UK Enterprise Awards 2021

214 | UK Enterprise Awards 2021 Best Bouncy Castles & Inflatables Hire Company - East Midlands Starting a leisure business nine months before a global pandemic hits isn’t necessarily the stuff of dreams. But Kevin and Chloe Mee’s innovative, customer-focused approach has seen them go from strength to strength – even in these uncertain times. KCM Inflatables started out as a side project back in June 2019. Based in Heanor, Derbyshire, the company offered inflatable hire to local fetes, schools and charity fundraisers. At the time, both Kevin and Chloe were working full-time jobs. Whilst Moving to limited company status in September 2019, they branched out into the private party sector too, and now cover a large part of the East Midlands area. Early 2020 saw the pair launch their own “Play Day” sessions in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. The events, held in January and February, were a huge success selling out on both occasions with the calendar filling up with both private and community events suddenly the nation came to a stand-still due to COVID-19. Kevin was furloughed from his day job for the majority of the year but used his time wisely to focus on where to take KCM in the future. “I spent most of my time in the office working on risk assessments to make us Covid secure and rearranging the unit whilst also making valuable contacts within the Industry to take us further and prepare for us to reopen once restrictions had eased. We invested in a website and live online booking system with the Bouncy Castle Network which has helped us out so much in many ways The workload in the office has eased and our customers have a quick and simple way to book online which takes no more than two minutes. During this time we also invested in a van to keep up with the summer demands and also added more fun equipment to hire out. The van was a great asset and helped them to keep up with their private orders over the summer. But in September, with no indoor venues open and the weather cooling down, bookings slowed down dramatically. The couple had their own hot tub on the patio, but hardly ever used it so they decided to try to hire it out over the winter season to keep on top of the company outgoings. They created some hot tub hire packages and quickly realised they were onto a winner. From launching in November with one hot tub, within 3 months they had eight, all getting regular bookings. KCM prides itself on never letting a customer down. In the early days, when they were new to the business, they made a drastic mistake and accidentally ripped one of their slides whilst positioning it. Luckily, they had two slides booked at this event so was able to carry on with the event with the one, once the event had finished they then drastically had to find somebody to repair the slide within 24hrs for a community event the next day after a hour of searching for local companies the slide was booked in and repaired an hour before the event enabling them to attend. The company has a long list of customer testimonials on the website, and the Facebook page which is brimming with fantastic customer reviews too. The couple attributes their success to their core values. Kevin tells us: “Safety first. The safety of our customers always comes before anything else. We pride ourselves in ensuring everything is correctly set up to a certain high standard every time by following HSE guidelines. “Next, customer service. We’ll always go that extra mile to make sure our customers have everything they need for a great experience. We operate a very approachable friendly booking system whether over the phone, via social media or our website. We always aim to make our customers smile and laugh over the phone and even when we’re on site. “We like to think we are unique too. We’re always on the lookout for something quirky or different – take our van, for example, which really stands out with its bright colours and Bold lettering, when arriving to the party most children think it’s an ice cream van and are always excited to see us! We also own one of the largest inflatable slides in the East Midlands – reaching 21ft high to the peak of the slide which looks the part at any event & can be seen from a far. “Finally, affordability. We’re a small family ourselves and understand the importance of offering packages to suit all individual budgets. We work with clients of all ages and all budgets; we also offer discounts to all Bluelight card holders and student discount on all of our packages for private Events.” As things start to open up, KCM is already seeing a rise in event bookings from local organisations. Private parties are also on the up too. The company is predicting a rapid growth over the next year which may see them taking on new members of staff and possibly another vehicle to keep up with demand. Of course, they are always on the lookout for new and exciting inflatables too, ensuring that they can deliver the best and most fun components of any party around! Contact: Kevin Mee / Chloe Mee Company: KCM Inflatables Ltd Web Address: www.kcm-inflatables.co.uk May21680