The hospitality group behind “competitive socialising” bars Flight Club Darts and Electric Shuffle has secured a £60m funding package from Santander, HSBC and Barclays to support its global growth plans. Red Engine is this summer opening an Electric Shuffle shuffleboard bar in Manchester and a Flight Club darts bar in Liverpool, adding to its existing 25 global venues. Now the group plans to use its new funding package to help it grow to 33 global venues this year. Red Engine has 17 owner-operated venues, with another eight partner-owned by State of Play Hospitality (Flight Club in North America) and Night Owl (Flight Club in Australia). In February, Steve Moore, CEO and founder at Flight Club, and said: "As one of the UK's most exciting cities, we've been looking forward to bringing Flight Club to
Liverpool for a number of years.” Meanwhile Electric Shuffle is due to open , in summer. Red Engine also plans to open a Flight Club in Oxford later this year and an Electric Shuffle in
New York this summer. Globally, its franchise partners will open Flight Clubs in Philadelphia,
Washington,
Sydney and Melbourne. Last year Red Engine-owned venues achieved sales of £67m, while Red Engine and partner venue sales combined hit more than £100m. Ross Shepley-Smith, CFO at Red Engine said, “For the last nine years, everything we have done has been with our customers in mind. Our in-house game developers, our interior and design teams, our venue teams of chefs, bartenders and everything in between, have strived to give people the best experience possible. It’s because of this that we’ve built such a loyal customer following, and it’s these customers that have made it possible to grow as we have done. “Our mission has always been to make groups of
Friends everywhere ridiculously happy, and we couldn’t be more excited to continue that journey with this new facility.” Zelmari Geldenhuys, associate director for strategic debt solutions at Santander said, “Red Engine continues to deliver impressive growth across multiple geographies. Santander has supported this growth since 2016 and we are delighted to be able to continue to do so at this important juncture in the group’s evolution” James Protheroe, relationship director for consumer industrials, at HSBC UK, said: “HSBC
UK is delighted to continue to support the Red Engine group. This upsized facility will see the group build out its presence both in the UK and in the US, and further cement the already strong position enjoyed by the Flight Club and Electric Shuffle brands within the leisure and hospitality sector.” Phil Richardson, hospitality and leisure director at Barclays said: “Red Engine are a great example of an innovative business in the hospitality sector. We’re proud to support them with lending to continue their growth, as they expand their business globally.”