We were lucky to catch up with Graff Kelly recently and have shared our conversation below.
Graff, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
My Wife and I met in 1997 in Key West. We were planning our wedding in 1999 and wanted a fun way to introduce my friends and family from London, England to her family and friends from Chicago. We designed a fun scavenger hunt for everyone not only as a great way for them all to get to know each other but to also see Key West from a whole new and exciting perspective. After our honeymoon, the scavenger hunt was born as a business. We now offer Scavenger Hunts in Key West, South Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Delray Beach and custom hunts in other cities upon request.
Graff, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
We offer custom designed scavenger hunts for all types of groups. Originally we just offered them for corporate groups as a modern team building option but we now offer them to all kinds of groups for special events. Wedding groups love them as a way to showcase their home or destination wedding location. We have set up many birthday groups as a fun and different way to party and many other events including baby showers, anniversaries, and surprise engagements,
Conversations about M&A are often focused on multibillion dollar transactions – but M&A can be an important part of a small or medium business owner’s journey. We’d love to hear about your experience with selling businesses.
Yes, we actually gave the opportunity to our long term employee Casey to take over the Key West office, He was keen to be his own boss and we didn’t want to lose him so we came up with a plan for him to take over the whole Key West and Florida Keys Scavenger Hunt. Rather than lose a great employee we trained him and mentored him with the new business. 3 years later he is more successful than ever and he’s even branching out and has created an official Key West version of Monopoly in collaboration with toymaker Hasbro. He’s been a real star!
Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?
We always offered prizes as part of the Scavenger Hunt and we used to buy products from a local Balloon and Gift Basket company. When the owners of that business decided to sell we were first in line to take it over. Lots of our groups not only wanted prizes but they also wanted welcome amenities when they arrived at their hotels. We came up with amazing local products to showcase the flavors and aromas of the area. It’s been a huge success.
Contact Info:
- Website: SouthBeachHunt.com FortLauderdaleHunt.com
- Instagram: SouthBeachHunt
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SouthBeachHunt
- Linkedin: Graff Kelly
- Twitter: SouthBeachHunt
- Yelp: South Beach Scavenger Hunt
- Other: KeyWestHunt.com SouthBeachHunt.com FortLauderdaleHunt.com DelrayBeachScavengerHunt.com
Image Credits
Casey Arnold Graff Kelly