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Since opening his first location on 75 Street, Flowers has since opened a second store on 124 Street, tripled his staff to 19, and has plans for major renovations and menu changes. He’s also considering opening at least one more store that would be owned directly by him.

Board games remain a growing business. One commonly cited study by market researcher Euromonitor International pegged global sales of puzzles and games at $9.6 billion in 2016, up from $9.3 billion in 2013.

Blake Mitchell, one of Flowers’s franchise partners, said the plan is to focus first on Western Canada, then move east.

“I’d say about 75 (stores) in Canada,” Mitchell said of the potential for growth. “We could probably do about 30 or 40 in Ontario alone.”

As part of the franchise agreement, owners get help choosing a location, negotiating a lease, working with a bank, design and construction of the store, developing the menu and training at an existing Table Top Cafe.

Franchisees will be required to pay an initial one-time $20,000 franchise fee, plus an ongoing royalty of six per cent of revenue, and two per cent of revenue for advertising.

“It’s a tough pill to pay eight per cent of your revenue to somebody,” Mitchell says. “But you can’t argue the fact that there are a lot of chains out there that are very busy.”

Competition ‘intense’

In Edmonton, there are at least four other board game cafes operating, including Hexagon Cafe on Whyte Avenue, the Gamer’s Lodge on 124 Street, Board N Brew Cafe on 103 Street, and The Pawn and Pint in Callingwood.

“I think it is getting pretty intense,” Flowers said of the competition. “But I believe there is enough demand for that.”

The only company that Flowers and Mitchell are aware of that has tried franchising a board game cafe in North America is Toronto-based Snakes and Lattes.

“I know of lots of cool different versions of board game cafes. No one is 100 per cent sure of the best way to do it, and we think we are,” Flowers said.

cjerema@postmedia.com