Francesco Belloni, founder of Padel Hero in Italy and investor in New York’s trendy Padel Haus, is ready to make moves into the UK market.
Belloni has already opened a 10-court club (four indoor and six outdoor) in Pisa, with a second in Versilia due to open in June and a third due to start construction in April.
But it’s the success of Padel Haus, the first padel facility in New York, situated in the city’s uber-trendy Williamsburg district, which has encouraged Belloni to study the viability of other markets including the UK.
“Opening in New York made me realise that culturally padel could work outside of its natural habitats – and it’s helped refocus a lot on the UK,” Belloni told The Padel Paper.
“In the UK, I think the business is going to look a lot like the one in New York, rather my club in Italy which is a traditional tennis-style club. We will focus on quality, giving people great conditions to play in and making sure the courts are filled.”
Belloni hints that his first location target would be central London. “A common trait with London and New York, as I see it, is that location is 50% of the work,” he states. “I’m talking about population density but also accessibility. Padel Haus is in one of New York’s coolest neighbourhoods with coffee shops, markets, shops and nightclubs and is super well connected to Manhattan.
“Secondly, the climate is similar to the UK’s which from a purely commercial standpoint is going to affect bookings. And thirdly is the massive issue of permits. They are a big barrier to entry. You need to have patience, perseverance and connections.”
Belloni is conducting UK research through friends, a padel specialist and a hotel owner. He has had two near misses already with a roof which was too low and another building which required expensive internal structural work.
Belloni was a talented junior tennis player and noticed padel courts for the first time when he trained at the Juan Carlos Ferrero Equelite Sport Academy in Alicante. He didn’t pick up a padel bat until 2018 – but quickly recognised the sport’s growth potential outside its traditional stronghold of Spain.
He says: “I started playing in Tuscany in the summer and I noticed people were loving it. It really started exploding just as I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my future after I left the world of finance – so it worked out well!”
He now feels he has accumulated enough knowledge and experience to form a blueprint for success in launching a new padel facility.
Despite the bijou nature of the four-court New York project, he says creating volume is critical. That’s why any eventual London project will be “at least six courts.”
“Rent completely changes your business model,” he states. “You need to make sure you have volume so you’re covering the massive inner-city rent and so you can create a community. With a community, you can achieve cultural status.
“In New York we have definitely achieved cultural status. It’s like any great restaurant – the food can be amazing, but you must have the right clientele, the manager has to be amazing, there must be places to take an Instagram picture and so on.
“You could put a padel court in the middle of nowhere and you know people would come in peak hours – but that’s not going to separate you in five years’ time when there’s enough padel courts for people to be able to choose where to go. So in London and New York, cultural status is the difference between success and failure.”
Belloni’s final piece of wisdom is a wider comment on padel achieving popularity in its new markets. “There is a stereotype that only Spanish and Argentinians play the sport, which is detrimental to its image,” he states.
“We still need to make that step. There needs to be more diversity. Guys aren’t going to be interested in watching Spanish guys play padel. Outsiders need some level of connection. There needs to be a ‘face’, or a story or rivalry from a PR and commercial standpoint.”
