The Family Entertainment Industry is back in full force.     As a result we now have a bigger box to think outside of.  Not only do current and new operators face today’s “normal” with the ever evolving changes in technology and increased entertainment options in the past four years, they  face the increasing challenges of higher labor costs and a tight labor market. 

Unfortunately many small businesses including  Family Entertainment Centers (FECs) did not survive the Pandemic.   There is no reset button we can push.  The box we now find ourselves in is littered with new potential roadblocks, bureaucratic ignorance and incompetence, financing challenges and poor industry decisions.

Survivors are moving on with renewed success and a bright future.  For some, now is a good time to take a shot at thinking outside the current box to arrive at further success.  This will require a combination of good judgment, realistic self-analysis, creative thinking and yes, for some, even luck.   There are short term solutions that will work for some but not others.  We must realize that each situation is unique, there are no stock one size fits all solutions. 

Recognizing there are circumstance beyond our personal control, it is still very viable and even preferred that we do “think outside the box” with the realization that our “box” is unique in location, design, financial capability and all of the unique physical constraints.  This includes site plan and available space, zoning realities, target market, attraction mix, agency constraints, finances and personal and management team capabilities.

Today’s challenges facing almost every owner/operator once the initial appeal of a new facility has passed, is the challenge of improving repeat guest visits, maintaining or increasing growth in attendance and revenues.  "Build it and they will come" worked in the movie "Field of Dreams" because it was written into the script.  The real world and your target market can be very fickle.  This is especially true in the current physical, political and economic environment.  These problems multiply for those facilities that don't constantly seek to keep a fresh and appealing environment for their guests.

As we can’t change the overall big picture, this article will address the elements of “thinking outside the box” that we can accomplish.

Owner/Operator Attitude:

The attitude of the owner/operator toward his or her facility, guests and staff will determine the ultimate success or failure of any facility.  Without a positive and proactive commitment to becoming and remaining successful, reading this article will have little or no value.  Thinking outside the box takes time, effort and commitment to be successful.  “Smart thinking outside the box” takes even more effort.

There are a wide variety of promotions, programs and special events that can be added to your repertoire to add to your everyday attractions and amenities that can help generate renewed interest in visiting your facility.   Some of these upgrades or promotions can even expand your market penetration.    Many (but not all) have relatively little cost.  Time can often jade the interest a portion of your repeat guests.  Never take your guests for granted. 

Keep them Happy and Returning:

Thinking outside the box can also involve looking at your physical plant, attractions and amenities to make them more entertaining and exciting.   Look at them from a new viewpoint, beyond keeping them clean and in good operating condition.

Take the time to visualize what you can do to make each element outstanding rather than just good.  Raise or improve your minimum standards and set becoming outstanding your immediate goal.  You can’t accomplish everything at once,  Identify the areas of greatest concern, find a way to make a positive change, do it and move on to the next one,  Standing on one accomplishment is never enough if you believe you can make a difference in your level of accomplishment.   Don’t just create a bucket list of things to accomplish, create a path to success.

Becoming more visible and making Adjustments:

Most facilities experience slow periods.  Often the solution is to reduce days of the week or changing the hours a facility is open.  These are options that have a definite result in reduced labor and other operating costs. In many situations they are the result of drops in tourism, school days and major competition caused by local situations.   Review the apparent causes of your specific low attendance days and give serious consideration to your specific market and existing attractions.  Give serious consideration to potential modifications in pricing, special packages, added attractions or special events that may be able to make slow days profitable.

There are many situations where “thinking out of the box” can result in changes in the public concept of your facility and operations that can be modified by making positive changes in the operation of attractions, improved training of staff, and careful reconsideration of pricing during “slow” periods and in some cases removing unproductive games or attractions.

Take the time to review with your staff their observation of guest behavior, the performance of individual attractions and amenities.  Sometimes the persons closest to a problem are the last to become aware.

If you notice a large drop off in go-kart usage during certain periods, it might be a viable choice to include a lane of rookie karts to add a dimension to your overall attractions package, increasing your range of birthday party options. Consider creating special packages for senior groups, preschools, summer camps and related organizations.

