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The Business of Axe Throwing 🪓🎯💰 · Money News

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  S1: Hi. Hi. I got work to do.
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  S2: Now on money news. Let's talk business. Brought to you
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  S2: by NAB your partner for every stage of your business.
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  S2: NAB more than money.
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  S3: And we say thank you to our friends at NAB
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  S3: for bringing us. Let's talk business every week. This is
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  S3: a fascinating story, and it's a growing sport that's become very,
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  S3: very popular for weekend weeknight activities, date nights, bucks parties,
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  S3: hens nights. Axe throwing has been one of the most
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  S3: unlikely success stories in Australian entertainment and hospitality. And what
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  S3: started as a niche novelty has grown into a sport,
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  S3: with a dedicated following across the country with leagues, tournaments
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  S3: and it's now a hot spot for corporate team building
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  S3: events as well. Now I want to tell you tonight
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  S3: about one business that's doing fantastic work in this space.
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  S3: They're called Kiss My Axe, Kiss My Axe, and they're
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  S3: one of Sydney's standout venues in axe throwing. Founded in 2020,
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  S3: they now operate three fully licensed locations across Sydney in Alexandria,
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  S3: Brookvale and Blacktown. Now, Jason McDonald is the co-founder of
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  S3: Kiss My Axe and he's on the line for us tonight. Jason,
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  S3: welcome to the show.
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  S4: Hi, how are you?
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  S3: Great name, great business. Tell us all about your business.
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  S3: Kiss my axe.
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  S4: Oh yeah. Well, yeah it is. It is a great business.
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  S4: It's a fun business. And it started, as you said
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  S4: five years ago, um, just after Covid. Well, we got
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  S4: the business during Covid. We got, uh, we got a lease. And, um,
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  S4: just as everybody started to come out of lockdown, it,
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  S4: we were open just at the right time and everybody
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  S4: wanted to go out and it just took off from there. Um,
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  S4: and then quickly opened our second or third venue just
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  S4: after that, after the success of the first one. So yeah,
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  S4: it's been doing really, it was really, really good.
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  S3: That's amazing. Why did you think that this would be
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  S3: a success in Sydney and Australia? Have you been watching
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  S3: this unfold and grow in popularity in other parts of
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  S3: the world?
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  S4: Well, basically my background is hospitality and like I came
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  S4: from the UK where my job was to open new
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  S4: venues for other people. So I understood the space really well,
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  S4: and I'd seen axe throwing taken off around the world,
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  S4: so I knew it. I knew Sydney would love it. Um,
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  S4: but there was just so much red tape with it.
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  S4: So when we got locked down and I had nothing
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  S4: to do, I lost my job because I was in Hospo.
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  S4: And I remember everybody said, well, you can't go to
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  S4: work tomorrow if you work in hospitality. That's when I
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  S4: had the time to sit down and go, right, I'm
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  S4: going to I'm going to do this. Um, and I
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  S4: always had the name kiss My Axe.
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  S3: And it just.
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  S4: It so many people told me not to do it
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  S4: and it wouldn't work. But I just remember thinking, how
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  S4: can it not work? Like, I know it's going to
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  S4: be popular, but if I knew what I knew now
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  S4: about Covid, I probably wouldn't have made the decision to
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  S4: open a venue during Covid. But luckily I had a
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  S4: bit of luck on my side as well.
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  S3: Yeah. That's interesting. Now just tell us how hard it
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  S3: is to manage having a licensed venue with an axe
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  S3: throwing venue, and the insurances and the liabilities that come
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  S3: with a venue like this.
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  S4: Yes. When you start off, there's a lot of things
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  S4: you don't know and you don't know what you don't know.
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  S4: So there was so many hurdles to jump over. And
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  S4: I think you just got to keep going with it.
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  S4: But we had to speak to licensing. We had to
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  S4: speak to the local council, we had to speak to
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  S4: the police. Um, and, and then after all of that's
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  S4: ticked off, then you've got to try and get insurance.
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  S4: And people hadn't heard of axe throwing. So trying to
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  S4: speak to insurance companies and say, yeah, we want.
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  S5: You to find an.
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  S4: Insurer. And they're like, what are you doing? You're throwing axes.
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  S4: And we're like, yep. And they're like, and nobody's trained.
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  S4: And we're like, nope.
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  S5: So yeah.
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  S4: It was a tough conversation.
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  S3: I'm amazed that you got it over the line because
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  S3: with the amount of regulation and what you can and
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  S3: can't do in our capital cities, I'm amazed you could
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  S3: even get it.
