Deliberation
Seeing that I am one of the current partners of the company that is operating the Papilonia in Brno, I had the opportunity of watching the origin of the whole concept of the butterfly house from its very inception, which was my decision whether the project was interesting or not, this was rather simple.
This project was fascinating with its concept and commercial potential.
The moment that the Papilonia model was offered as a franchise, we did not hesitate, and we joined the project.
Location
In terms of looking for a location, we considered several important aspects:
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Size of the city and the catchment area in terms of the population size
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The attractiveness of the location for tourists
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Traffic availability of the location
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Cumulation of potential visitors in the site in question
Planning and Design
From our perspective, the planning was one of the most difficult parts of the entire project.
The franchise support in the form of the manual and the expertise of the franchisor proved to be key. Seeing that the project is absolutely atypical, we often had to consult individual phases of the project during the planning. Without this expert help, the entire project would have been almost impossible to finish without making many mistakes, for which we would not even know the solution.
Construction
The realisation of the construction was given to a construction company, whose task was to transform a former restaurant with an indoor terrace into a functioning butterfly house.
The construction was accompanied by many standard small adjustments and additions to the project.
Overall, the construction work, including the decorating and gardening work following it, took eight months, whereby the duration of the realisation was partially affected by the spring lockdown during the first wave of the coronavirus crisis.
Stylisation and Decoration
We wanted the stylisation of the butterfly house to evoke the atmosphere of a jungle. The entire design was planned with this in mind. The system of pavements, bridges, flower installations, and water surfaces are to create a zone imitating the natural environment of exotic butterflies.
We then even added further representatives of the animal kingdom to this installation - fish, turtles, and several specimens of small birds.
We find the overall result to be well done and corresponding to the project designs.
Launch
The Butterfly House in Brno launched operations at the beginning of July 2020, and it is possible to say that when adhering to all requirements and recommendations (the manual and consultations), we were able to create a suitable ecosystem in which the exotic butterflies are thriving, and that has a chance of working in the long-term in the given location.
Operations
Technically speaking, regular operations are easily manageable thanks to the manual, keeping in mind that training the staff serving the flight zone of the butterfly house is not a problem. An advantage is the continuous support on part of the franchisor, who helps us solve any eventual questions pertaining to the operations.
Reaction and Customer Evaluation
Within a few weeks of operations, Papilonia Brno became one of the most visited attractions in Brno, and we also noticed many guests who came from quite a distance.
Basically, we have not noticed any explicitly negative reviews, which is proven by our ratings on Google, 4.8 out of 5, and on Facebook, 5 out of 5.
Conclusion
Although the Papilonia Brno project has been in operations for only four months, we can claim that the decision to become a franchisee of the Papilonia s.r.o. company was a super decision that allowed us to create a project with remarkably interesting human and commercial potential. In fact, the Papilonia project is so interesting to us that we are considering expanding it in the future to other destinations.
Radek Volf, Executive Secretary Papilonia Brno