For miniature golf courses experiencing similar drops in attendance there are a number of options.  There may be too many low par boring fairways or difficult fairways.  These situations can often be improved by the revision or reconstruction of the problem fairways.  In some instances the popularity has dropped due to old carpeting or poor maintenance.  For many locations it is more of a marketing challenge which can be addressed in the same way as the go-kart promotions shown above.

Dual Uses for Existing Attractions:

There are locations where go-kart tracks may be challenged to meet peak demand, but experience serious down time during non-peak hours but the demand drops off greatly for the remainder of the week.  This may be an indication that the track as constructed has been poorly designed, pricing is too high, and the actual composition of the target market is lower than initially projected.  Each situation requires a different approach and ultimate remedy.

For tracks that seem to have a low appeal due to poor initial design it could be very productive to work with a track designer with proven track design expertise.  In some instances modification involving minor reconstruction of several curves or straight elements can result in far great driving experiences and increase repeat visits and increased revenues.  In other situations, trying to stretch out the useful life of the existing go-kart fleet has resulted in your existing and potential guests gaining an impression that management doesn’t care.

Over time many attractions experience decreasing guest appeal.  This can be due to boredom with a less than exciting ride or play experience, new or improved completion of competitors in the market area, outdated and/or poorly maintained equipment and facility, untrained or inattentive staff and related issues. 

When blocks of time with low attendance become obvious there can be a number of viable solutions that could return attendance in the slow periods to acceptable numbers.  This can include one or more of the following:

• Introducing additional kart types on one track.  A number of tracks currently place rookie karts in one lane during slow period and market the times they will be available.
• Some miniature golf courses establish senior or junior mini-golf tournaments or leagues.
• Some facilities hold special youngster events in birthday party rooms.

Renewing Community Contacts & Adding Special Team Events:

Many facilities fail to recognize the benefits to be gained thru holding special days or events for specific groups (Both to give them specific recognition and to introduce them to what you have to offer.  Many times such events result in the individuals in the groups becoming future guests bringing their families and friends to the site.

Suggestions for New Operations “Thinking Outside the Box” on Steroids:

We suggest that serious consideration be given to two specific events as soon As possible after your facility is fully open for business and your staff is comfortable with their assignments.  These include:

First Responder Days:   Dual Purpose by giving recognition to the people who serve and protect your community, while at the same time introducing them to the facility and how it is laid out.

Active Duty Military Personnel and Veterans Days:  Giving recognition to those who help defend our Country.

Media Days:  Inviting the local media early in your operation enables them to visit, become familiar with and televise, broadcast or write about their experiences at your facility.

There are a wide number of potential events that can take place a little later in your first year, including:

Government Employee Days: Give recognition to the people that serve the community. This includes City, Village, County and State Employees.  Again dual purpose by familiarizing them with the facility,

Educator Days:  Recognizing the local educators while at the same time introducing them to your facility as a potential field trip option.

Senior Citizen Days:  Introducing the facility as an entertainment option for an often overlooked but growing segment of the population that often has the time and economic capability to not only bring their grandchildren but to learn that it can be a viable entertainment option for themselves.

There are many other options for generating community interest and growing your target market.  Church, fraternal, corporate, business and professional associations, sports organizations, park districts, day camps and other community organizations are all viable groups to establish relationships with.

Keep Concepts Simple:

The concepts can be as simple as providing discounts to hosting events, creating recognition programs or competition events.  Many of the programs could be co-sponsored and/or cross marketed with local businesses.  The possibilities are almost endless.

When establishing events don’t overlook involving the media.  They are always on the lookout for public interest events.  Free advertising is the best kind.  All of the concepts above will have costs involved with establishing specific events.  Plan wisely and maintain control.  Keep in mind there will be some costs involved.  Think carefully as you develop any program.  Don’t give away your primary revenue generators, as this can come back to “bite you” in returning guest expectations.

