Tanuki Gaming - What Next?

OUR STORY / BACKGROUND

Nearly 3 years ago, my friend Alan and I were offered the chance to take on part of an events space in Deptford, southeast London. It was an opportunity that we couldn’t resist. We'd been looking for an opportunity to?turn our passion for board gaming and community building into something greater than a hobby shared by friends.

Together, we were already organising a successful events group around North & East London with thousands of members from nothing and had a lot of support to take it to the next level. We didn’t have professional experience running hospitality or retail, but we felt that as long as we embraced the challenge we’d hit the learning curve and survive.

After months of planning, without another thought we set ourselves to the task of founding the business that would change our lives: Tanuki Gaming

[Design, the brilliant Max Alzamora ]

And, of course, the pandemic also happened…

It’s a familiar story by this stage. Getting an in-person board game cafe and store off the ground amid endless waves and lockdowns was extremely difficult, but we battled through.

We shifted our events online as much as possible - supporting and bringing our community members together through a range of digital events on our Discord Server throughout. Virtual Meetups, Twitch Streams, Weekly Quizzes (Thanks Alex!), Digital Board & Video Games. Operating where possible and safe to do so in person and driving sales through our webstore.

[The big Tanuki mural, materialised by Ollie Cooper , London Based Lettering Artist]

As life tends to do, we were thrown another curveball. Alan struggled with the sudden nightmare of dealing with an extremely challenging personal situation on top of having to care for a loved one with deteriorating illness. This meant I also had to face running the business alone.

We’ve all heard these stories from the lockdowns, ours were just combined with trying to start a business and keep it afloat. Restrictions and lockdowns became the norm, the possibility of being crushed before we were able to even take-off was terrifying, but we kept our eye firmly on the future. These things take time and, together with the rallying support and our small but devoted team, we did everything we could to help keep the doors open.

And we did.

In fact, we grew…

HITTING OUR STRIDE

With each successive unlock, we came back stronger. Hundreds of customers became thousands, smoothly sailing past our ambitious targets and projections for the pandemic that just wouldn’t quit.

SOME TASTY STATS

• By the close of 2022 (our first year without any restrictions), we will have brought over 16,000 covers through the door to our Board Game Cafe, plus thousands more interested shoppers.
• We can currently reliably seat around 70, so we’re beginning to push capacity, especially when hosting our weekly, seasonal and special events.
• Our community reach is steadily growing, with an audience of over 5,000 people within our regular customer base, online community, social media, and mailing lists.
• All of this has helped drive steady growth in product sales both in store and online, bringing in customers who wouldn't otherwise discover the venue, who then return to play, in turn creating astounding customer retention and loyalty.
• We are currently the highest-rated Board Game Cafe in London. Attention to detail, passion and energy are common descriptors in our online listings, we've even been straight-out called The Best Boardgame Cafe in London. We must be doing something right?

"Tanuki Gaming is the best board game cafe the capital has to offer."

• As a result, we enjoy top SEO rankings, alongside some of London’s best board game and entertainment offerings like Draughts , THE LUDOQUIST LIMITED , Bad Moon Cafe Ltd , Four Quarters , Rule Zero, DARK SPHERE LIMITED , and Loading Bar .

COLLABS AND EXHIBITONS

We've had some great collaborations, meeting fantastic folk who help bring projects to life:

• Working with Eva Wong in-house to provide top-tier LGBTQ+ events has been absolutely amazing. Helping us build a welcoming, inclusive and open atmosphere for these events has been everything.

Chavonne Brown and Six Planes Games bringing Daemonologie to the table, and a whole host of excellent human beings such as Nathan Rumney , Gabriel de Barros Paranhos da Costa bringing modern RPGs, MTGs and other events to the table.

• Taking part in a (then) top-secret (now) Published & Peer Reviewed 3-Month Scientific Study on board games with 英国伦敦大学学院 's Michel Belyk & Ziyung Zhang from the Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences: Speech Timing Cues Reveal Deceptive Speech In Social Deduction Board Games.

• Attending UK Games Expo 2022 and meeting many independent publishers and creators, alongside the wonderful industry folks from Asmodee United Kingdom , Games Workshop PLC and Wizards of the Coast

• Partnering with Network N , Alexander Evans from Wargamer and Roucan Events and Content Ltd to bring our board game magic to the inaugural WASD indie gaming festival to over 40,000 people at Tobacco Dock London . Once again, thanks for the community support ( Sean McNulty , Thomas Jacques , Joris Labrune , James Leavy and many more!).

THE TEAM

I largely attribute this success to the brilliant team who have given it their all alongside me, making Tanuki waves 7 days a week. Stan, Lars and Anya, you are rock stars and unstoppable. Jana, Flo & Casper, you too, thank you for your unique contributions to the team while with us.

I also cannot thank enough the wonderful folk from our Digital and In-Person Community who keep coming back and help us make games more diverse, accessible, inclusive, in short... for everyone.

Without your support I don't know where we'd be, but it wouldn't be here.

THE SITUATION WE’RE NOW FACING

Our hosts are looking at opening another venue in the new year, and would like to take control of the offering under their own umbrella in March. As part of this move, they’ve asked us to consider selling our business to them.?

So, as a result, I need to consider what Tanuki does next:

Do we consider an exit - selling everything or part of the business to them - or do we take our offering elsewhere?

It feels like we’ve finally turned a corner and things are just getting started, however I feel a responsibility to make sure whatever I do next is the best for myself, my team, network and the community we’ve worked so hard to build.

I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve created, against all odds. I am incredibly grateful and thankful to James, Calum and Badger Badger for letting us bring our Tanuki magic to their space. It’s great to know this creative team and our unique and inclusive formula and is a winning one.

BANG! HERE’S WHERE YOU COME IN

After pouring everything I have into this for the past few years, I want to try to take a minute and get some clarity and see everything available to us as a brand, partners and individuals.

While I have begun considering options, I feel I have been so focused on our success here in Deptford and online for so long that I wonder if there might be something I’ve missed or am missing. I am not expecting anything, but I would love to talk to people across the games, retail and hospitality industry to get a better picture of what’s out there. I’m interested in others' experiences and ideas as we look ahead.?

If you’d like to, drop me a message below or @ someone you think might be interested. I’d really appreciate it.

Even just liking this message helps this call reach a wider network, so a heartfelt thank you for the signal boost.

THANK YOU FOR READING MY STORY

I’ll put this out into the universe and see what comes of it. If nothing else, it was good to reflect on the challenges we’ve overcome and our many successes. It’s a privilege to share it. I encourage other entrepreneurs to take a moment and do the same.

Fingers-crossed, into the unknown.

Thank you ??

Dom

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