Page 116 - BCM June 2024

THE BEC INTERVIEW

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destination. It’s difficult to have a location where people And regardless of the attraction mix you may inherit or
are coming in exclusively to eat. They’re thinking of it as a develop, you plan to continue focusing on bowling?
bowling business, not a food business. It’s hard to create Businesses live and die by revenue. People have to
something that is driving traffic for two entirely different walk through the door and buy bowling. Otherwise,
reasons. People are coming into our venues to do some- the business will fail. Otherwise, you’re stuck with a
thing and intend to eat something while they are there. 35,000-square-foot bar, and that puts you in a tough
spot. So we focus on continuing to do what’s right by
What about staffing? bowling. BPAA and the USBC are the best tools our
That’s where the fundamental difference is. With an industry has. They give us so many tools to help get
FEC, you need to have a bigger team. You need to have people in the doors and give them a great opportunity to
people managing the arcade operation and the game succeed.
and prize selection.
You volunteered time to both organizations…
I think that’s what scares some proprietors away from The USBC board at the local and national levels, and
taking the plunge. on the Strike Ten board — the joint marketing arm of
There’s nothing to be afraid of, but it is a different BPAA and USBC. It was very rewarding to be in a room
business for someone operating a center that has been full of people that love bowling so much that they’re will-
league focused. It’s not necessarily an easy transition, ing to give up that much time to better the sport. I think

“Your destination for extreme entertainment” is how the Triple Shift website describes River City Extreme in Monticello, Minnesota.

and where you get your customers is very different with a that’s unique to our sport, based on my observation of
recreation-focused business. You’re constantly having to other sports and other industries. Bowling is a lot less
find your next “best customer.” It’s just a different mind- cutthroat than toy or food manufacturing, for instance. It’s
set and challenge that you have. It’s about understanding a great industry, top to bottom, and in all of our markets
how you’re going to get people walking through your we view our competitors more as our industry partners.
doors and how you’re going to get them through your I’ve seen centers that had a fire and a competitor ask,
doors again. “How can I help?” The answer might be, “Just take care
of my bowling parties. These kids need to have their par-
You have bought existing centers thus far, but if you could ties.” I’ve seen it play out in our industry countless times.
start from scratch with a blank slate, what would your ideal It’s inspiring.
center look like?
Our ideal bowling centers look like the 21 we own. Now that you’ve been doing this for a while, looking back,
They are fit for what the community they serve needs, is there anything you would have done differently?
because it’s all very, very different. So we haven’t thought The No. 1 thing is I should have been faster at notic-
about a blank slate. All of our businesses are mainstays in ing when someone wasn’t a fit for our culture and helped
their communities and, in most cases, have multi-genera- them find another opportunity in their career. If you keep
tion histories of serving the guest. the bad ones, you lose the good ones.

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