How to Start an Indoor Bounce Business
Most bounce house businesses are seasonal, because outdoor birthday parties and picnics tend to happen when the weather is warm. If you want to operate an inflatable business all year round, you might consider starting an indoor bounce business instead of delivering bounce houses to customers. There are several things to consider before starting an indoor bounce business, from your location to the equipment needed, to safety and insurance requirements.
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Things You'll Need
- Large building or warehouse space
- Sandbags
- Duct tape
- Extension cords
- Insurance
- Tables and chairs
Instructions
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Find a suitable location for your indoor bounce business. You need a space large enough to accommodate multiple bounce houses and inflatable slides both width and height. Since a large portion of your customer base is likely to come from children's birthday parties, also make sure your building can accommodate one or two private party rooms with tables.
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Buy bounce houses, inflatable slides, and inflatable obstacle courses. Bounce houses range from $1,000 to several thousand dollars each, so you'll need a large initial investment to open your indoor bounce business. If money is an issue, you could start small by renting one or two bounce houses to parties on the weekends and use your profits to open the indoor bounce center.
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Check with your state regarding necessary business licenses and insurance coverage for indoor bounce businesses. Every state will have slightly different requirements, and it's necessary for the success of your business and safety of your customers that you follow all requirements.
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Purchase insurance. You will need general liability insurance to cover potential injuries and accidents. You may also consider general business insurance to cover the tangible property of your business, since that is not covered by liability insurance.
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Set up your indoor bounce center. You will need to secure each of your bounce houses with sandbags since you won't be able to stake them into the floor the way you would outdoors. All inflatables in use must be secured at all times to prevent injuries. Set up the cash register area and party rooms.
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Tape all extension cords to the floor. If you use duct tape to secure the extension cords to the floor, you can prevent people from tripping when walking (or running, as the case may be!) from one bounce house to another.
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Hire employees. You will need someone to greet guests as they arrive and to take payment from customers. You will need several employees who maintain safety in and around the bounce houses and perhaps an employee to assist with private parties.
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Hang your "Open for business" sign! Advertise your business with fliers, newspaper ads,websites and other means. Your best advertisement will come from word-of-mouth as customers begin visiting your indoor bounce house, so make sure everyone has a good time and your business will grow.
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Tips & Warnings
You can increase profits by having both the indoor bounce business and outside party rentals. For people who would prefer having the bounce houses at their own events, consider renting them out.
If you don't want to provide food in your indoor bounce business, you can allow birthday party customers to bring their own cake and drinks. Just provide cups and napkins and goody bags for each child as part of your party accommodations.
Monitor the use of bounce houses to ensure customers are safe. Try to keep the same age customers together to avoid larger kids bouncing into smaller kids.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit young boys climbing inflatable bouncy image by Bo Widerberg from Fotolia.com
