Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Frankish.
Hi Tim, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
It was several years ago, about 5 now. My sister-in-law and I were thinking about a business that we could open to help generate some income for our retirement accounts. We thought about a laser tag location that could operate on the weekends, do kids’ birthday parties, and just provide a space for families to come and have a good, affordable time. After sharing my idea with the mayor at a chamber of commerce event, he told me about the Old Falls Theater. Fast forward several years and here we are! 17,000 sq. ft and no laser tag arena lol. We have arcade, Duckpin Bowling, a full-service restaurant, party rooms, and somewhere in the building a hidden speakeasy for those that want a quiet different experience away from all the sights and sounds of our main level!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Has it been a smooth road…well throw out the global pandemic and I have truly enjoyed opening the business with my partners. We have such an amazing staff who believes in the business and treats everyone like family. Supply chain issues are our biggest headache right now and even though it’s a well-known issue, I think people sometimes forget that. It’s affecting everything from every angle. But if running a business was easy, everyone would do it. I consider things like that a daily challenge that we create workarounds for. I don’t consider what I do work, I love what I do and I can’t wait for location number 2 and 3!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My part of the business is Marketing, Advertising, and Entertainment. I am a creative individual who loves networking with people and seeing how our businesses can help each other. I have a background in design so I handle our ads and understand how different avenues can reach different demographics. We have so much to offer, we can really entertain ages 5 to 95 which makes marketing easier!
How do you define success?
I don’t consider profit a bad word but I wouldn’t say that a big profit is success for myself. I love seeing the employees come into work and make new friends or learn new skills. We have a wide variety of employees and watching them interact with each other is great. We also love being a part of the amazing community. Either sponsoring baseball teams or being a sponsor of the festivals or city programs, it’s great to just be able to give back. So, I would say success for me is teaching our employees life skills and showing them that it’s a good thing to give back and be a part of the community and different programs!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.playattheworkz.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_workz_on_the_riverfront
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playattheworkz
