For more than two decades, Thomas and Whitney Hughes were in the skydiving world, experiencing the exciting, fast-paced industry through both the athlete and management lenses. Over time, the two became increasingly involved in management, and they began to consider how they might build something for themselves. As escape room enthusiasts, that seemed like the natural next step. 

Though they considered developing and launching their own escape room model, they quickly realized a franchise would provide the structure and support they needed to launch and scale quickly, and they found Escapology, a 100-plus-unit escape room franchise brand.

In just a couple of years, the pair has combined their skillsets to launch their first Escapology venue and become one of the brand’s top-performing franchises. Now, the pair is working to maintain this momentum while preparing to open multiple additional venues in Texas and beyond.

Thomas and Whitney Hughes took the time to chat with 1851 Franchise to discuss all of this and more. Here’s what they had to say:

1851 Franchise: Frame your personal story for us. What do you want us to know?

Thomas Hughes: We were both heavily involved in skydiving — me for 25 years, for Whitney, a little bit less, but something similar. We actually met in skydiving. She was the office manager up at Sky Chicago, and I was on the U.S. skydiving team for a long time. We ended up moving down to Texas to run a large skydiving facility between Austin and San Antonio. We did that for five years. And although we enjoyed it and it gave us a lot of good experience, we really wanted to step into something of our own. We used to do date nights up in Austin where we would go up there, have some Indian food and play an escape room. And we decided that we would love to build an escape room.

Whitney Hughes: We got a lot of management experience with running the skydiving drop zones over time. We thought we could make a really good team. He's the operations side as the face of the business, and I’m more back-of-house. We realized that we actually work really well together in life and in work, so we were excited to test ourselves and make our own business of it.

1851: What did you do before franchising, and how did you decide franchising made sense for you?

Thomas: From that decision to build an escape room, we went down many different roads. The first one was to build our own escape rooms, develop our own games, put our own systems in place… and then we quickly realized that that was a terrible idea. It was going to take us years to get open, years of development, endless amounts of money. So then we started researching franchising. We looked into a couple of different franchises. 

We got in touch with Escapology, and they seemed to have answers for all the questions. They already had probably 60 or 70 venues operational at that point, and we quickly realized that this was an opportunity for us to not just do something that we enjoy but also have a successful business.

Whitney: Honestly, it was scary and fun. It was a risk for us, but honestly, it has been such a tremendous decision that we made.

1851: What made you pick this brand? What excites you most about this company?

Thomas: What really stood out to me about Escapology was how it elevates the escape room experience. The brand brings an upscale design element that makes guests feel comfortable the moment they walk in, which really sets it apart from the typical escape room. I was also impressed by the support the team provides in finding the right location and the wide variety of games available, which allows each venue to offer something fresh and exciting for guests.

Whitney: As a consumer and a woman in her mid-40s, I love the model. It offers entertainment that is not just going to a movie. You're interacting with each other. You're using your brain. It's a more appealing activity to do than just go to a movie theater or go play video games. And you are not scared to go in some back alley.

1851: What do you hope to achieve with your business? What are your plans for growth?

Thomas: Every month we're hitting new revenue numbers, so we get kind of a good win every first of the month when we can celebrate that. Since March this year we've been the top of the Gold League, so we've been the number one franchise for the last three months, which is really great. We've really been in the top five since probably about six months after we opened. 

We're actively expanding our portfolio with several new locations in development across Texas and Kansas. Some are currently in the site selection and lease negotiation phase, while others are moving into construction. Our goal is to open three additional locations over the next four years, and we're excited about the opportunities ahead as we continue growing with the brand.

1851: What advice do you have for other people thinking about becoming franchise owners?

Whitney: Escapology has a blueprint. "Marketing, be open, have great customer service, keep your games functioning." It's a blueprint. If you follow the blueprint, you're going to be fine. 

Follow the blueprint. Find a good location, open with a lot of games, marketing and be open every day. Make it easy for the customer to give you money.

About Escapology

Escapology is the leading escape room franchise that has redefined the industry with a high-performance, hospitality-focused model. Founded in Orlando in 2014, the brand provides immersive escape room experiences where teams solve puzzles and complete tasks to escape. Now backed by private equity, Escapology has professionalized its operations and set the stage for its next wave of growth.

Treating every guest interaction as a curated experience, not just a transaction; leveraging high-production-value games; and bringing exclusive IP partnerships, like Batman and Scooby-Doo to the game experience; Escapology focuses on quality and builds stickiness among guests.