Company: Competitive Socialising, trading as Swingers, the Crazy Golf Club
Nomination Submitted by: Awards intelligence
Company Description: Competitive Socialising, trading as Swingers, the Crazy Golf Club, offers unique cocktail venues centred around indoor crazy golf. Each of our 5 locations combines cocktails, gourmet street food with crazy golf in large-scale venues in London, Washington DC and New York City, with more US venues coming soon as well as others in Europe and the Middle East. https://swingers.club/uk
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Hospitality & Leisure - Large
 Nomination Title: Competitive Socialising, trading as Swingers, the Crazy Golf Club
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the achievements of the nominated organization since 1 January 2021, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
Competitive Socialising, trading as Swingers, the Crazy Golf Club
Entering Category B21
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 199 words used.
Competitive Socialising, trading as Swingers, was founded by entrepreneurs Jeremy Simmonds and Matt Grech-Smith, who were friends from university when they ran highly successful music events for students.
Their success caught the eye of global marketing agency VCCP who bought their business. After several years gaining national experience with VCCP, they left and set up their own enterprise Swingers in 2014.
They tested their innovative idea for a cocktail venue based around indoor crazy golf with a pop-up venue in East London.
Its success led to them establishing their first permanent venue in the City of London in 2016 –offering two nine-hole crazy golf courses, three gourmet street food vendors and five cocktail bars. The key market was corporate entertainment.
After opening a second permanent venue, in the heart of London’s West End in 2018, they decided to take the business to the giant U.S. market, supported by capital funding.
They opened Swingers in Duport Circle, Washington, DC, in June 2021, followed by Swingers’ biggest venue in New York City’s NoMad district in June 2022.
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- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Outline the organization's achievements since the beginning of 2021 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
At Swingers, we have embarked on a major programme of international expansion since early 2021.
This has seen our award-winning hospitality company open venues in:
- Dupont Circle in Washington, DC, in June 2021
- The NoMad district of New York City, in June 2022
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We intend to continue our stellar growth trajectory with plans to more than triple the size of our company in the next three years.
Our plan is to open a further 12 venues before the end of 2026, taking the overall total from five to 17. These will be located across the US, the UK and the Middle East.
We attained a turnover of £36 million in YE 2022 – a 100% increase on revenue in YE 2021, and nearly seven times our COVID-hit 2020 turnover of £5.4 million.
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Our 2022 turnover includes £18 million from US operations – an extraordinary achievement given that the New York venue had traded for only six months of that financial year.
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In addition to our success as a company, we are also breathing new life into the hospitality industry while also clearly demonstrating that there is a real future in creating exceptional fun experiences for family and friends.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
Our drive to build an international business has seen us overcome numerous challenges, including the devastating impact of the COVID pandemic.
In the UK, we have also had to overcome the significant challenges of train strikes preventing people from getting to central London and the ongoing cost of living crisis.
In addition, many business advisors had grave reservations about taking the business overseas.
But, having explored the US market thoroughly, our Co-Chief Executives were convinced the move to major American cities was the right one.
Their entrepreneurial spirit has proved correct and the first two US venues have exceeded expectations, raising revenue of £18 million in 2022. The 22,000 sq ft venue in the trendy New York district of NoMad attracts over 6,000 guests each week and is the biggest revenue raiser in the group.
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We believe our success clearly demonstrates that there is great demand for exciting places to visit with friends. In an increasingly digital world, we are passionate about creating meaningful and fun real-world experiences where people can come together.
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 154 words used.
Please find attached a supporting document that includes images of some of the Swingers cocktail and indoor mini golf venues, plus customer testimonials and some examples of media coverage.
We put a great deal of effort into each venue and taylor the street food on offer to local tastes.
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However the entrepreneurial flair of our Co-Founders and Co-Chief Executives Matt and Jeremy have proved correct each time. As a compnay, we have been bolstered in our growth trajectory by the overwhelming demand we have seen for our venues. This was evident during the COVID pandemic. We were fully booked every time we were able to re-open our locations as COVID restrictions eased.
As a result we used our time wisely during the pandemic to refurbish some of our venues and plan our major programme of expansion.
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