Red Engine, the hospitality group behind the globally recognised competitive socialising brands Flight Club and Electric Shuffle, announced its Q4 2024 financial results today. The results demonstrate continued strong growth for the group as it celebrates a decade since it launched its first venue. The group also unveils its 2025 global venue opening pipeline, furthering its ambition to connect groups of people worldwide through unforgettable experiences.
Q4 2024 financials: Record-breaking performance
Red Engine delivered an impressive Q4 2024 performance, with sales totalling £25.3 million, a 24 percent increase compared to £20.4 million for the same period in 2023. Like-for-like sales, excluding 2024 venue openings, grew by 3 percent.
Red Engine’s sales combined with its franchise partners* reached £38.4 million, up 23 percent year-on-year, with like-for-like sales increasing by four percent.
Q4 was a quarter of record-breaking moments for Red Engine, with every company-owned venue achieving its best-ever weekly sales performance. Electric Shuffle New York, which opened in July, generated over £320,000 ($400,000) in sales in a single week. Flight Club Glasgow and Flight Club Edinburgh (venues opened in Q4 2023) saw year-on-year sales growth of 39 percent and 42 percent respectively. Even Flight Club Shoreditch, the group’s longest-running site, surpassed its previous weekly sales record.
2025 opening pipeline: Expanding the global footprint
In 2024, Red Engine opened four new sites: Flight Club Liverpool and Oxford, and Electric Shuffle Manchester and New York. Its Australian Flight Club franchise partner opened two more venues, one in Sydney and one in Melbourne. These 2024 openings took the total global Flight Club and Electric Shuffle estate to 31 venues (24 Flight Club and 7 Electric Shuffle).
Building on this success, Red Engine has ambitious expansion plans for 2025, targeting a portfolio of 39 venues by year-end – six new Flight Club locations and two new Electric Shuffle venues. Franchise partners will continue to drive international growth for Flight Club, with further venues planned in the United States, Australia, and Ireland – a new market for the brand.
Just four weeks into the year, Red Engine’s franchise partners have already opened Flight Club venues in Dublin, introducing Ireland to the Social Darts phenomenon, Washington D.C. and St Louis. Flight Club Philadelphia and a second Sydney venue are slated to open later in the year.
Red Engine will open Electric Shuffle King’s Cross (London), Electric Shuffle Chicago and Flight Club Newcastle.
The 2025 opening in Chicago will mark the fourth city globally where both the Flight Club and Electric Shuffle brands have a presence. The King’s Cross opening will be Red Engine’s seventh in London (three Electric Shuffle venues and four Flight Club).
A decade of social darts: Celebrating 10 years of innovation
These impressive results and expansion plans coincide with Red Engine’s 10th anniversary since launching its first competitive socialising concept, Flight Club. Since 2015, Flight Club has revolutionised the game of darts, creating a high-energy, social experience enjoyed by millions worldwide. Red Engine is now a leading global hospitality group with two successful brands operating in landmark destinations like Las Vegas, New York, Sydney, and Chicago.
“We are thrilled to report such strong Q4 results, especially as we enter this milestone year celebrating a decade of Social Darts. This past year has presented significant challenges for the hospitality sector, making these results all the more rewarding and underlining the strength and resilience of our brands,” said Ross Shepley-Smith, CFO at Red Engine.
“It brings us immense pride to bring joy to others through our social experiences, and we look forward to the opportunity to spread that joy even further in the year ahead as we take our brands to new cities across the globe in 2025. This success is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our incredible teams including our great franchise partners, and we are so grateful for the support of our loyal community, who continue to embrace the unique fun that Flight Club and Electric Shuffle offer,” continued Shepley-Smith.
*Red Engine owns and operates all Flight Club UK venues and all Electric Shuffle UK and US venues. Flight Club venues outside of the UK are currently operated under license.
