Perkins Law extends a warm franchising welcome to Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park, which just opened its first Richmond-area location at 1340 Cambria Way in Chesterfield County earlier this month. Sky Zone has been franchising since 2004 and has nearly 50 franchised locations across the U.S. and Canada. Owners of the local franchise are Will and Luke Phillips.
The concept seems to be gaining popularity, and the closest competition (Jumpology) is located on the other side of town, so I wish the new franchisee much success…although the personal injury liability risk would be something that would keep me up at night.
From the perspective of a prospective franchisee researching franchise opportunities, there are many factors consider, but a few things I like to see are: (i) a simple business concept that is easy to replicate, (ii) a franchisor with at least a few years of franchising experience under its belt, and (iii) a steadily growing number of franchisees in the system.
In 2014, look for regular profiles and updates from Perkins Law (through its soon-to-debut RVAbizlaw blog) on new entrants to the local franchising scene as well as summaries of SCC administrative actions and orders against franchisors who have run afoul of Virginia franchise laws and regulations in some fashion.