Buying a business

When we first had the idea of going to Canada, finding a business was paramount. The immigration authorities had determined several areas where they needed skilled labour and entrepreneurs, and one area was tourism. As this process would also take up to 3 years so the Provincial governments stepped in with the PNP (Provincial Nominee Program) which would provide temporary permits in the short term that would take 4-5 months to obtain. We chose this route under the regional business category which involved investing in a tourist related business outside Vancouver.

Searching the internet is often interesting, but also can be quite frustrating and fruitless. However, networking produced a contact in Hamburg whose agency had become the European representatives for promoting business in British Columbia. One of his contacts had located an entrepreneur looking for a partner in a small attraction park. The die was cast.

As I had been getting fed up with running hotels (and not that well!!), I had become somewhat obsessed with putting together a children’s fun park. Maybe because my own children were growing up and I had become aware that in this modern age there were regularly a shortage of the sort of facilities where parents could relax whilst their children could run wild and have fun, safely. This was never more the case than in France, but after 4 years of fruitlessly searching, I had concluded that the market was not that strong, the French would never spend vast amounts of money on extras (where most theme parks, attractions parks etc get up to 50% of their revenues), and would also spend much less per annum on their children going to such venues. When you then throw in the excessive labour charges (payroll taxes of 60%), an inexperienced young labour pool (most young people in France do not work or do odd jobs), so the project whittled down and down, until I became exasperated. I also looked at Spain, but lack of good contacts meant I could spend a long time looking and hunting, and since most of my enquiries ended without replies or reactions, so that was also proving a poor line to follow.

Then just as we get into the idea of looking at Canada, so we find exactly what we are looking for. In addition, the park was struggling, and Gary the owner, was a proven good builder, but desperately in need of someone with some cash and marketing to help take the business forward. TBJ was a nice park, with some space, near the resort of Harrison Hot Springs, and in need of fun attractions for kids.

No one should believe this was going to be an easy task, the park was losing piles of cash, and Gary was in a seemingly non stop battle with the local authorities. Some of my first tasks were to get him to talk to them and get the permit sorted, rather than standing his ground and waiting for them to shift. The policy seemed to be working, but the layers of Canadian bureaucracy also presented some substantial barriers. Nice people, slow procedures, lots of politics too.

I had also come across some other opportunities, including campgrounds, adventure parks, snack bars, but these would have to wait until my feet were on the ground, the bank account was running, the phone worked, and that I could get used to the system. In the meantime it has become a combination of excitement and frustration in varying and often unequal doses.

Tony