New soft play - Wimbledon

[TotsLanding]

Hi all,

I am looking to take over an existing soft play/cafe business in the Wimbledon area and I would like to understand what mothers/fathers of children aged between 0-6 years of age are looking for. Not only in mental/physical stimulation, but also in what food and beverages you would be looking for.

Any answers would be well received!

Thanks,

Rob

You are nowhere near me but I have some advice as I frequent soft play user with a choice of 10 near me, wining factors as follows:

Vegetables with kids meals eg carrot sticks, peas, sweetcorn.

Homemade kids meals - very easy to offer cottage pie, hidden vegetable tomato sauce with pasta and cheese. Homemade pizza muffins, etc

Fruit available - best one offers a small bowl of fruit (eg strawberries and grapes for £1)

Drinks - look into this, whilst lots of people have no problem giving any drink, I do. Offer fresh apple juice/orange juice carton and small bottles of water. Sugar free options often contain nasties that we try to avoid.

If you have space it's nice to run a little activity session throughout the day, paper and pens, play-do, story book corner or sing/dance time - keep it simple but a very effective way if getting all the kids to be calm for a few mins and allow their parents to prepare them for going home.

Don't have baby toys, they will be gnawed on and become grubby very quickly. I avoid places with these. Small ride on or walker equipment is great.

A section for teeny babies, sensory with fibre optics or similar is a real winner.

Distinct under 4 zone for toddlers who need to be watched by mothers with babies too.

Don't make it too hard for parents to see into or get into the main frame. A soft play near me has a section in the ceiling where you can't see the kids. I avoid this.

Special offer on after school entry to include a meal, snack or drink.

Am sure you've had lots of these ideas but they are problems for me so thought i'd mention. HTH

Check out Bertie and Boo's soft play on Balham Road between Tooting Bec and Balham - the actual soft play area is quite small but the whole concept works very well, down to the last detail - cafe is fab (layout, furniture, food and drinks) and there is TONS of space for buggies

Is it jitterbugs the play cafe?

I haven't been on the soft play circuit for a little while as DD at school but Jitterbugs was one of my favourites. Good coffee, nice food, newspapers and a soft play that is small enough to watch from sitting down. Only challenge is capacity.

I was wondering if it was jitterbugs and was going to say if it is please improve the food for adults.

Oh no, sounds like the food has gone downhill, I thought it was pretty good when it first opened.

It's ok just very limited and dull.

Im not in that area so don't know the softplay being mentioned.

We go out of our way (past at least 2 nearer softplays) to go to one where food is reasonably priced. All hot drinks are £1, soft drinks vary 40p-75p, they do a jug of squash for I think 1.50, childrens food such as pizza for £2, biscuits crisps cakes in varying prices 30p-£1.

Even at those prices some people sneak in their own food but I suspect it's less of a problem than at softplays which charge a lot for drink/food.

Admission price reasonable, for a 2yr old, 4yr old and 8yr old it came to 12.50

Equipment wise a long slide is a must. Ball pools popular, rope bridge thing, lots of climbing. An outdoor enclosed playground for when it's dry is a nice addition.
Party bags for £2 with a small stuffed toy and a few novelty toys.

Hi,
This might be a bit late as the thread is old, but if you're talking about Jitterbugs I've been there about a zillion times....

Things me and other mums don't like about it:
The coffee is TERRIBLE, I have been know to sneak in a Nero's in desperation.
The acoustics are appalling - the room seems to amplify the noise of all the screaming toddlers.
Often the play area is quite dirty, as are the toys.
Prams take up way too much room - an outside store would be much better, and cleaner.

Upsides:
The hot kids food is generous and good quality. I rarely eat there myself but when I have it's been ok but not great.
Some of the regular staff are superb - friendly and great with the kids (esp. Anja).
It's the only indoor place in the centre of wimbledon you can just rock up with the kids and sit and have a (bad) coffee whilst the kids get to run around.

I'm not sure there is all that much appeal for 4-6 year olds though. My 4 year old is starting to get bored with the play area.

HTH