I have for a while been kicking round an idea in my head which I think might work, but could equally be a very expensive disaster. If I go for it, the start-up costs could well eat up every single piece of equity I have spent 20 years building, up so please come back with honest feedback if you think I am about to make a really stupid mistake.
Anyway, I have been thinking of setting up what could probably be best described as A 'gentlemen's club' type place for wealthy parents, in London, aimed primarily at those 40-something divorced dads who have kids, but haven't a clue what to do with them at weekends (and don't like keeping them cooped up in small bachelor pad that only has vodka in the fridge). The bankers/lawyers I know who fit the profile end up dumming down at naff places like the Troc, or dragging the poor things along to Cannons. I'm thinking expensive annual fees, au-pairs kicking aorund to help play with the kids, and various 'zones' (ie one place where dad & the older kids can do normal stuff like play scrabble together, whilst an au-pair overseas the youngest in a soft play bit and the middle kid flits between dad and the library where he's doing homework. That sort of thing, with them all having lunch and doing some stuff (eg afternoon film screening) together . Then to make the place work for its money you would probably run a nursery or stuff like yoga classes or whatever during the week (when focus would be much more female-focused).
The dads I know who have second marriages and stuff (or even those happily married but who only really see their kids at the w/e) want to spend quality time with their kids but seem to find it impossible when their kids have large age differences etc, and I also find that they don't seem to 'plan' their weekends, so it all ends up a bit flat, with them wandering round doing nothing much every weekend.
The atmosphere would probably be more starbucky than stuffy club, and the money would come mostly from the annual fees. Fees would have to be be high as the aim would be to have people stay for 4-5 hours (over lunch or dinner) so you couldn't achieve a decent return on food/drink alone. Then you would also aim to generate income from either leasing the premises Mon-Friday for a nursery, or selling space for girly stuff like upscale coffee-mornings, yoga classes etc (and use the au-pairs to look after the kids whilst they relax). If it really worked well, you would also sell space for other people to run complimentary services eg travel agents(specialising in family holidays of course) or 'concierge' services.
Biggest problems I see are
(1) Start up costs will be huge
(2) difficult to get appropriate premises
(3) Are there enough people of the type I am aiming for?
(4) My kids are young and very outdoorsy so I don't know how city kids would take to something like this - would they get bored after a few visits and refuse to go?
(5) How high can the fees go? If we take an expensive gym as a guide my guess is they rely on 5 times as many members as they could realistically service (if they all came regularly) and that the average stay at the gym would be 2 hours. I need to assume stays of double this, and probably less than half the number of members (as I guess frequency of use would be greater than for an average gym member). so the breakeven point is going to be close to the regular maximum revenue. The ability to generate higher spend per visit (lunches & lattes etc) would be better than a gym, and I guess the weekday usage will also potentially bring in cash (from leasing premises/running creches or whatever), but it will be close in terms of whether this could fly.
My gut feeling is that the economy is heading downwards faster than people suspect so if I am to do it the timing is fairly good: 12-18 months to pull the plan together, by which time commercial property is going to be at very bottom of the cylce so investment costs will be as low as they are going to be and we can then refurbish to market on the upturn of the economy...
In terms of experience I am an accountant/banker with a masters in HR (well, half a masters, but will be finishing soon), and I supported myself throughout school/uni in hotel work & running bars, so I have a bit of relevant experience but not much.
I would be very keen on finding out if anyone knows of anythign similar that already exists (I guess closest would be places like Babington House?). also, if anyone knows how the costs/revenues of a gym operation stack up then that would be invaluable. I need to make a call on whether to invest a significant amount of time in the groundwork needed to formulate a proper business plan, or to forget the idea and stick with the day job. I also suspect this could all just be a mid-life crisis...
All comments very much appreaciated - even those that tell me I am up my own backside and this idea stinks