The Buzziest Businesses

Following a trend is easy: just ask anyone who opened a paintball arena, a zumba studio, or a beer trolley. But it takes a magical mix of timing, strategy, and conviction to make these kinds of ventures last.

- Ashlea Halpern

NATE MARTIN’S timing was perfect. “Escape rooms” were having an international moment—starting with one business in Kyoto, Japan, in 2007, and then rapidly expanding across Asia and Europe. They’re like an interactive puzzle: People pay to be locked inside a room and work together to complete a series of tasks in order to “escape.” In August 2013, just as the concept was expanding in the U.S., Martin invested $7,000 to build one called Puzzle Break in Seattle, and he made his money back by the end of the year. He then franchised in Long Island and struck a deal with Royal Caribbean to install escape rooms on cruise ships—grossing $660,000 in 2015, and putting him on track to more than double his revenue in 2016.

Despite his success, he cautions entrepreneurs against following his lead. “There are now more than a thousand escape rooms, each competing with exponentially larger budgets,” he says. “The barrier to entry is rising so fast, no one could get away with what we did.”

Hear that? Martin is saying he bought into a trend—just like those who opened drive-in movie theaters, oxygen bars, and Jazzercise studios. And trends tend to follow a particular trajectory: up up up, and then dowwwwwn. In 2012, the Latin-inspired aerobic dance Zumba appeared on the American College of Sports Medicine’s list of Top 20 Fitness Trends; two years later, it was off the list. A thousand cupcake bakeries opened a few years ago, and then a thousand ovens clicked off. This is how it goes.