Inspiring Conversations with Chris Stafford of Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Stafford

Hi Chris, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My journey began in Denver, Colorado, where my business partner and I, whom I met as a teenager working at a local haunted house, opened our first attraction. I later co-founded Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group with two additional partners in Austin, Texas while working for one of the nation’s largest banks. After 12 years in banking, I made the decision to leave my corporate career behind in 2010 to fully dedicate myself to my passion for live entertainment. Later on, I was introduced to Melissa Carbone, who many may know from appearing on Shark Tank which resulted in an investment from Mark Cuban for the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride. After getting to know Melissa, it became evident that we thought a lot alike on many things, and agreed that Thirteenth Floor could lend the infrastructure needed to grow the LA Haunted Hayride. In 2018, we joined forces and the LA Haunted Hayride continues to grow each year, and remains one of LA’s premiere Halloween events.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We face many of the same challenges as most businesses. Things like inflation, rising property costs and labor costs of course affect the business. People also assume that the seasonality of this business would impact us, but in recent years, we’ve seen a huge spike in people wanting to celebrate Halloween year round. Many of our locations around the country open their doors for pop-up events including Krampus: The Fright Before Christmas, Love Bites: A Valentine’s Haunted House, and Halfway to Halloween. We’re very fortunate that we’re able to provide entertainment and experiences to people all year long.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group is one of the world’s largest producer and operator of theme park-quality live events and immersive installations. We currently operate 32 attractions, including haunted houses, Halloween festivals, and year round location-based entertainment venues across 17 cities in the U.S. Thirteenth Floor is headquartered in Denver, CO with offices in Austin, TX and Los Angeles, CA. There is a lot to be proud of when it comes to this company. Each Halloween season, I’ll be on-site at one of our events and as I look around, I can’t help but feel incredibly proud that we’ve created spaces for people to come together and have a shared experience. Maybe it’s with a friend that you haven’t seen in a long time, a first date, or you bring the whole family, but being able to bring people together and provide them with an experience that allows them to have fun and make lasting memories is incredibly rewarding.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
My mom is a huge inspiration to me, she’s always been an incredible business woman. She used to say to me, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” That always stuck with me, especially with building these large scale events. People always ask me “well where do I start, how do I do this?” and the answer really is just to start. Everyone has to start somewhere. Breaking things down into smaller, more attainable goals makes it much less intimidating. We also work with some of the most creative and talented people in the industry who help bring all of these ideas to life. Another important lesson I’ve learned is to accept that I’m not the best at everything, so I find the people who are the best at what they do and work with and learn from them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thirteenthfloor.com

Image Credits
Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group