News of the family entertainment centre business in Lebanon has come from Georges Elias, CEO of Robert’s group, the operator and distributor based in Beirut.
Some of the FECs in the region, Elias reports, have gone out of business in the wake of the pandemic, but most are "holding their breath" to see out the worst of the infection impact.
“We have been helping our customers in the region to sustain the blow to their business created by the lockdown with a trade-in programme.,” he said.
“This is giving operators a chance to jump-start their operations once things begin to get back to normal.” He added: “We have been very active selling reconditioned games sourced from our customers in the region. The games are finding new homes in the US, Europe and Africa.”
The Robert’s Group sister company, Cosmofun, specialising in the operation of FECs, has received two ISO certifications, ISO 9001 for quality assurance and ISO 450001 for health and safety, for the concepts that it operates, often under a franchise arrangement. They are Cosmocity, Monkey Maze, Play by Cosmocity, and Pop Up by Cosmocity.
Said Elias: “This means that its service in-store and behind the scenes are of the highest and strictest quality standards to satisfy customer demands and of the highest standards of safety.”
The investment division of the group has partnered in a number of franchises of those concepts in Egypt, he reports. One Cosmocity opened in Cairo at the end of 2019 and subsequently signed for two Monkey Maze franchises that have opened and one additional venue is under negotiation.
