The co-founder of Altitude Trampoline Park is launching his second franchise brand, Larks Entertainment, which he calls the first “modular” franchise in which operators can purchase and install just a few types of attractions or the works, depending on the market and their budget.
“We’re opening one in Dallas, with shuffleboard, an arcade,” says CEO Curt Skallerup. “Others will have miniature golf and food and beverage. Another one will have an obstacle course. We now have the opportunity to put a 10,000-square-foot Larks in Minot,” North Dakota, for example. “All of a sudden you can afford it.”
Larks has developed six concepts so far, which can function separately or together: Larks Shuffleboard Club, Larks Putt Club, Larkade, Obstacle Adventures, Blast Legends and Larks Kitchen and Bar.
All the parks will have food and beverage, and three parks are in development now, in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dallas area and Kansas City. He expects three more to be open by the end of this year. Cost of investment is $1.3- to $3.3 million.
“We’re bringing our entire team that worked for me” to the new venture. “My daughter’s our COO,” Courtney Skallerup-Wilde. Zach Barton is VP of finance and accounting, and he was with Altitude for 10 years. “And we have 60 to 70 people we’re talking to, with past relationships” at Altitude and elsewhere, as potential franchisees.
“A trampoline park is hard to open. These are very easy to open,” he said about Larks Entertainment, and “the real estate people love it, Simon and all the rest of it, because they have 10,000 here and 15,000 there,” meaning square footage to lease. As for cost of insurance for shuffleboard and mini-golf vs. trampolines: “Night and day difference there.”
At Altitude, Skallerup and co-founder Jeffrey Rutten opened their first facility in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2013 and added a second one in Little Rock, Arkansas, as a licensee. “Then we got a person who called us in Boston, so the third year we opened 15.”
Altitude had about 96 units when they sold to NRD Capital, in 2018. “We grew from being a latecomer to becoming No. 2 to Sky Zone in six countries,” he said.
Trouble followed in May 2020, when NRD Capital sued the co-founders and their related entities, claiming the buyers were “fraudulently induced” to purchase the assets of Altitude Trampoline Park for $30 million. The valuation “was based on misrepresentations made by Defendants regarding ATP’s revenue and other matters,” NRD’s lawsuit said.
In October 2020, Skallerup and Rudden counter-sued ATP Holding Co., and a settlement was reached January of last year. This January, Skallerup was free from his non-compete and other agreements and so is launching Larks.
“It’s not a thing anymore. We were basically blamed for COVID,” when all the parks were closed starting in March 2020, Skallerup said about the lawsuits. “It was what it was, and we’re done with it all. That’s kind of life in the fast line.”
Asked why he’s getting back into franchising, “I think that’s just a lack of IQ,” he joked, adding, “I’m just kidding. We were very, very proud of what we built, but I’ve also been through a lot of things. But you’ve got to put your big boy pants on. You don’t control it.”
Aziz Hashim, CEO of NRD Capital, said about the lawsuits: “It’s unfortunate, but it’s certainly not the case that there aren’t disputes at times on transactions. That happened, this was unfortunate, we didn’t want it to happen but it did. We got to the end of it, both sides settled,” he said, adding about Skallerup, “and we wish him well.”
Skallerup is a staunch supporter of franchising. “I believe that I know the franchise world real well, and I’ve helped a lot of people in the last couple of years go from a single facility into franchising. I think franchising is the way to go. I’m writing a book called ‘Volume,’ which is about growth,” he said.
And if Larks Entertainment grows like Altitude did, would he sell to private equity? “I think we’d probably sell. Again, that’s the question of IQ,” he repeated with a laugh. “It is what it is, it’s a part of business.”