This is the latest in our series of regular Business Q&A features. This week, we heard from Matt Hodgson, owner of Onetec on Beulah Street in Harrogate.

Tell us in fewer than 30 words what your firm does.

We're a games arcade and we offer entertainment for people who like to get away from it all for 10-15 minutes and play.

As well as the arcade on Beulah Street, we have a café-style arcade in Eston, near Middlesbrough.

What does it take to be successful in business?

Knowing your customers and being fair with them. You need to be friendly too. We give our customers free drinks and chocolate biscuits, and if they've been on holiday we'll ask how it was. Some people tell us their life story, and even if they have no money one week, they still come in for a chat. It's not how people think it is – a dark arcade – it's more like a little community.

People also don't realise how regulated the industry is. If someone looks under 25, we have to ask for ID, and the Gambling Commission will do spot-checks. Our staff have training to spot money laundering, so that someone can't just come in and put £1,000 into a machine and pull it straight back out again.

If someone is having a bad time and starts getting agitated and banging the buttons, we know to check if they're OK, and ask if they're sure they can afford it.

Some people think gaming machines are bad, but have no problem with bingo. But they're both gambling – just like going to the bookies. People like different things.

What drives you to do what you do every day?

You work for your family. I've got a window-cleaning business in York as well, and I do a lot of late nights. Sometimes I'll need to go up to Middlesbrough to fix a machine and not be back home before midnight, so I don't see my family. It's times like that that I wish I had a nine-to-five, or a second-hand shop, where I could just turn up, sell things, and go home.

What’s been the toughest issue your business has had to deal with over the last 12 months?

The cost of everything going up: electricity, wages, business rates. The Gambling Commission takes 20% of our takings in machine gaming duty before we've paid any of our bills. We also have to pay £1,800 for our licence from the Gambling Commission, plus £1,000 for our licence from North Yorkshire Council and £600 for our licence for Eston.

For our Harrogate arcade, we pay £1,200 a month in rent, and then there's the cost of the machines. Some of them have touchscreens and are constantly updated, so we have to pay £58 a week per machine for the content.

People sometimes say 'just flick that switch and make me win', but we can't do anything like that. What you see is what we see – it's all random.

If a corner shop faces rising costs, they can just pass it on to the customer and put 5p extra on a bottle of pop. But our prices are fixed – I can't change the amount it costs to play a machine, and I can't change the payout.

Everything's stacked against us. I'm not saying we don't make money, but it's not the thousands and millions that people think.

Which other local firms do you most admire and why?

There's a great little café just down from us: Truffles. If you go in and it's busy, you can just sit with other people, and you can have a laugh with the lasses who run it.

I like to spend money in local independent places – it's important.

Who are the most inspiring local leaders?

I really don't know. I'm not familiar with the local leaders in the Harrogate district. 

But one organisation I really admire is the RNLI [Royal National Lifeboat Institution]. I'm from a fishing family in Bridlington, and I always give to them – they're very brave people, going out to sea in storms and risking their lives without even getting paid for it.

What could be done locally to boost business?

The biggest thing would be lowering the business rates. They seem to keep going up, but if they carry on like this – with rising staff and electricity costs on top – I think you're going to see a lot more shops standing empty. Harrogate's quite touristy, but if it didn't have so many visitors it would be suffering, as a lot of other towns are.

I've spoken to café owners who work really hard, but say by the time they've met all their costs, they might as well go and work at Tesco.

People aren't taking chances anymore – it's not worth the risk.

They should give people starting up in business for the first time three years without paying business rates, just to get them started.

Best and worst things about running a business from Harrogate?

I like Harrogate. The people are nice and friendly. I don't think there are any bad things about running a business from here – we never get any trouble.

What will be bad, though, is if they carry on with this Harrogate Station Gateway scheme. There are queues when the lights are red, but as soon as they turn green, the traffic moves again. Taking away the parking spaces at the bottom end of Station Parade is just going to be bad for business.

They're spending a lot of money on something that's not needed. None of the traders want it.

What are your business plans for the future?

Just to try and grow. Get a bigger shop and open a few more. Maybe in Knaresborough, or Leeds. I'd like to find an old arcade that's a bit run down and make it look good again. We'll see.

What do you like to do in your time off?

Spending time with my family and watching football. Leeds United and York City are my teams, but rugby league is my real interest: Leeds Rhinos.

Best places to eat and drink locally?

Apart from Truffles, I really like the Woodlands pub on Wetherby Road. The people who run it are fantastic and the food is great. It's not gourmet, but it's really nice, and good value for money.

For somewhere a bit posher, I like the Cattleman's. You can't beat it for what they charge and the quality of the food there.

If you know someone in business in the Harrogate district – including Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Masham and Nidderdale – and you'd like to suggest them for this feature, drop us a line at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.