With temporary ice rinks rapidly growing in popularity as family-friendly attractions, Stage Electrics are very encouraged by the growth in their own ice rink business in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Stage Electrics is now the UK's leading ice rink supplier and with their rinks in regular use Nationwide, including five in Ireland, the public are buying into the unique ambience of ice skating as never before.
Most recently Stage Electrics have built an ice rink for Merlin, UK's number one location based Entertainment Company. Merlin have located their Ice Rink in the heart of London on the Southbank, in the shadow of the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel - The London Eye.
During an interview with John Burgess, Live Events Account Manager for Stage Electrics with his extensive experience of working with ice rinks outlined 5 key things that any organiser would need to think about if they intend to have a temporary ice rink at their venue.
Purpose- agreeing the purpose of your ice rink before you start to plan means that you are going to get a better customer experience. The main questions you need to ask yourself before you start anything else is:
- Is the purpose of your rink to attract more shoppers and people?
- Is the brief designed to entertain or act as a community focus?
- Is the purpose to utilise an asset or space that otherwise would be underused?
- Do you want or need to attract financial sponsors to the ice rink?
The answers to these questions will help to determine how you need to proceed.
Location/ Access to Site- Ice rinks need to be visible to the general public and require high volumes of footfall. Marketing alone to create awareness of the Ice Rink will not be sufficient to keep the Ice Rink busy. There needs to be easy access to the location for the technical build and also for the general public. Your customers need to see a clear way to get on the ice.
Site- An ice rink must have a flat surface - so the flatter the surface where the ice rink can be built, the easier it is and less expensive it will be for you. Power supply onsite could potentially reduce costs by 30%- 40% if you don't have to use power from generators. Water is imperative, it may sound funny but the amount of venues who have expressed the desire to have an ice rink but when asked where their nearest water supply is located, they have no idea. To build an ice rink you will need A LOT of water.
Stage Electrics have built an ice rink on the roof of a shopping centre, it was flat and they had power and water on site. The shopping centre dealt with the access issues- therefore this particular rink became a relatively straight forward build.
Population/ Target Market- You need to keep the ice rink busy- a busy ice rink attracts more skaters and looks better, so consider your local footfall and that will determine the size of your ice rink. Divide the sqm of the ice rink by 3 and that will give you your "on ice capacity" at any one time, e.g. 300sqm ice rink will hold 100 skaters per session. Think about how many hours in the day you want your ice rink to operate? If every session was to last 45 minutes for example how does that affect your revenue, staff costs and throughput?
Also considering your target market- "who you do want to attract/ who will you attract?" This will provide you with the best approach to take when marketing your ice rink. For example building your ice rink next to your Santa's Grotto will attract a lot of families, not necessarily young adults; build an ice rink in a cinema complex and you will attract a lot of teenagers.
Finishing- Including other elements such as decorative lighting, music, pavilions for boot changing and carpeting will all add to the experience of your customers who come to skate. Additional income can come from selling food and beverages. A research report in 2007 found that only 1/3 of revenue came from people actually skating.
If your venue also provides food and refreshments near the ice rink customers will most likely have something to eat at your venue before or after enjoying their 45 minutes on the ice rink, therefore increasing your revenue. Themed markets and other concessions can bring in significant revenue as well as adding to the overall attractiveness of your Ice rink.
Commenting on the Ice Rink experience, John Burgess said: "Stage Electrics dedicated Ice rink team are equipped with the knowledge and under¬standing to ensure your event glides along like it's on frozen water".
If you would like more information about having an ice rink in your venue please contact John via email john.burgess@stage-electrics.co.uk