Home Based Business Spotlight--The Love Maine Lobster Claw Game
Internet video sites offer a great variety of streaming media, ranging from long-forgotten black-and-white films to home movies of people with their cats. Something you’re not likely to see getting much screen time on these sites, however, are franchise businesses, with one very memorable exception: The Love Maine Lobster Claw Game. In its home state of Maine, this business made the local news just over a year ago, when a franchisee arranged to position one of his machines in a neighborhood convenience store. The report, which has since been copied to several internet video sites, gave momentary spotlight to this rather interesting machine, which was receiving a good deal of local fanfare.
At first glance, the machine stirs curious stares and chuckles from store visitors: it looks more like some kind of arcade attraction than a vending machine. And, in fact, it is more of an arcade attraction than a vending machine; though paying customers do get to take home the live lobsters that they’ve purchased, they only get to do so after grabbing the desired lobster from its tank using a joystick-controlled, mechanical claw that dangles over the water. By design, the contraption is part vending machine, part aquarium, and part arcade claw game, and because it’s such an unorthodox crossbreed of a machine, people love to play it.
Currently found in restaurants, bars, and casinos, The Love Maine Lobster Claw Game is the perfect vending franchise for busy, public meeting places. Any place where people are likely to be looking for a way to entertain themselves while waiting for a table or a drink is precisely where this machine does its best, filling those spare minutes with its very novel form of amusement. And as current experience shows, other nearby patrons are very likely to cruise over behind the player, enjoy watching him be repeatedly evaded by some slippery crustaceans, and eventually try it themselves. In no time at all, these machines have a propensity to draw the attention of an entire room, eat dollar after dollar from the hands of hopeful claw operators, and quickly pay back their owners and the establishments that house them.
It sounds like fun, but a wise entrepreneur is sure to ask just how costly such an outlandish home based business is when it finally comes down to money and time. As far as financial costs are concerned, the cost is relatively low, coming in at a little less than $15,000 as an initial investment, after which, the only real overhead costs are restocking lobsters (which are rarely actually caught) and paying a meager rental fee to the establishments housing the machines. The initial franchising fee pays for a single machine and 12 lobsters, and is usually capable of paying for itself in the first 10 months, taking in roughly $500/wk.
But, of course, for the entrepreneur that wants more than a simple work from home starter package, The Love Maine Lobster Claw Game also provides a larger plan that includes 10 machines. And though the $175,000 price tag on that arrangement may sound high, it’s really not, considering all that’s included in the purchase price. For the convenience of the franchisee, the franchisor takes the time to place all 10 machines in willing restaurants, bars, shops, or casinos in the area of the new franchise business, leaving weekly upkeep as the only remaining responsibility on the shoulders of the franchisee. The franchisor even takes care of the first stock for all the machines, pays the first two weeks of rent for them all, and equips each location with a "Claw of Fame" plaque, so that everyone will know who the local champion is.
The backbone of this great home base business, the machine itself, is quite an achievement, successfully combining two different kinds of devices that would never otherwise even be in the same room, and doing so successfully. Standing at roughly 7’ tall, 4’ across, and 3’deep, it has a tank capable of housing up to 30 pounds of lobster, supported by a filtration system vastly superior to the home-aquarium-quality systems that similar lobster tank manufacturers often use. The joystick and claw are top of the line, designed to make catching a squirrely lobster possible, but not easy. And when someone does manage to snag themselves a lobster dinner, the bagging system in the drop chute packs it up and makes it ready to take home or toss into the kettle right there at the restaurant.
Best of all, the tank, the device, and the business are all humane for the lobsters (despite the fact that losing lobsters are eventually eaten). The number of lobsters in the tank is always kept in a healthy range, claws are all banded to keep them from harming each other, the collector claw is gentle on them, and they are fed and housed properly right up to the day that they’re finally caught.
