Fun Spot, a leader in designing indoor multi-activity leisure centres, offers a full range of options, from trampolines to ninja courses, fun and colourful Clip ‘n Climb Challenges, and interactive attractions.
The company is the sister company of Clip ‘n Climb.
With the sportainment industry rising in popularity and demand, opening a dedicated EMEA sales organisation was a logical next step, allowing the company’s regional experts to provide support to its clients more efficiently.
“We can have a more hands-on approach and react to the needs of our customers more quickly,” says Gina Mackay, Fun Spot architectural project manager. “The launch of Fun Spot EMEA will speed up communication time, improve production time and reduce costs, making us more competitive in the market.”
This move is not an unexpected one for the company, which has made a habit of taking the industry to the next level, ever since it opened its doors nearly 50 years ago.
Industry leader and pioneer
Fun Spot’s humble beginnings trace back to the 1970s, in a small shop in Hartwell, Georgia, USA, where it manufactured the first backyard trampoline equipment in America.
In 2006, the company again became a pioneer in the industry when it designed, manufactured and opened the first Sky Zone® trampoline park and in keeping with this trend, Fun Spot has been the world leader in trampoline design and manufacturing ever since.
In 2018, Fun Spot again expanded its offer by joining the Abéo Group, allowing the company to provide a broad range of adventure solutions internationally, among them, the popular Clip ‘n Climb Challenges.
“As part of the Abéo Group, we have the unique ability to bring multifaceted sales and support to customers with a world-class portfolio of products and services,” says Bill Wild, Fun Spot CEO.
Active Entertainment Solutions
With nearly 50 years’ experience, Fun Spot is a titan of the sportainment industry, having delivered custom-designed turnkey solutions for more than 800 facilities around the world – with 250 projects completed in EMEA alone, including Clip ‘n Climb projects.
“The company has had an international presence for many years, designing and building parks in over 50 countries,” says Wild. “Many of the components are built in markets such as Great Britain and Europe.”
Fun Spot was also a founding member of the IATP – the International Association of Trampoline Parks – in 2012, and helped establish the ASTM safety manufacturing standards, so it’s no surprise that the company cares so much about quality, innovation and safety.
“These are the three key components of our company,” says Wild. “As the developer of the original trampoline parks and having been there during the birth of the industry, we’ve been the leader in innovation. We’ve honed the quality of our product and we make safety a major priority.”
One of the keys to their success? A customer-driven approach. Fun Spot prides itself on providing 360-degree support, working with customers from project design to the day they open their doors, which gives this innovative company an interesting profile for investors and operators alike.
“Customers choose us for a quick ROI because of the quality,” says MacKay. “Maintenance is a big factor when you have things such as trampolines and fun climbing. We know that what we install is going to last for a very long time.”
Fun Spot looks to the future
With the current health crisis, activity centres have been hit hard.
“This has had a major impact on our industry,” says Wild. “It’s put facilities out of business or made their operations very difficult. We do see, however, that there is still an overwhelming demand from families who want to keep active. People want to enjoy family birthday parties and socialise with other like-minded people.”
In the attractions industry, bringing families together while encouraging an active lifestyle is what sportainment is all about, and this continued demand is what keeps Fun Spot innovating and expanding its businesses globally, partnering with other quality companies – such as sister company, Clip ‘n Climb, and other companies within the Abéo Group.
“It’s vital that cleaning protocols get implemented and innovative products are developed to ensure the quality of these environments,” says Wild. “The guest’s health and wellbeing are key.
“We see this as an area of growth, as companies pivot to offer cleaning services and products. That’s part of our package – offering these services to help operators keep their facilities hygienic,” he says.
The company is maintaining its pioneering efforts according to Wild, and currently working in an exclusive partnership with SUMBA to co-develop a risk management and training tool to streamline risk management, equipment maintenance, cleaning and training into one cost-effective platform.
In looking at the future, Wild has a positive outlook, saying: “I believe the future of the industry is strong. Indeed, we – as industry professionals – believe people want to be active. In essence, we truly believe in the power of activity, play and sport to make people happy and to drive ROI.”
