Jeff Platt was in the middle of developing a team sport involving trampolines in Las Vegas, a city with a reputation for gambling.
During the development phase of the sport, kids who were going to a skating center next door asked if they could bounce on the trampolines.
They were allowed to do that, Platt said.
Like many a startup business, the sports team had a cash crunch. So he began charging a fee to the kids. “And they started coming back, over and over and over again.”
Meantime, Platt decided that maybe the original concept wasn’t going to work,and came to the conclusion that “you can’t go trying to start a new sport.”
But you can develop a new business that has obvious appeal to youngsters.
So in 2004, the model that was to become Sky Zone “just developed totally organically” in an entirely different direction from theoriginal idea, he said.
Now there are 38 centers around the country, with a five-year goal of 200 centers in the United States and overseas, Platt said. There are 70 under development in the country, he said.
Chris Avery, who opened one in Memphis in February 2012 and holds nine Sky Zone franchises, plans to open one of them in Maumelle.
Burkhalter Property Group will subcontract the construction on the Maumelle facility and will own the building, said project manager Joey Paxton, who added that a building permit application has been filed with the city.
Avery said: “We’ve done well. There are no other trampoline parks [in Memphis], but there is plenty of competition for disposable income.”
A national competitor, California-based Sky High, has been sued over injuries, according to published reports. Sky High does not operate a trampoline park in Arkansas. A follow-up voice mail message was left for Platt, seeking comment on whether his company has been sued, but we hadn’t heard back by press time. He was quoted in Franchise Times magazine in October as saying he wants the fledgling industry to establishsafety regulations for itself.
The 30,000-square-foot Memphis facility has 19,000 square feet of trampoline space. The facility in Maumelle, which Avery hopes to open by the end of the year, will be in a 25,000-squarefoot building.
He said that the admission fee will probably be $15 an hour at the door, $12 if paid online.
There are no hard surfaces to contend with, as was the case with the in-ground trampolines in the past, which could lead to serious injury.
The Sky Zone in Memphis has five courts, including one for 10-on-10 dodge ball competition, a main court that can handle 49 people, and another that allows LeBron James wannabes to slamdunk a basketball, thanks to the boost from the springy surface, Avery said.
Avery also wants to open a Sky Zone in Northwest Arkansas but has been unable to line up a contractor, he said.
The other Avery franchises in development are to be in Jackson, Miss.; Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Huntsville and Birmingham, Ala.
If you have a tip, call Jack Weatherly at (501) 378-3518 or e-mail him at
Business, Pages 61 on 06/23/2013