WINTER 2017
BUSINESS
Newly created Memory Lanes.
Should We or Shouldn’t We? Jon Perper offers 10 steps to consider when transitioning from a bowling center to an entertainment center. By Fred Kaplowitz
A
s a second generation bowling proprietor and son of a hotel impresario, Jon Perper knows a thing or two about the hospitality business. “One of my first jobs was in my dad’s hotel in Philly as a bellhop. I learned how to get tips at an early age and how to anticipate what customer’s wanted.” The lesson continued as he took over his dad’s bowling center and then, with his partner, grew it into a 13-center chain in South Jersey. “During the 80s, we were really hopping,” said Perper. “I think we might have been the first chain to add a full-service restaurant to three of our centers, based on an Applebee’s model. When we did it, many other chain operators thought we had lost our minds. After 15 years, they were pretty much doing the same thing.” By the early 90s, a recession hit and Perper and his partner began selling off centers. In the end, Perper was left with two centers. Not one to dwell in the past, Jon added management contracts to his to do list and pretty soon he found himself involved with six centers. He also started an LED lighting manufacturing and distributing company, Zled-Lighting, which now does business all over the U.S.A. About five years ago, he sold one of his South Jersey centers because the landlord doubled the rent. Even though the center was doing well, Perper made a decision to concentrate on his main asset, Playdrome Bowl in Cherry Hill, NJ, a 36-lane gem in a highly desirable demographic market. Always ahead of the curve in modernization, marketing and 42
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customer service, Perper saw the handwriting on the wall; the league bowler base was starting to atrophy. “At one time, we had over 3,000 league bowlers, and, as I watched that number decline, I knew I had to change the business model. So I began my due diligence. I visited almost a hundred bowling centers that had converted to FECs. I spoke Jon Perper of Big Event with many of the owners, visited manufacturers, attended seminars, and crunched numbers.” Finally, he made his decision. Playdrome Bowling was going to become an entertainment center. To make this change, Perper outlined the 10 key steps vital to any proprietor thinking about becoming an entertainment center: 1 Do your homework Ring every last detail out of the demographics analysis that you can. Understand the market not just from the standpoint of population, median household income and number of kids in the market, but delve into spending habits, indexes of entertainment spending, frequency of take-out meals, eating
BUSINESS out and stay-at-home meals as well as other forms of discretionary spending. Make sure you can offer a better entertainment option than movies or eating out. Fortunately, Playdrome had great numbers. The demographics, the population, the household size, median income and competition were all very favorable to this concept. 2 Decide what is missing in the market What problems does your target market need to solve? In Playdrome’s case, there were three problems to be solved. The first, what entertainment currently existed for parents with children ages 5 to 13? Second, what options were there for company events among the thousands of companies within his market? And third, how could Playdrome
continue to grow open play business including birthday parties, weekend bowling and midweek bowling? Intuitively you have to understand and answer the question, why would someone choose to come here instead of going somewhere else, given the multitude of choices in our market? 3
Understand that a major part of your business will be food and beverage
It is the foundation of the entertainment experience. If your experience only includes running a snack bar, you must get an expert in the food and beverage field, preferably someone who has managed a restaurant or catering facility. We estimated that food and beverage would be about 30% to 40% of our new model, and because of our experience in the restaurant business years before, we were able to draw upon many resources and develop not just a new menu but also a menu for birthday parties and corporate events. We hired the best people we could find to develop this important component and focused on every detail, from the color and logo on the napkins to the menu design and comfort of any new seating. We also tested food products with his customers. Together with my food and beverage manager, we tweaked everything until we got it right. This element of the process is extremely important because if your food, presentation and staff delivery are off, you’re dead and you might not even know it. 4 Build your brand If you’re going to be more than a bowling alley or center, then change the name and de-emphasize or take bowling out of the name completely. In the case of Playdrome, the name changed to The Big Event. We wanted it to sound big. We wanted people to know it was an event space that would appeal to families, teens, Millennials, Boomers, Gen-Xers, companies and nonprofit organizations. We wanted it to 44
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BUSINESS be crystal clear. I guess the two words ‘big’ and ‘event’ said it all, so the two words just came together naturally. 5 Adding Attractions In terms of what to add or subtract from your box, there is no perfect answer. We worked with Peter Starker, a noted consultant in the FEC field, to help with this decision. You just don’t put in what’s cool or what you like. Rather, you make the decision on what your market represents and who you want to target. Peter was very helpful in keeping us focused. In the end, The Big Event still Tons of tickets to be had in newly renovated had 36 lanes and eight were converted Game Mania arcade. to a VIP suite called Memory Lanes with new soft seating and a temporary smoked glass wall that could be put up for privacy. We also added a redemption center, Game Mania Arcade, which includes arcade games, a rock wall, sticky wall, laser maze, billiards, Ping Pong and the Big Event Café. Equally important is for you to be flexible. Don’t be afraid to modify your vision if you really believe that some other attraction will be better.