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  S4: Yeah. Especially in Sydney as well. Oh, that was the
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  S4: first hurdle was getting um, the axe throwing open. Uh,
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  S4: and then a few months later I said, okay, thanks guys,
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  S4: but now can I have a liquor license? And they said,
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  S4: hang on a minute. So now you've got, you're throwing
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  S4: axes and now you want to add alcohol. Yeah. So
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  S4: but luckily I built all these connections with the liquor
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  S4: and gaming industry. And we take health and safety very seriously.
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  S4: And we ironed out exactly how we would run things.
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  S4: And you can't actually drink before your throne access. So
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  S4: we don't let anyone intoxicated throw. They do. I think
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  S4: in Queensland you can have a beer before you throw,
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  S4: but you can't do two fun things at once in Sydney.
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  S3: Yeah. Understood. Hey, um, I've mentioned obviously, you know, you'd
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  S3: be very big with corporate events, team building days, boxers, hens, nights, dates, birthdays.
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  S3: But I'm fascinated by the competitive side with actual official tournaments.
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  S3: Just explain how that's unfolded in Sydney and Australia over
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  S3: the last few years, where there's teams competing for points.
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  S4: I think that's a really good side of the business
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  S4: that a lot of people don't see. They see the
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  S4: fun corporate side, which we do very well. But a
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  S4: lot of our staff and customers have just recently been
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  S4: over to Canada to compete. And so they have the
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  S4: full kiss my axe uniform going over there. And we
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  S4: did pretty well. There's a whole sport, so it runs
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  S4: every week for eight weeks. So we do eight week blocks,
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  S4: and you're basically throwing every night to try and get
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  S4: high in your like a league table. And then on
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  S4: the eighth week, there's a final showdown between everybody that's
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  S4: played and anyone can win it. But the top player
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  S4: plays the the bottom player. So the first seven weeks
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  S4: are just seeding. Um, but yeah, it, it, it's created
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  S4: this little community of people that just really love it
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  S4: as a sport and it's just a great place to
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  S4: hang out on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday night really.
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  S3: And you've seen venues, axe throwing venues grow across the country,
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  S3: which indicates the sport is popular, but it's a really,
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  S3: really good activity just for a week night or for
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  S3: the weekend. Let me ask you, though, you've now got
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  S3: three venues. That means you're paying three lots of rent.
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  S3: You've got three times as many staff. How do you
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  S3: manage those? Because it's very, very difficult for businesses now
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  S3: with all those overheads that grow and increase every 12 months,
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  S3: the rent, the minimum wage charges, I don't know whether
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  S3: you're licensing or your insurance increases, but how do you
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  S3: manage that?
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  S4: Yeah, everything. It's hard. I'm not going to lie, but, um,
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  S4: it's me and my wife, basically. And she works harder
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  S4: than anyone on the business and it costs to go
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  S4: up every year. I think our insurance is, is massive.
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  S4: Now rents have increased a huge amount, but wages as
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  S4: well have gone up. Everything's gone up. Electricity is double
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  S4: from when we first signed the lease.
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  S3: Just repeat that though for people that missed that. Jason,
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  S3: your electricity bill has what since you opened?
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  S4: Oh, it's doubled. Doubled since we've. Yeah. More than doubled
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  S4: right since the beginning. Yes.
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  S3: Jason. Just lastly, if you're doing this from scratch tomorrow
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  S3: all over again and you were giving yourself some if
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  S3: you were doing, if you're giving yourself one bit of
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  S3: advice to do something different or to learn a lesson
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  S3: a little bit earlier, what would you be saying?
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  S4: Oh, that is a very good question. I think do
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  S4: your research and get good at negotiating, and you've got
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  S4: to try to negotiate some good terms on your lease.
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  S4: I think that's what helped us at the beginning. We
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  S4: negotiated that if we closed due to the pandemic that
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  S4: we won't have to pay rent. And luckily that was
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  S4: in there when we did close down the second time
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  S4: due to Covid. So we didn't have to pay rent. Um,
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  S4: and then negotiating terms with your suppliers as well. Um,
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  S4: it's a, it's a people business, so you have to
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  S4: be good with people. And so if you're a people person,
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  S4: then yeah, definitely get into hospitality.
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  S3: Well said Jason, we really appreciate your time. Thanks for
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  S3: joining us on this week's segment of Let's Talk Business,
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  S3: brought to you by our friends at NAB. Thank you.
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  S4: Thanks for having me.
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  S3: That's Jason McDonald, the co-founder of Kiss My Axe. Now
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  S3: they've got three fully licensed locations for our Sydney listeners
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  S3: at Alexandria, Brookvale and Blacktown. Great success story. Over the
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  S3: last 5 or 6 years.
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  S2: You've been listening to Let's Talk Business. Thanks to NAB.
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  S2: Whatever role you need us to play, we're your partner
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  S2: for every stage of business. NAB more than money.