Flip Out has given Jon Inwards a spring in his step

Breaking into a new market takes guts. However, when Jon Inwards, director of Flip Out UK, brought the Australian trampoline franchise over to Britain in 2015 he proved that he had the courage required. “No one knew what a trampoline park was,” he says. Fortunately, the British master franchisee was determined to make the brand jump to the top of people’s minds.

Part of his conviction came from the fact that the business stirred something deep inside him. “It’s every kid’s dream,” Inwards says. “At the same time it had street cred and a bit of an urban feel to it.” This was in no small part due to the founder and CEO Brent Grundy who launched Flip Out in 2012. Due to his entrepreneurial flair, the franchise had grown to about 17 locations across Australia by the time Flip Out came onto Inwards’ radar in 2014. “I had never seen a company grow that quickly,” he says. “I just knew that I wanted to get involved with this business, one way or another.”

Both the exceptional growth and the chance to please his inner child played into him joining the franchise. But they weren’t the only reasons. “Everybody loves trampolines,” Inwards says. “It offers so many market opportunities.” And where other trampoline parks often end up feeling very much the same, Grundy had created something truly unique. For instance, he had signed an exclusive contract with a trampoline manufacturer. Not only does this mean that franchisees can quickly set up shop but that they can also rapidly evolve their centres with new equipment. Moreover, it also means that every centre feels like a part of the brand. So even though Inwards could have set up a business of his own or joined another chain, he felt that Flip Out would come out on top. “So I decided to back the winning horse rather than a competitor,” he says.

Having decided to join the business, Inwards set out to learn everything he’d need to bring it to the UK. “I worked in a centre for three months,” he says. Additionally, he closely shadowed Grundy to learn the history of the business and to understand what it would be like to operate a franchise. This training paid special attention the company’s supply chain, how to market the business and areas the franchise would be successful in. “I learned every element of the business in order to make it a great franchise opportunity in the UK,” Inwards says.

But even with this training, it would take some effort to adapt the brand to Britain. “Obviously, there are many differences between Australia and the UK,” says Inwards. For instance, trampoline parks were a reasonably new thing in Britain at the time. As a consequence, it proved to be a bit of a challenge to persuade interested parties that the company would be successful in Blighty. “There really wasn’t a market we could compare it to,” he says. “So we had to look at similar businesses like cinemas, bowling centres and other leisure businesses.”

And while breaking new ground in a market can be a huge advantage, the fact that no one understood the opportunity made finding properties a huge challenge. “Landlords laughed at you,” Inwards says. And given how famously expensive the British housing market is, it’s hardly surprising that it was difficult to source locations to set up Flip Out centres. “It’s comparatively easy to find a commercial property in Australia,” he says. Luckily, thanks to the help of some agents, the company was able to eventually solve this issue.