High Altitude
Trampoline Park Growing Kid-Friendly Entertainment to New Heights
Focusing on a 3- to 12-year-old demographic, Dallas-based Altitude Trampoline Park has been carving itself a sizable portion of the jumping market since 2014. It began franchising that year as well, opening a post in Fort Worth, Texas, and quickly expanding to Louisiana and beyond.
Rob Morris, VP of Development, Altitude Trampoline Park
Rob Morris, the company’s vice president of development, discussed with RePlay the growth Altitude has experienced recently. They reported signing 25 franchise agreements in 2023, establishing a presence in new and existing markets including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and even below the equator in Argentina. The brand has grown to 86 locations, mainly in the U.S. but also in Mexico and Spain.
“We’re seeing great franchise candidates coming from within the system and outside,” Morris explained. “It’s great to have owners who are already in the system opening new locations because it validates how good of a brand it is, and the support they get from us.”
Altitude says it has nine new agreements signed this year with a few of those parks already opened and more are coming soon. The Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Jose areas of California are all getting additional locations this year, as are the Chicago and Houston metros.
They’re also looking to grow into new markets like Milwaukee, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Kansas City and Denver specifically.
Among the Altitude family are multi-unit operators Brandon and Kenda Gadish, who’ve partnered with franchisee Ben Thomas to open a park in the Atlanta suburb of Austell. The Gadishes opened their first Altitude in Spokane, Wash., before taking over ownership of the company’s Nashville location. Thomas opened his first location in Huntsville, Ala., and has another in Lawrenceville, Ga.
Andre Carollo and Grady Hinchman recently opened their fourth Altitude Trampoline Park in Tampa, Fla. In 2019, they opened their first park in Kissimmee and later opened additional Florida outposts in Sanford and Bradenton.
Also of note, the operating team at Trampoline Park Opportunity Group is heavily invested in Altitude, owning 11 locations across multiple states. Their most recent location opened in Pittsburgh.
There’s much more to a trampoline park today than “just” bouncing. Altitude locations offer a wide array of active fun attractions from dodgeball to basketball to products like ValoJump from Valo Motion, all with the 3-year-old to pre-teen demographic in mind.
Backing the Altitude’s growth is the private equity firm NRD Capital, which took over the brand in 2018 and saw it through the pandemic. “A lot of our locations came through Covid even stronger than they were before,” Morris said, noting the company’s continued growth through 2020 and 2021.
He says key to Altitude’s success is their focus on that 3- to 12-year-old demographic, which results in “a lot more return visits.” He explained that many trampoline-based competitors focus on the teenage demographic but noted that as those customers get older and have more responsibilities, they don’t come back as much, if at all.
At Altitude, they offer membership programs starting at $10 a month for kids to enjoy all the attractions in the park for an hour each day. The locations also take in revenue via concessions and the sale of their special Altitude safety socks, which are required to use on the trampolines (jumpers can reuse them as well). Parties are also a sizable part of the business.
A typical Altitude Trampoline Park is about 25,000 sq. ft., though they range from about 18,000 sq. ft. to 40,000 sq. ft. The larger ones tend to be in the suburbs and smaller ones in urban centers. “We have about 30-35 different attractions to choose from,” Morris said, noting that generally, the locations have in the ballpark of 14 to 21 attractions.
“A kid should have multiple different experiences,” he added. “What entertains one kid might not entertain the next.”
Among those attractions are a standard main trampoline court and dodgeball court. All of their parks now have an indoor playground as well, which is built for 60 to 80 kids. Some have augmented reality and sports courts (like basketball and soccer).
Valo Motion’s ValoJump attraction has also been installed at the newest 11 of the company’s parks. They also work with the England-based Rugged Interactive for additional attractions in keeping with their active family fun theme.
For future growth, Altitude seeks out former store space at malls, like Bed Bath & Beyond, for example, to implement their concept.
“We give entertainment to a shopping center,” Morris said. “We don’t cannibalize retail. We’re bringing families into the area. Since it’s 3- to 12-year-old kids, that means Mom and Dad are coming with them. It’s a great way for someone to revitalize their shopping center and not compromise their tenant sales.”
He added: “There are lots of new concepts for every sport and every angle, but this is proven. The sustainable models for this industry have been bowling, arcades and trampoline parks. We know this is a type of entertainment people want.”
While he noted that the trampoline sector is evolving toward adventure parks, a don’t-fix-what-ain’t-broken attitude is apparent for Altitude. “There are some people in our space that have retreated from being a trampoline park,” Morris pointed out. “But the kids still love the classics. We need to make sure we add on the right new attractions, but a dodgeball court is still packed on a Saturday afternoon.”
In a press release, the company’s CEO Mike Rotondo wrote: “Altitude Trampoline Park presents an enticing investment opportunity for prospective franchisees, and we’re eager to be welcoming more and more owners to the Altitude family with locations opening nationwide. We built a lot of momentum in 2023 and we expect this to be a pivotal year for us with a series of grand openings and even more signings to come.”
Learn more about the brand and franchising opportunities at www.altitudetrampolinepark.com and www.altitudefranchise.com. You can also reach out to the company’s Kailee Apodaca at [email protected].
