Opened a park as the pandemic began and recouped it in eight months

About the partner

Vadim is an entrepreneur with a business in dentistry and online sales of medical equipment. He believed in the idea even though launching was frightening: covid restrictions had just begun and shopping centres had no footfall at all.

WARPOINT is a great product not only for children and birthdays but for adults too: the product has to be developed from every side.

Vadim, partner in Naberezhnye Chelny

How the launch went

Vadim opened a VR park in Naberezhnye Chelny in 2020, at the start of the lockdown. There were plenty of fears and doubts about whether the business would pay off at all: at that moment shopping centres had no traffic whatsoever.

To understand the product himself, Vadim travelled to a neighbouring city to play WARPOINT — and he believed in the game. The first location paid for itself in eight months, and a year later he opened a second VR park with a double VR arena in his own city of 600,000 people.

Back to the beginning. The refurbishment of the first venue started during covid: the shopping centre had no visitors and the work went comfortably enough. Not everything went to plan, though — the contractor missed the deadlines, and a new crew had to be found in a hurry to do the job properly and on time.

During the launch of the first and second parks the management company helped set up the sales processes so that revenue became predictable and steady. The WARPOINT team is always in touch: they configured the technical side and explained the fine points of a sales manager's work.

I calculated the return on investment, got 110 %, and saw that WARPOINT is a place worth putting money into.

Vadim, partner in Naberezhnye Chelny

Strengths and the fine points of running a park

In the first months the owner has to put in a lot of effort and stay deeply involved: the park is only starting up, and sitting it out remotely will not work. Vadim focused on local PR and on finding staff to build an effective team.

Vadim belongs to several business communities in the city where he talks about his venture. In the early months he ran a tournament for dentists and gathered 17 teams: the park's staff put every process to the test and went through all the difficulties of running tournaments. After that Vadim gathered another 15 teams of entrepreneurs and held a second tournament. That is how his first revenue took shape.

We thought the opening would be calm, but this was our first experience of opening a franchise business. We hired a manager and he turned out to be a slacker. We needed to record tasks in some kind of system to track them. We hired a different manager.

Vadim, partner in Naberezhnye Chelny

Different positions got different incentive schemes: staff are motivated to raise the average check rather than simply work a shift. Everyone has their own key indicators. Vadim rewards people not only with money — the employee of the month can choose a gift.

The partner's best practices

Vadim shared his experience, and we put together a list of practices that will help you grow your VR park.

• Adopt the franchise's business processes. The management company has run more than 200 locations, and that experience is worth taking — then payback will not keep you waiting.
• Set up the search for a team. Use recruitment services to pick an effective team and work with staff systematically.
• Talk about WARPOINT everywhere: at every possible event, in every possible community.
• Draw up a local PR plan: publications in regional media, attending events and making the city maximally aware of your business.
• Take part in the WARPOINT conference. There partners talk to the management company's team: at the conference Vadim drew up a list of tasks for the months ahead.
• Stay in touch with your partner manager. They know what other locations have tried and can suggest tools that have already been tested — you can estimate in advance how they will work for you.
• Bring in your own tools. Vadim introduced a CRM system he had used before and, in a familiar environment, set up tasks for staff at every level. He built his own onboarding system by combining his HR experience with the management company's recommendations and the knowledge base of the online academy for partners.
• Develop the product from every side. WARPOINT is a great product not only for children and birthdays but for adults too.