Page 82 - BCM June 2024
P. 82

THE BEC INTERVIEW



              You’re essentially talking about adding rungs to the   and one. If you are successful at that, you will have an
              ladder.                                             incredible business. It is no more complicated than that.
                We need to have a product for every level of bowler
              — youth, recreational, the person who says, “I just need   How have you been faring with employee retention?
              to get my corporate team out there.” Most business    Better than most, from what I’ve heard. You’ve got
              owners want to get their people together outside the   to hire the right people. We’re not looking just for a
              office. They need to know our centers are an option.  heartbeat. We’re looking for people who love the guest-
                                                                  service business. Then we ask: How do we give our team
              How have you gone about selecting the centers you’ve   members opportunities for career growth and making
              added to the Triple Shift portfolio?                the position fit into their schedule? Our team-member
                We’ve acquired fairly well-run locations with fairly   base is a lot of parttime employees; it might be a sec-
              good local reputations, so we’ve been able to build on   ond or third job for them. We try to figure out how we
              that. There’s always an opportunity to improve. One   can fit into their lives.
              thing we do immediately is to invest in the facility and
              make it clear we’re there to improve it. When a bowling
              center doesn’t invest in the roof or the parking lot or the
              HVAC, and that is the perception of the community, it’s
              a challenge for them to get comfortable with that. What
              a terrible marketing campaign that would be: “By the
              way, we now have a roof and a parking lot…” So many
              proprietors let their places go, and if do you end up in
              this downward spiral because you won’t have money to
              spend on the things that will drive traffic.

              So you’re not
              looking for a
              bargain…
                We will buy
              distressed,
              underperform-
              ing centers, but
              it’s not our pref-
              erence. You’ve
              got to be doing
              the basics. We
              tend to be care-
              ful in those situ-
              ations. We like
              to buy good           Concord Lanes in St. Paul, Minnesota, is described
              operations that       on the Triple Shift website as “your destination for
              have been well        an unforgettable bowling experience.”
              taken care of
              and continue
              pushing the legacy of that operation with a little more
              scale that we can bring.

              And you don’t seem overly concerned with the business
              model of the locations you’ve been buying.
                The only thing we don’t have are bars with bowling
              lanes. No matter what your model is, you’ve got to take   How do you find those people who love guest service?
              care of your guests. You’ve got to take care of them with   We never stop recruiting. We never put a “help want-
              a clean facility and great service — and that’s the same   ed” sign out. We are constantly recruiting 100% of the
              no matter what your model is. In every one of our busi-  time. I think that’s different than it was 10 years ago, but
              nesses, the goal is simple: to get every customer in that   it’s probably the way it always should have been.
              market to come back one more time. From the league
              bowler who comes in 150 times a year to the person   Do you ever worry about hiring too many people?
              who comes in zero times. We want to get them to 151   No. In every one of these businesses there’s a lowest

               BEC 80  JUNE 2024




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