Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessica Black. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jessica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

We didn’t know what we were getting into when starting Peachy Playtown. We started quite literally out of a shed with a hand-me-down enclosed trailer from one of our dad’s. We were two mama’s with a dream and a wish, nothing could stop us! Both of us, Jess and Jenn are co-owners of Peachy Playtown Playspace & Studio in Perry, GA.

Our mission goes something like this: Peachy Playtown strives to be a trusted community hub, promoting active play, creativity, and social connections. Our commitment extends to providing exceptional service, promoting family bonding, and contributing positively to the communities we serve. Peachy Playtown is driven by a passion for childhood development, innovation, and creating moments that inspire laughter and curiosity. With a focus on continuous improvement, sustainability, and community engagement, we aim to be the premier destination for families seeking quality play and memorable events.

Our community certainly had a huge need for things to do for this specific age group, 0-6, and we wanted to fill that void. We quickly became active in our local Chambers of Commerce. We went to meetings, networked, and spread the word before our first set of softplay equipment arrived. Between the two of us (Jenn and myself) we had over a decade of marketing experience, and years of experience working education. The lack of play, free-play, and imaginative play in public schools propelled our vision further to make our dream a reality by providing a literal ‘play service’ to the families of our community.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The softplay industry is a quickly growning, vibrant industry! The barrier to entry is comparatively low for starting entrepreneurs, but the sweat equity is REAL. Peachy Playtown is co-owned by two best friends, Jessica and Jennifer who have been by each other’s sides through most of life’s up’s, downs, and now run a successful and growing playspace, studio, and mobile division. We started with many late night planning sessions, mock-ups, sketches, and pages of goals. It was clear from the beginning that mobile was the best way to enter into our industry. So, with a gifted trailer, and an empty shed, we began our journey delivering softplay setups each weekend for birthdays, church events, community events and so-forth. Not only were we so forward in our social media approach and marketing style, but word of mouth within our community and joining our local Chambers of Commerce helped us become almost a household name within the range of our area code. We continued to reinvest during the first year of business, upgrading to u-hauls, a bigger storage facility, then a cargo van, a new trailer, better booking software, and before we knew it we were ready to look for an indoor facility. Our hard work was paying off! There is quite a bit of physical labor in this industry. Cleaning equipment, disinfecting, washing, loading into trailers, unloading at the event location, then coming later to pickup that same day, re-load the trailer, and then drop the equipment back off at the shed/warehouse! It is quite physically demanding. We were working 3-5 events per day on the weekends!

I believe Peachy Playtown is set apart because of our firm foundation spiritually, and because of our work ethic and customer service skills. We now have a newly opened indoor playspace and studio in Perry, GA where people can come together, meet, fellowship and hang-out, or even get to know other moms organically! We provide wonderful events for toddlers and young children to play, climb, and BE KIDS! Our indoor facility has a cafe area that families can bring food, snacks, and drinks. We have a small coffee bar, softplay area, fully stocked bathrooms with toiletries for mama’s and caregivers, a nursing area for breastfeeding and pumping moms, a two and under play area, pretend play houses, and a spacious party-room. We have four outstanding employees .

How’d you meet your business partner?

Jessica Black and Jennifer Bullington met in 2010 when they were placed on the same CGSA soccer team, they were 10 years old at the time.

Their friendship hit it off right away and they became best friends. They ended up going to the same high school, college and now live on 30 acres with a shared homestead.

They raise their families together and have a flourishing business!

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

We started our Peachy Playtown (PPT) journey in 2022 at the SBDC office in Macon. We met with Peter Williams, who became a great source of information. When we first started PPT we wanted to have a Play Cafe, but at that time covid was around and banks weren’t lending money, especially to start up companies. So, Jess and Jen put their heads together and decided to go mobile. We launched our company in Oct. of 2022 by ordering all custom equipment. The funds for the start up came from both of our life savings.

As we grew on social media, in the community and within our company. we knew we had enough capital to start looking for a facility.

We met with many banks to figure out how we could get a loan as a ‘start up’ with a few months under our belt.

Back to the SBDC we went to meet with Peter. He suggested an SBA (Small Business Association) loan.

We made connections with a SBA bank and went to work providing all of the paperwork they needed. Going through the SBA for a loan was a tedious process. But after 4 months, we got approved for a $115,000 loan.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.peachyplaytown.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peachyplaytown/
• Facebook: facebook.com/peachyplaytown
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6zRaNroB7nP-Mw-82RuwQg

Image Credits
All original photos.