J

ay and Tina Mrozek love what they do. They are both fiercely passionate about family and bringing generations together to make memories. They are devoted to staff who thrive under their leadership. They seek opportunities to innovate and challenge the standard at every turn. They are true entrepreneurs to the core, and they are dedicated to the St. Cloud area community. And they do it all in the name of having fun together, which is the best motivator of all.

“Working in kid’s ministry, we saw how often families are naturally going in separate directions, whether it’s school, work, sports, even church itself,” Tina said. “Families are pulled apart for so many reasons, and we need them to come together more than anything.” When they designed the attractions of their company, Blacklight Adventures, they kept in mind activities that all ages and abilities would be able to enjoy, instead of leaving parents sitting on the sidelines. For the last four years, they have helped families enjoy immersive, unforgettable experiences together.

Blacklight Beginnings

In 2009, Tina was working in human resources for a local property management company, and Jay had a

Personal Profiles

TINA MROZEK, 43

Owner, Blacklight Adventures

Hometown: Monticello, Minn.

Education:

Tech High School, St. Cloud State University, Masters in Human Resources from the University of Phoenix

Work History:

DeZURIK, INH Properties, kids ministry, and currently also owns and operates HR Dynamics

Best Business Decision:

“From the very beginning we promised ourselves that we weren’t going to rely on just Tina and Jay.” – Tina

JAY MROZEK, 41

Owner, Blacklight Adventures

Hometown: St. Cloud, Minn.

Education:

Tech High School, Central Lakes College in Brainerd, St. Cloud State University

Work History: Operations management and kids ministry

Family: Two sons, Brady and Blake Hobbies: Playing games with family, visiting the cabin in Fort Ripley, fishing, reading, and camping

FUN FACT: Jay and Tina are high school sweethearts –they met at Tech High School in 1997 career in operations management, when he joined Tina on a business trip to Nebraska with their 7-month-old son. One evening, they decided to check out a local mall, where they stumbled upon a blacklight family entertainment center. “There were painted two-byfours, it was nothing special,” Jay said.

“The people that were working were super personable, and it was just a fun and memorable experience,” Tina said.

On the drive back from Nebraska, they couldn’t stop thinking about how St. Cloud could benefit from that kind of family entertainment. When they got back into town, they attended a class offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) about how to start a small business that helped them create a business plan. It looked like it was really going to happen. Life had different plans.

“Both of our sons have a seizure disorder, and with our first son, Brady, it was really bad at first,” Tina said.

“That just put everything on hold.”

They spent a solid three years trying to figure out how to help him. Not only that, but when their second son, Blake, came along, he also started experiencing the same symptoms at 13 months old.

After years of stress and worry, genetic testing finally uncovered that the brothers shared a mutated gene that causes seizures in childhood. “That consumed our whole life for years,”

Tina said. “It just changed everything.”

The good news? There is a 70 percent chance that they will grow out of it as they get older, and both boys have been seizure-free for over two years.

In 2010, Jay went back to school to earn his degree in elementary education. Coincidentally, their church was searching for someone to lead the kids program, and Jay fit the bill. “I was volunteering with him there quite regularly,” Tina said. It didn’t take long for them to extend Tina a job offer as well. “So I ended up leaving my career of 15 years, which was hard because I absolutely loved it.” Tina and Jay worked together at the church for several years. In August of 2018 they decided it was time for something new.

“I think Tina and I both knew at our core that someday we wanted to be our own bosses and bet on ourselves,” Jay said. They found their original flash drive, dusted off their old business plan, and decided to give it a try. Working with the Small Business Development Center and SCORE (Service Corp of Retired Executives) mentor Dennis Miller, they updated their plan and got ready to go for it. “It was a strong, fast, hard 11 months,” Tina said. They both took on parttime jobs while preparing to open Blacklight, with Tina doing substitute teaching in

“We are fortunate to have a team of really creative people,” Jay Mrozek said. He and his wife Tina own Blacklight Adventures in St. Cloud. When it comes time to brainstorm for a new escape room theme, they come together to bounce ideas around and talk about all the possibilities. They keep a running list of ideas that they can reference when it’s time to start thinking of a new theme. Often the team will enter these brainstorming sessions with one theme in mind, and then end up with something completely different by the time they are done.

Inspiration for Crash Landing, their newest escape room, came from a cool prop that they saw. They also draw inspiration from customer ideas, videos and photos online, or unique puzzles they want to incorporate. “We try to do two completely different styles and audiences in each room,” Tina said. By offering different themes, they can appeal to a wider audience who like different things.

“We try to have one grounded in reality,” Jay said, “and then we try to have one that’s a little more out there.”

The whole process – from ideation to construction – is a team effort. “Tina will come up with a concept, like it’d be really cool if this did this,” Jay said. “And I want to figure out how to make that work, so we are a really great team that way.” Tina’s parents are both involved in the planning and construction, as is Tina’s brother Dakota, who is a full-time employee at Blacklight Adventures.

As far as implementation of the new room goes, there is some testing involved. “We have a couple test groups that come through,” Jay said. They typically have a group of the same people try every room as the “control” group, and then they’ll recruit friends and family to test it out as well. It’s important to have different people test it out, instead of the group that makes it. “When you’re the people that make it, you can get out of the room in three minutes,” Jay said.

Not only does Blacklight Adventures manage the two on-site escape rooms, it also has fully themed mobile escape rooms that you can rent for parties and other gatherings. They find a thrill in offering experiences beyond their static rooms. “In order to capture the mind of a child, you have to capture the heart first,” Jay said. They are big believers that, if you can get children engaged with something they love doing, then you can teach them a thing or two. Plus, kids think differently than adults. “Sometimes kids do better at certain puzzles that adults struggle with,” Jay said.

