Sweet spot for a party
A NEW children’s party venue has spun out of the Freckleberry Chocolate Factory in Geelong.
Freckleberry founder Megan Van oirschot is confident of hitting the sweet spot with the launch of Freckld in South Geelong on Saturday.
For the past two years children’s parties have been held at the Freckleberry factory, with demand growing beyond capacity simply on the back of word of mouth.
“It was starting to interfere with the wholesale business,” Ms Van oirschot said. “In the past three months we had to turn people away.”
Conducting up to six parties a week, including opening a slot on Thursdays, November and December were booked out months in advance.
“The parties have taken a life of their own,” Ms Van oirschot said.
“I either had to do this in a big way or stop doing it, because it’s too distracting.”
Freckld, which has been trademarked, has two party rooms with parents able to watch through a viewing area, or retreat to the parents’ lounge. The Dowsett St venue also has an ‘invention room’, featuring a chocolate fountain, and will also have Freckleberry products for sale.
Ms Van oirschot said the venue could host up to 20 parties a week. It caters to children aged 5-12 with maximum groups of 15.
The South Geelong venue, not far from the Freckleberry factory, is also a pilot site for Freckld to try different party themes and ideas amid plans to open further stores in the future.
“But this will always be our testing ground,” Ms Van oirschot said.
Freckleberry is a retailer and wholesaler of specially packaged chocolates, with Ms Van oirschot building the factory in 2013.
She said Freckleberry employed 18 people, with the annual revenue set to top $1 million this financial year, having recently reached an agreement for its chocolate numbers to be used by Cheesecake Shop franchises.
“That’s 220 stores around Australia and New Zealand that are going to have Freckleberry in them now,” she said.