Whether you own the work at home business, rent out space for a machine, fight for lobster rights, or simply pop in your money and play the game, there is no doubt that this business for sale is one of those business opportunities not to be passed up. Franchises come and go, but solid businesses that offer a unique and desirable product or service stick around. If you can’t find one near you to try, get online, check out the video, and you’re sure to like it as much as everyone else has.
November 11, 2008
At first glance, the machine stirs curious stares and chuckles from store visitors: it looks more like some kind of arcade attraction than a vending machine. And, in fact, it is more of an arcade attraction than a vending machine; though paying customers do get to take home the live lobsters that they’ve purchased, they only get to do so after grabbing the desired lobster from its tank using a joystick-controlled, mechanical claw that dangles over the water. By design, the contraption is part vending machine, part aquarium, and part arcade claw game, and because it’s such an unorthodox crossbreed of a machine, people love to play it.
Currently found in restaurants, bars, and casinos, The Love Maine Lobster Claw Game is the perfect vending franchise for busy, public meeting places. Any place where people are likely to be looking for a way to entertain themselves while waiting for a table or a drink is precisely where this machine does its best, filling those spare minutes with its very novel form of amusement. And as current experience shows, other nearby patrons are very likely to cruise over behind the player, enjoy watching him be repeatedly evaded by some slippery crustaceans, and eventually try it themselves. In no time at all, these machines have a propensity to draw the attention of an entire room, eat dollar after dollar from the hands of hopeful claw operators, and quickly pay back their owners and the establishments that house them.
It sounds like fun, but a wise entrepreneur is sure to ask just how costly such an outlandish home based business is when it finally comes down to money and time. As far as financial costs are concerned, the cost is relatively low, coming in at a little less than $15,000 as an initial investment, after which, the only real overhead costs are restocking lobsters (which are rarely actually caught) and paying a meager rental fee to the establishments housing the machines. The initial franchising fee pays for a single machine and 12 lobsters, and is usually capable of paying for itself in the first 10 months, taking in roughly $500/wk.
But, of course, for the entrepreneur that wants more than a simple work from home starter package, The Love Maine Lobster Claw Game also provides a larger plan that includes 10 machines. And though the $175,000 price tag on that arrangement may sound high, it’s really not, considering all that’s included in the purchase price. For the convenience of the franchisee, the franchisor takes the time to place all 10 machines in willing restaurants, bars, shops, or casinos in the area of the new franchise business, leaving weekly upkeep as the only remaining responsibility on the shoulders of the franchisee. The franchisor even takes care of the first stock for all the machines, pays the first two weeks of rent for them all, and equips each location with a "Claw of Fame" plaque, so that everyone will know who the local champion is.
The backbone of this great home base business, the machine itself, is quite an achievement, successfully combining two different kinds of devices that would never otherwise even be in the same room, and doing so successfully. Standing at roughly 7’ tall, 4’ across, and 3’deep, it has a tank capable of housing up to 30 pounds of lobster, supported by a filtration system vastly superior to the home-aquarium-quality systems that similar lobster tank manufacturers often use. The joystick and claw are top of the line, designed to make catching a squirrely lobster possible, but not easy. And when someone does manage to snag themselves a lobster dinner, the bagging system in the drop chute packs it up and makes it ready to take home or toss into the kettle right there at the restaurant.
Best of all, the tank, the device, and the business are all humane for the lobsters (despite the fact that losing lobsters are eventually eaten). The number of lobsters in the tank is always kept in a healthy range, claws are all banded to keep them from harming each other, the collector claw is gentle on them, and they are fed and housed properly right up to the day that they’re finally caught.
Whether you own the work at home business, rent out space for a machine, fight for lobster rights, or simply pop in your money and play the game, there is no doubt that this business for sale is one of those business opportunities not to be passed up. Franchises come and go, but solid businesses that offer a unique and desirable product or service stick around. If you can’t find one near you to try, get online, check out the video, and you’re sure to like it as much as everyone else has.
November 11, 2008
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