It’s official – America is in love with "The Walking Dead." The show’s season five premier earlier this month shattered records for cable television. It even beat out Sunday Night Football in the prime age demo (18-49 year olds) to win that week’s ratings.

If you, like me, are one of those 20-odd million viewers who watched the show live or on DVR, chances are you’ve wondered to yourself if you could actually survive a zombie apocalypse. Mark Scelza wondered that, too. Seven years ago he was watching a zombie movie and said to a friend, “There’s no way most of the population could ever survive a zombie apocalypse or even a natural disaster.” So he started a course to teach people – the Zombie Survival Course.

Seven years later, in a post-Zombieland, post-World War Z, post-Walking Dead world, Scelza is still running the course… with a 36% profit margin and an eye on expansion.

Scelza’s camp, based in a southern New Jersey hunting lodge he rents during the off season, was one of the first zombie survival camps in existence. There are now many more. Google “zombie survival course” in any particular state and chances are you can find one within road trip distance. (Unless you’re out in the middle Northwest region. I couldn’t find a class out there. But good news – you're more likely to survive the zombie apocalypse anyway, so you might not need a course.)

In a world where 8 out of 10 small businesses fail in the first year and a half, the fact that Scelza has managed to start and run a successful business on the premise of an imaginary enemy piqued our interest.

It further piqued our interest when we heard that the camp hosts corporate retreats – teaching leadership skills to management at chains like Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD).

“It’s team building, right? So you learn to work together,” said Scelza. The camp teaches people skills then introduces them to a high stress situation (like a zombie attack) where they must use those skills and work together as a team.

“We teach everything from advanced first aid, kind of where the Red Cross leaves off, probably for liability reasons though… pistol rifle and shotgun firearm training. My wife Suzanne teaches crossbow along with leadership classes, health classes, a bunch of knife throwing — all kinds of fun stuff,” he said.

After all, as World War Z author Max Brooks said, “I’ve never seen a zombie movie where someone drank from a puddle and died of explosive diarrhea.” Which is to say, there are more skills one needs to survive a post-apocalyptic world of walkers than just good aim. First aid, finding food and water purification are all par for the course with Scelza.

Those skills come in handy more frequently than you might think. Scelza says after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the East Coast, many of his program’s past participants reached out to him to let him know the survival skills he taught helped them navigate the power outages and other challenges.

As far as Scelza, he credits his success to timing. "We were at the right place at the right time," he said. "I think what really kicked it off was the Zombieland movie and then of course the Walking Dead... and it was a unique idea."

Day classes start at $179, full weekends at $450 a person and group trips are priced upon inquiry.

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