Reaching the Next Level
Designed to enhance the definition of fun, State of Play Hospitality is a highly innovative creator and operator of technology enabled experiential leisure concepts. Here, RLI sits down with the company CEO Toby Harris to learn more about what it offers visitors, what makes the group stand out in the competitive socialising market and what the future holds.
State of Play Hospitality (State of Play) was founded eleven years ago as a creator and operator of premium social entertainment concepts. Its initial concept, Bounce, first opened in Farringdon, London with additional sites launching in London, including its most recent launch at Battersea Power Station and Chicago in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Since then, the business has gone on to create and launch Hijingo in London and roll out Flight Club in North America under licence. The business also co-founded Puttshack which it subsequently spun out of the group in 2019. In total, the company operates eleven sites across its concepts. Seven of these are positioned across North America (six Flight Club locations and one Acebounce) and four are in London (three Bounce locations and one Hijingo).
“Over the summer we opened our sixth Flight Club in Denver, Colorado and our third Bounce in the iconic Battersea Power Station in London,” explains Toby Harris, CEO of State of Play Hospitality. “Given the seven-year gap since the last Bounce opening, the intention was to relaunch the brand with Battersea and we are delighted with the result. The design has more than delivered on the brief to create a fun, fresh, premium gaming environment drawing on the aesthetics of ping pong whilst retaining the playfulness long associated with the brand.”
Discussing the development pipeline, Harris explains that they have a number of Flight Club sites in the US that are well advanced legally which will open in 2024 and 2025. Meanwhile, they are looking to secure a central London site for their second Hijingo venue along with signing their first international deal for the concept, which would ideally be in the US.
“We are currently looking seriously at Continental Europe, where we are seeking JV partners and also Canada, where we are likely to operate venues ourselves. The Middle East is also a target market over the next three years where we look to partner with a local operator,” Harris remarks.
As a creator of best-in-class tech enabled social entertainment concepts, innovation is embedded in their DNA and for them, technology is the key to enhancing gameplay in all three of their concepts and they are constantly looking to improve the quality of the user experience and scalability of the operating platforms.
As the conversation with Toby moves onto the ‘concept experience’ and how the business interacts with its customers, he explains that first and foremost as a hospitality company they seek positive engagement with their guests in their venues.
They want them to have a great experience and remember their time with us as much for the quality of the service, food and drinks as for the gaming and entertainment. He continues by saying that word of mouth will always be the most important marketing channel for them. Naturally, they engage digitally with their guests so they can remain front of mind and become their venue of choice next time.
“At State of Play, we harness the influential potential of platforms like Meta and TikTok to connect with our diverse audience. Our immersive and playful venues provide the perfect backdrop for collaborations with influencers and content creators, who authentically convey the excitement of our spaces to their followers,” Harris comments.
Another key focus for the group is the reduction of its environmental impact and they have a program called Play with Purpose which operates green committees both in the US and in the UK. They have various initiatives to keep their emissions as low as possible which includes energy and waste targeted reduction programmes.
The last few years has made company’s around the world focus more on their digital offerings and this is the case for State of Play, who are all about delivering jaw-dropping, immersive experiences that bring people together – they are harnessing the power of technology to engage an even broader audience as well as using the latest innovations to improve their in-venue offering, especially with their Bounce concept where they are looking to exciting new technologies to improve the digital ping pong game they currently offer. Meanwhile at Hijingo they have recently installed a state-of-the-art system which allows them to give an even more immersive experience to their guests and to change up the content more easily.
So what would Toby say are the key drivers behind the success the group has enjoyed in its eleven years of operation and what makes the company stand out?
“I would highlight two key differentiators with our concepts. Firstly the tech enabled nature of the gameplay means our guests enjoy enhanced, immersive and modern versions of classic, much loved activities. Secondly the level of quality we deliver throughout the customer journey is at the top end of our industry, as evidenced by our high guest satisfaction scores.”
He goes onto say that at the heart of the business is an incredibly talented and diverse team of professionals with a genuine passion for hospitality, who take great pride in doing business in the right way.
“We have always wanted to use our business as a force for good, particularly within the communities where we operate. The State of Play Foundation, which acts as an umbrella to stimulate and highlight charity and community work across the group. One example of the Foundation’s work is an annual ping pong charity event called the Bounce City Cup, which raised over £20k last year. This year will be the third Bounce City Cup and over the years its benefits have shown themselves to be broad including the awareness and fund raising for the charity partner, the bonds it creates within the participating companies and the sense of purpose it brings to the whole State of Play team,” Harris highlights.
Just before our time with Toby is over, he comments on what lies ahead, saying that as people yearn both experience and physical social contact more than ever, they have a huge opportunity to expand their footprint and bring their concepts to more locations internationally.
“Our greatest challenge with that growth will be delivering the quality of experience to our guest’s day in and day out across a geographically dispersed portfolio,” Harris concludes.
