Just one day after opening a new themed room for Burlington residents to test themselves in, Fazed Escape Rooms had to temporarily shut its doors on Oct. 6 due to a burst waterline flooding the business.
Phil Hatton, the owner of Fazed Escape Rooms, has started a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe for $5,000 to try to cover his bills, rent and the last week of wages for his displaced employees, who will either have to find new work or take employment insurance.
“I feel defeated,” Hatton said. “We had just opened up our brand new room the day before. We had it fully booked on that day and we had good feedback, everyone loved the room so we were excited to keep it going and get all of our bookings in. Sure enough, the next day it flooded and it damaged all three of my rooms.”
Hatton’s landlord said that there was around $30,000 in damages due to the burst waterline, which damaged Fazed’s furniture, walls and flooring. Due to complications with Hatton’s content insurance, which was allegedly cancelled in 2022 without Hatton knowing, it’s unclear if any of the damages to the escape rooms will be covered.
“We were just trying to stay alive,” he said. “Covid almost wiped us out as well, and this year has been a slow year for escape rooms all around North America too. We were just trying to hang in there. I’ve been working on this room for four years and, all of a sudden, it got flooded the day after I finished opening it. It’s like someone restoring a car for years and then getting smashed into on the first day out.”
Hatton was planning to sell Fazed Escape Rooms once the business became profitable and self-sufficient, but due to the repairs needed to return the themed rooms to how they were he is also considering selling off the business’ assets, finding an investor or business partner to fund the repairs or continuing to operate Fazed himself to recoup his losses.
The flooding also came at the beginning of Fazed’s busiest time of year, which lasts from October to February.
“We want to reopen,” Hatton said. “When that will happen, I don’t know. We’ve had to cancel pre-booked events for parties and team building exercises, I’ve been getting emails about other potential Christmas parties and I’ve had to tell them to go somewhere else.”
The fundraiser on GoFundMe has raised around $1,100 out of the $5,000 goal that Hatton set when starting the crowdfunding campaign on Oct. 16.
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