Holey Moley it’s good, clean fun
Private equity-owned entertainment company Funlab plans to have 10 mini-golf and arcade bar concepts operating in New Zealand in the next three to four years.
The Australian company, which in the last financial year had a turnover of more than $100 million and operates 10 different venue concepts, will invest over $30m in the market to expand its quirky hospitality offerings which it says are a 21st century take on the traditional nightclub.
Funlab operates pop-culture themed mini-golf bar Holey Moley on Auckland’s waterfront and is gearing up to launch arcade bar Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq in Newmarket in September.
The company spent $3m on the Holey Moley location and has invested $6m on Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq.
Other, more established brands it operates include Strike bowling alleys and Skyzone, which typically cost around $3.5m to open new locations.
Michael Schreiber, chief executive of Funlab — which also operates adult-only hospitality concepts B.Lucky & Sons, Juke’s Karaoke Bar and escape room concept Red Herring in Australia — said New Zealand had responded well to its first location.
Targeted predominantly for the millennial crowd, aged between 18 to 35, Schreiber said Funlab’s venues focused on “facilitating social interactions”.
“We make sure a lot of what we do can’t be streamed into the home on Netflix or delivered by Amazon or be facilitated by the Internet, and that people consume the experiences on site, get out of the home, go out and see people in real life,” he said.
“It’s not that easy to meet people anymore and people don’t need to go to nightclubs to meet people anymore — that’s what the internet is for.
“Places like Holey Moley are really popular for Tinder dates, and we understand why, and that’s why nightclubs have kind of been displaced today.”
In the next five years Funlab, owned by Next Capital, plans to operate other concepts including its karaoke bar, in all of New Zealand’s major cities.