Starting a roller skating rink in Costa Rica

Question
Hello,

I have lived in Costa Rica for 20 years.  I wrote the first guidebook to this
country, have had several successful businesses here in tourism and in the
hotel industry.  The international community has expanded enormously over
the last decade, especially here on the west side the central valley, where I
am located.

There is at present absolutely no recreational facility of any kind anywhere
for anyone in this area.  This includes the international community as well as
the Costa Ricans.  There is one skating rink in Costa Rica, and it is dismal
and small and located in another part of the country.

Anyone that I speak with, especially those with children of any age, when
discussing the possibility of building and running a high-end skating center,
indicate verbally that they would do anything to see it happen, including
investing in such a venture.

I am originally from Santa Barbara, California.  I am married to a Costa Rican
woman and we have a 12-year-old girl who is bicultural and bilingual.

I know the market here as well as or better than any of the 500,000
foreigners living here full time.  (Statistics are never very accurate regarding
foreign residents, visitors, tourism flows, etc, here.)  

I would like to know your suggestions, please, as to where to start.  Who
has the best business plan that would be appropriate and applicable to this
environment, what do you offer in the way of start-up consultation and at
what fee, etc.

Thank you for listening,

Harvey Haber  

Answer
Hello Harvey,
  I personally have never been involved with the planning and building of a skating rink.  I teach skating and would be able to help you with a plan for building kids classes and teaching private lessons after you've started building.

  The web sites that I have referred others to with the same questions as yours are:

http://www.rinkconsulting.com/

http://www.seskate.com/build/index.html

The rink floor sizes in the USA vary from 68'x 165' to 104'x 200'.  You don't want the smallest floor but you may not need the largest floor either.  A nice size floor would be approx. 80'x 180'.

Keep in mind you will need a snack bar area with tables where you can serve food, hold birthday parties and where people can sit and eat.  Birthday parties are a good source of income for rink.

Most rinks in the US serve pizza, pop, chips, hotdogs, candy, nacho's and bottled water.  That's the basic menu here then you can add anything that people in your area would most likely purchase.

You will also need benches along the sides of the rink where people can just sit or put their skates on.

You will need an wide range of sizes of rental skates, both quads, inline skates and speed skates depending what you think people would use there.

Kids love games so you might consider arcade games.  They are another source of income.

You will also need lockers for people to place their personal items in while they skate.

Most rinks have a floor scrubbing machine to keep their floors clean.

When planning keep in mind that you will need areas for:
    1) Front door ticket office to sell tickets
    2) An office to do your paper work etc.
    3) Snack bar with ample seating
    4) Mens & Ladies washrooms
    5) Lockers
    6) Skate Rental room
    7) Storage rooms for equipment(floor scrubber, mops, brooms etc)
    8) The actual skating surface
    9) A DJ booth where he can play the music from and also be
       able to look out over the floor to keep track of things.
   10) A novelty shop area where kids can buy little toys, gadgets
       etc.

Depending on your location requirements you will also need emergency exits through out the building.  

People you will need on staff:
    1) Manager (unless you do it all yourself)
    2) Someone to take the money at the front door
    3) People to work the snack bar
    4) Floor guards (to keep skating safe and organized)
    5) Someone to work the skate rental room
          (depending on the crowd, sometimes the floor guards can
             handle this also)
    6) Someone to dry dust mop the floor after each skating session  
          (floor guards can do this also)
    7) A DJ to run the music  

Dry dust mopping after each public session is a must.  It avoids
law suits for you.  Anything left on the floor that people can trip over and get hurt on, makes you liable.  

I think I have covered most of what you would need.  Once your building is under way, contact me again and I can send you info on starting up and building kids skating classes.

Good Luck
  Pat