouraging others to do so
      5. Ability to understand a Profit and Loss Statement and Balance Sheet ; basic business financial management skills
      6. Consumer marketing experience
      7. The ability to delegate and build a team that’s empowered to get things done and take ownership of their set of responsibilities


5. Tell us a little about the Trampoline Park Market?
   1. Lately, it’s booming. Parks are opening up throughout the country and the world. Now is the time to get involved, as franchise rights for major metro areas are beginning to be bought up. Most parks are earning great revenues and profits. Most of our competitors’ trampoline parks are very large – like 25,000+ sq. ft. ROCKIN’ JUMP prefers to keep our parks smaller – around 20,000 sq. ft. This creates less overhead and maintenance and ensures the cost to open a park are lower than most of our competitors. We have not had to sacrifice any quality or entertainment options with this size of park.
   2. There have also been some concerns about safety at trampoline parks, and a few states are considering legislation to set standards for safety and operations. As a founding member of the International Association of Trampoline Parks, ROCKIN’ JUMP’s owners have played an important role in setting safety and operational standards for trampoline parks that will likely be used by legislators to set state wide standards. As an industry leader in safety, we are not concerned that potential legislation will impact our business negatively.


6. What are some of the greatest lessons you’ve learned in growing this franchise?
   1. It takes a lot of time, money and paperwork to get registered to sell franchises in each state in the USA
   2. Getting our business model reviewed and pre-approved by the Small Business Administration has helped streamline the process of obtaining bank financing for our franchisees
   3. The importance of investing in our staff and training them appropriately can never be underestimated


7. Do you have a mentor and is there someone you use for inspiration?
   1. I’ve had the privilege of speaking with the owners of a number of large franchises, and they’ve given me invaluable advice on how to grow our company steadily and effectively. The key is investing the time and money up front to be well organized, capitalized and having all of our legal “ducks in a row”, so to speak.


8. What advice do you have for someone looking to acquire a Franchise?
   1. Make sure you have a strong understanding for what a franchisor will do to support you both before and after opening your franchise business.
   2. Talk to their franchisees to ensure they are pleased with their investment and the support they’re receiving from the franchisor.
   3. Just because you don’t have enough money to get into a higher investment level franchise doesn’t mean you can’t get into that franchise. Most higher cost franchises are likely to yield higher annual revenues and net incomes. Find investors and/or partners to share the risk and operating responsibilities if you really love a franchise concept but can’t afford it on your own.


9. In your opinion, why do you think that ROCKIN’ JUMP would be a great opportunity for someone?
   1. We aren’t the biggest, nor do we care if we are. But we are the best at operating safe and effectively run parks, with a great reputation for quality, cleanliness and high customer satisfaction levels.
   2. Our franchisees will get better support from our corporate team than any other franchise in our segment. We provide a dedicated project manager to help every new franchisee get their park open, plus a host of preferred vendors and assistance with finding the right location, negotiating a lease and designing their park.