“That sense of pride and accomplishment when they did something – we love it,” Tina said.

“We know the time you have with your kids is limited,” Jay said. “We help families capitalize on their moments together by having a shared experience – one that you walk away from with memories.”

Timeline

MARCH 2009

Tina and Jay Mrozek visit a family entertainment center in Nebraska

SUMMER 2009

The Mrozeks develop a business plan for a family entertainment business

2018

Jay and Tina leave their jobs and start working on the Blacklight Adventures business plan again

JUNE 28, 2019

Blacklight Adventures opens

MARCH 2020

Blacklight Adventures is forced to shut down for a total of five months due to COVID-19, then run at 25 percent capacity for 18 months

2020

Blacklight Adventures adds a second escape room

2021

Blacklight Adventures adds a Virtual Reality Lounge and a Laser Maze; the Mrozeks hire their first full-time employee, Tina’s brother Dakota

2022

The Mrozeks begin offering Bazooka Ball as a mobile option

2023

The Mrozeks enhance their mobile options with Mobile Escape Rooms

JUNE 2023

The Mrozeks promote a part-time manager, creating their second full-time position

Sauk Rapids and Jay doing some commercial painting. “Tina would be teaching, then after third period she’d have to run out to the parking lot because the contractor was there with tile samples,” Jay remembers. “It was a fun, wacky year. I liked it.” Blacklight Adventures opened on June 28, 2019.

As the Woody Allen saying goes, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.” Eight months after opening their doors, the pandemic set in. Blacklight Adventures was forced to completely close for five months, then operate at 25 percent capacity for 18 months. Like they do, though, the Mrozeks found a way to make the best of it. The shutdown gave them a chance to step back and evaluate what was working and to do some training and updating. “When you go through that as a challenge, any other challenge after that is honestly not that big of a deal,” Tina said.

Lasering The Trends

Blacklight Adventures may not be one-ofa-kind in the attractions they offer, but when it comes to the experiences they provide, they are. They’ve found success in bucking the industry norms and blazing their own path. Take, for example, their staff. “The trend in the industry is to lower the number of staff you need and make everything automated,” Jay said. Data told them that the least amount of interaction that staff has with the consumer, the lower the cost to the business. “We’re the complete opposite.” They focus instead on providing great interactions with their staff and customers making it part of the whole experience. “Thankfully the attractions we have chosen lead right into that,” Jay said.

That desire to build loyalty and relationships shines through in many ways. “It’s also a trend in the industry to be a birthday party factory,” Jay said. They strive to be the opposite so that their customers don’t feel like a number. They have increased their party times to longer than what the standards suggest and have gone down to one party room, so parties aren’t competing for space and time.

Another thing you’ll notice immediately upon entering Blacklight Adventures is the welcoming look and feel. That’s very intentional, with their goal to be “bright and clean and not over-the-top vibrant,” Tina said. They’re fighting the stereotype that family entertainment centers are dark, loud, and not always clean-feeling. They even have their arcade vendors lower the volume of their games so it’s not so overwhelming.

Blacklight Adventures is at capacity within the walls when it comes to attractions, but that hasn’t stopped Jay and Tina from innovating. They offer mobile Bazooka Ball, which is like paintball without the paint (and pain) and are able to bring it to most locations or occasions. Recently, they also started offering mobile escape rooms that you can rent for parties and other gatherings. There are two tents available with four walls that are completely themed, and props that go along with them.

Above all, they simply want to help all families make memories. “We’ve been told by people that we should up our prices,” Jay said. But they don’t plan to, and that’s by design. “If you have a price point that is affordable and you give a good experience, they’re going to come back.” Plus, the lower prices allow families to try more than one thing when they visit. “For us, it’s those relationships more than the dollar coming in. That’s way more enjoyable.”

A Dream Team

True to their mission of providing an all-encompassing experience for their guests, Tina and Jay are the first to tell you that their employees are incredible. They are friendly, compassionate, hands-on, and they care about the mission of Blacklight Adventures. Especially telling is the fact that they’ve had very little turnover – even with a relatively young staff.

Part of that might be attributed to the All In program that Tina and Jay implemented a few years ago. The program allows staff members to recognize one another when they see someone going above and beyond. “If you think of poker, when you go all in, you’re leaving nothing left on the table,” Tina said. It has been so rewarding to see not only staff delivering unforgettable experiences, but also their coworkers seeing and recognizing it in each other. “To us it’s the best when we get a review and our staff is mentioned by name,” Tina said.

Through the process of starting Blacklight Adventures, Jay and Tina have realized how important it is for business owners to surround themselves with people they can trust, seek advice from, and who are able to do the tasks that you’re not as skilled at. “Just because you’re a business owner, you do not have to know it all,” Tina said. She stresses the importance of realizing your weaknesses and hiring out for those tasks. As time has gone on, they have both gotten better at giving up control of every little detail within the business. “Hire awesome people and just allow them to be awesome,” Jay said. “Share your philosophy, and trust that they’ll do it.” They are also not afraid to ask other business owners for help and advice, because no business challenge is completely unique.

Ask Jay and Tina what their favorite part of their business is, and they’ll tell you that it’s a moment they never even get to see. It’s that moment when a family leaves Blacklight Adventures after a fun experience and they’re talking in the car ride home, over dinner, or a week later about all the fun they had. They’re reminiscing on when grandma was the MVP of laser tag, or when a staff member went above and beyond to make their experience exceptional. And they’re counting down the days until they can come back. “Even though we don’t get to see that moment, we hope it’s happening,” Jay said. “Because that’s what being in family entertainment means to us – it’s those moments and those memories made each and every day.”