There are many other approaches that have succeeded in the past and can do so in the future.  These include:

School Holiday Days

Church days

College (High School) Olympics - Create Weird Events

Food Drives

Grand Opening Anniversary Day

Guest Appreciation Day

Neighborhood or Community Picnic Days

Bring in local, school, church and community talents

• Provide Gazebo or stage for presentation
• Offer passes as enticement

Sponsor Organization Picnics

Create group game packages

Add sand and grass volleyball

Address Senior Community

• Offer morning socials
• Create morning "Geezer 500" league for go-karts
• Create Mini-Golf and Mini Bowling leagues

Hold Summer Camps

• Work with Church and for Profit Day Care organizations
• Elementary Age day camps
• Pre-school half day camps

Establish Seasonal Events

• Egg Hunts
• Haunted Houses
• Turkey Shoots - Slingshots at Turkey Targets
• Santa Visits
• Gifts for the Needy
• Costume /Pet Competitions

Quit thinking! Jump out of the Box!  Try something new that no one else has produced.

“National Nose Day"

• Sense of smell contest
• Ten unmarked open containers/score cards/Prize Can of air spray

"National Burnt Toast day.” This could be changed to other subjects"

• Burned Toast tossing contests
• Frisbee Toast Tournament
• Toast eating contest
• Toast relay race
• Toast Art contest
• Maximum five toast creation
• Guest Vote - Have large Jar with slot opening for quarters. 
• All money collected is given to "Veterans” or other charity.
• Toast costume parade and or contest
• Couple the event with special toast menu if you have a food counter.

Get Creative with less Common or Completely new Concepts

Senior Moments

• Morning Senior Go-Kart Specials
• Morning min-golf and or mini-golf leagues
• Over the Hill 500 Senior Go-Kart Competition
• Card tournaments

Senior Olympics

• Soft ball, bed pan, boiled egg (or other creative item) toss
• Bozo's Buckets
• Clothes pin drop (maximum successful in one minute)

Parent/Child Competitive Events

• Parent/child water balloon toss
• Parent/child ping pong ball carry relay
• Soup can stack (cans donated to local food pantry)
• Ping Pong Ball/Spoon Races

Star Wars/Super Hero Events

• Check out current “Heros”
• Develop Event focused on current Winners

Use your imagination. 

There are no bad ideas, only bad execution.  Not all of these ideas will work all of the time or even some of the time.   Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  What have you got to lose?  Other than your time and your dignity! 

Each facility and the challenges it faces is a “Box.”  What has been presented represents possible “outside the box” approaches.  As each “box” is different, the creative solutions to individual problems may be different.  Not all potential solutions may work, but nothing ventured maintains the “status Quo.”  For some this may be good enough, but for others taking the path less traveled, or creating a new path may well be worth the trip.

To be successful requires commitment, a belief in yourself and selecting the correct path.

Peter is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the States of Illinois and Michigan and is President of Entertainment Concepts, Inc. (formerly Peter F. Olesen and Associates, Inc.). He founded the firm in 1984 and expanded its range of consulting services over the years to now provide a wide range of consulting services. Services range from preliminary site evaluations, feasibility studies, business plan assistance, concept development, master planning, design and construction engineering services that apply to new facilities as well as renovation or expansion of existing facilities.  Projects include the design of both outdoor and indoor, family entertainment centers, amusement parks, theme parks, stand-alone go-kart tracks and miniature golf courses, bumper boat ponds and related attractions.  The firm has been and continues to be at the forefront of go-kart, miniature golf course and bumper boat pond design, introducing many innovations in safety, geometrics, design and construction methods now widely emulated throughout the industry. 

To date the firm has completed more than 670 projects spanning 46 states, Angola, Brunei, Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan), Cuba (Guantanamo Bay), Kazakhstan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.  Since 1987 Mr. Olesen has exhibited at more than 100 industry trade shows.  He is a member of the faculty of Foundations Entertainment University (49 seminar presentations over 17 years), participated in more than 100 seminar presentations at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, FunExpo, Kart Expo and Leisure Expo, as well presenting go-kart safety seminars for the State of Ohio.  He has, and continues to author articles for industry magazines and internet newsletters.  For additional information on projects and services offered please refer to our web page www.fecdesigners.com or contact us at 847-561-7013 or www.peteolesen @yahoo.com.

Copyright: Entertainment Concepts, Inc. 2024