A Quebec SME that gets people talking!
On February 19, 2018, the first O-Volt Recreation Center opened its doors in Sherbrooke. Many families lined up. It was a moment of excitement for the children, madness for the O-Volt team, and anticipation for the four Quebec entrepreneurs who created the O-Volt brand. Yes, the O-Volt Recreational Center was born in Quebec! With the opening of a second branch in 2019 followed by its first franchise in 2023, O-Volt is making leaps across the province! And to better understand its history, let’s go back to January 2017.
The entrepreneurial vision
The primary objective behind the creation of O-Volt was to provide a center where young and old could have fun and exercise. The starting point was the bouldering section, continuity of Vertige Escalade belonging to some of the shareholders of O-Volt. Then the indoor playground, ideal for the motor development of toddlers, followed by trampolines and the Ninja course followed, this time adapted to older children. The vision was to have a center for fun, education and the gathering of a great community of athletes.
In order to turn this vision into reality, two of the four shareholders left their jobs as mechanical engineers and osteopaths in June 2017. They relocated their family to Sherbrooke, the birthplace of one of the shareholders, to start their new life!
Between challenges and victories
There were many design and construction challenges. The team wanted a well-lit, sanitary and safe place, where it is easy to move around. The architectural plans, however, were much easier to design than finding the right suppliers for the equipment. Quickly, several iterations were made on the choice of equipment in order to optimize fun and safety. The team has developed its own expertise in partnership with trusted designers.
Despite the day and evening shifts, construction will have taken 4 months, and will be completed just in time for the February 19 deadline. At this time, the climbing section was still not finished. And despite the entrepreneurial constraints, the O-Volt center has opened its doors
The team therefore operated a first week of school break, with energetic children ready to explore the center for the first time and a climbing section under construction, which caused many power outages in the center. The owners were exhausted from building the centre, but luckily their amazing team was able to take over!
Parallel to the construction of the first few months, frantic work was taking place in the office on the second floor. The team had to create the brand image of the company: name, visual identity, website, uniforms, etc. In addition, the recruitment and training of many employees had to be completed in a center under construction! Fortunately, hiring passionate and loyal employees provided the energy to continue.
The hidden face of O-Volt
To date, the four owners of the O-Volt Recreation Centers in Sherbrooke et Blainville operate their centers full time. In the Sherbrooke center, there are three generations of the Cyr family! While many of O-Volt‘s employees began their career as a supervisor or cashier, some of them developed skills in coaching, management, accounting or web development within the company.
It was interns from the University of Sherbrooke who developed the O-Possum software system with us and began marketing their product across Quebec. O-Volt is also the springboard for the now internationally recognized Lemur Design company. O-Volt is a laboratory for the development of young entrepreneurs.
The following
Around the vision and the values of the shareholders, the various departments have been articulated and a team had been developed. Customer response has been overwhelmingly positive. The reaction confirmed that the vision was right and that is why in November 2019, the two other shareholders of the O-Volt group left their jobs as structural engineers and architects to open a second center in Blainville. The fun continued! What’s in store for O-Volt?