the experience they have had in the hospitality or customer service industry. Make sure that everyone buys into the culture: We are in the entertainment business, not the bowling business. Another key factor in building the team is to start well before you rebrand. I was lucky [that] I had a key support team that had been tops in their field for many years. Combining them with a new director of operations with a fresh approach was the best way to prepare for the big changes. 8 Dedicated event staff Perhaps you now have an outside sales person. Perhaps you don’t. In any case, you are going to need an event staff to include sales people, servers, telemarketers and reservations. That’s not to say that you need an army, but you need an experienced event person, someone who can coordinate the needs of large groups and organizations seamlessly with your operations. This event staff is your front line to profitability, and if you don’t have the expertise to hire and train this kind of staff, hire someone to assist you. I was lucky. I had a long time event person who was the best around so I did not have to start from scratch.
6 Maintain your leagues
9 Keeping staff in the loop
It is important that your league bowlers understand what you are doing; that you are not ignoring them or that you are going to throw them out. If you communicate what you are doing from the get-go, they will be more understanding and not feel like you are neglecting them. This is a crucial step, as rumors are quick to start and cause bowlers to quit or seek out competitors’ leagues. Stay on top of this and nip any rumors in the bud. Leagues are still the base of your business.
During the construction process, center personnel may feel like they have one foot in bowling and one foot in the new concept. It is important to keep them updated every step of the way so they can answer customers’ questions and give appropriate answers. While this can be a trying experience, it is more important than ever that everyone in the building knows what is happening and understands why it is happening.
7 Begin your hiring and training early Some of the people that you have on staff now may be perfectly suitable for a bowling alley but unacceptable for the level of service you must achieve. Screen new recruits based on their aptitude for service and
THE BIG EVENT & INDUSTRY MANUFACTURES Ó Ó Ó Ó
Masking by Allied Bowling Furniture by QubicaAMF Lighting system by Zled-Lighting Arcade swipe card company, Intercard
Top 5 best preforming redemption games 1. Ticket World Crane - by St. Louis Gaming Company 2. Big Bass Wheel - by Bay Tek Games 3. Eclaw - by Elaut 4. Ticket Monster - by Bay Tek Games 5. Fishbowl Frenzy - by Team Play 46
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10 Have a sense of humor This is a big project, and it will be trying. Things won’t always go as planned. Construction problems, delivery problems, and a million other things can go wrong. You, as the leader, must show that it can be dealt with and that you have everything under control. If you show panic, the staff will begin to distrust the whole process and begin, either consciously or unconsciously, to bad mouth the whole project, and that is never what you want. ❖ Fred is president of the Kaploe Marketing Group, a marketing and management firm that helps BECs and FECs around the world increase business with innovative and unique programs. He is a co-founder of Kids Bowl Free and presents marketing seminars to the bowling industry and beyond.