It, of course, is Britain’s leisure sector, which has scaled to new heights since Jerome and his co-founders built up their adventure activity business which was founded eight years ago.
Up in the treetops and through the forests, there are more than half a million customers climbing and swinging to their hearts content. And they are prepared to fork out to fly down Jerome’s zip-wires and leap off his Tarzan Swings – providing profits to the tune of £1.4 million in 2011.
The former London-based barrister is only eight years removed from chucking his personal injury and commercial litigation practices at the Bar for a risky business venture, which can draw no comparisons.
But he clearly has no regrets and has lost none of his zeal for the commercial activity frontier; by the time he sat down to talk this morning, he had been at the helm of the company as managing director for five years. Before that, he steered Go Ape’s business development through the rocky road of the financial crash and came out unscathed.
But there are still many things that rock the boat. “The business hasn’t been without its bumps,” says Jerome, who joined the company after its foundation by Tristram and Rebecca Mayhew, a married couple. Tristram just happens to be his brother.
They launched their first tree-top adventure site in March 2002, while Jerome was still at the Bar. In 2003, they asked their bookkeeper if they had enough capital to launch three more locations. Their plan was ambitious, but flawed.
“One was delayed in opening by six weeks through a planning hiccup and one underperformed in first few weeks,” says Jerome. “The bookkeeper said they didn’t have enough money to pay the wages. It was a classic cash-flow startup problem. So there was all that naivety and innocence.”
It was just four years ago that Go Ape went to the United States. They have six strategically placed locations and plan to open five more American courses every year through to 2018 and beyond.
Yet you wouldn’t know that the co-founders were once in very real danger. “The only reason Go Ape survived [in 2003] was because my grandfather had died 18 months beforehand and my mother had received money as a result. And she leant Tris 60k for a month,” Jerome recalls. “It got us over the bump.”
Hind-sight is a beautiful thing. Not that that hiccup has slowed the businesses progress. During Jerome’s five years at the top of the company, Go Ape has expanded rapidly.
Today the company operates 29 adventure locations around the UK – its “heartland”. Go Ape was turning over more than £11 million less than a decade after launching.
Jerome is hoping he can sure-up similar figures abroad. Expectations may be high; they want to launch five more locations in the States this year alone. “We intend to grow as fast as we can there,” he enthuses.
It may seem like a big ask for Americans to buy into the concept as quickly as the UK has. Yet Jerome, a bundle of British charm, is undeterred.
He joined Go Ape from Temple Garden Chambers, a leading law chamber in London which he practiced at for ten years – “Although the Bar is a great trainer for all sorts of commercial activity; you have the world and his wife come across your desk,” he says.
For Go Ape’s managing director that means helping oversee a U.S-based team who run the overseas operations somewhat independently. They are looking at expansion into South Africa and Russia too – although Ukraine’s troubles may put that on hold for a while.
It is all hands on deck this year. “There is plenty to get up in the morning for,” Jerome laughs.
But he wants to dominate these markets. The co-founders’ unrelenting ambition is what drew him away from litigation. Tristram and Rebecca sold their London flat to launch the company; there has been no outside investment.
The company’s current managers – Tristram, Jerome, Rebecca and Will Galbraith – all studied at Cranfield University School of Management. The cohort of their Business Growth and Development Programme encouraged them to dream big.
“Tris underwent the course in 2006 – by which stage we got through the start-up process and it was a successful organization,” Jerome explains. “The questions was, what next? Do we have a happy life running a smallish business or should we be going for growth?”
They put their foot on the pedal. “We came to the conclusion that we wanted to establish 40 courses by 2012,” Jerome says. They were not far off that target, either.
Jerome had to negotiate with landlords to secure sites for new branches. It was one of his biggest challenges as managing director, albeit one of his greatest achievements too.
He lights up when recalling those expansive days. “There is a huge difference between running a few local sites where you know everyone, to running a truly national activity where you cannot rely on your personal intervention to ensure quality,” says Jerome.
He used their customers as the eyes and ears and had to employ area managers to oversee construction. “That’s the biggest challenge. You need to be prepared to invest a lot of money and time into it,” he says.
The company’s growth started fast, but arguably took off when they included new demographics in their targeting. Go Ape caters for corporate events which help drive revenues up during slow weeks.
A bunch of managers in suits and ties climbing up trees? “It’s more than a few ropes up trees,” says Jerome. “We’ve focused on [corporate events] in the last two or three years and it has a 30 per cent growth history year-on-year. Long may that continue.”
The company has managed to market their brand successfully to different demographics. But America is a different beast. “It’s not easy to develop a wider brand,” Jerome says. They have utilized radio and billboard advertising to spread the word.
But the U.S hasn’t gone ape – yet. “We have an entirely U.S team. When it comes down to judgment calls on cultural differences, we go with their advice on that,” he says.
The heart, though, still beats strong in Britain. Go Ape has developed new services; a Segway experience in which customers climb down from the trees and explore forests on the latest tech mobility vehicles, and Tree Top Junior - an adventure desired for young children.
They built five of the latter courses last year and Jerome was taken by surprise by their popularity. “They exceeded targets by 75 per cent. So we’re building another 10 of those during 2014,” he enthuses.
No matter how big Go Ape gets, though, the brand will always be British, Jerome says. “We will never forget what it is that pays the wages; and that is tree-top adventures around the UK,” he adds.
“We will continue maximizing our market reach. But we want to stay strong in our heartland.”
Go Ape is looking at climbing into city centers too, and is developing an indoor attraction which, Jerome insists, is a closely guarded secret. But they are hoping for the same outcome, he asserts.
“It will be adventurous and new – in the UK. But we look to do exactly the same with a product indoors. We look to dominate it.”
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