Foundations University Starts Off Its 12th Season January 20-23, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona
Foundations Entertainment University, going into its 12th year, continues to be the entertainment industry’s resource for covering all aspects of market & financial feasibility, planning, design, financing, development, marketing and managing a location-based entertainment business for long term success. The class provides a complete blueprint for anyone developing and opening a new center or significantly expanding or renovating an existing location-based entertainment facility. Just as important – existing facilities can learn how to stay ahead of the competition and expanding markets.
• January 20 – 22, 2015 – Phoenix, Arizona – REGISTER BEFORE DECEMBER 1st and SAVE $160
• July 21 – 23, 2015 – Chicago, Illinois
• October 13 – 15, 2015 – Dallas, Texas
For more information, visit www.foundationsuniversity.com.
Knock It Off Rotary with Ticket Bundle Formations: Last Week Ranks #5 Overall and is the #1 Merchandiser
Here’s the Ticket!
This is an amazing story and you won’t read about it anywhere else. The Knock If Off came within $3 of tying the Big Bass Wheel for the #4 Overall ranking out of 82 games. I never expected this when the Alpha-Omega Team went to work on using actual ticket bundle formations rather than barcoded ticket vouchers in the round dishes that we had been using on our Knock It Off Rotaries for the past 10 years, that kept the KIO around a 30-40 ranking overall.
For the past several months our Ticket Candy Crane held the #1 Merchandise ranking and got as high as #6 Overall with earnings in excess of $3200/week. It is only recently that the Knock It Off has surpassed the Ticket Candy Crane in rank, primarily because it is a 4 player game. The Ticket Candy Crane is set at $1/play and the Knock It Off is set at 50 cents/play. The good news is that there is interest among a few game manufacturers to make new rotary games! TRR will keep you informed.
Our staff is having fun coming up with new and attractive ticket bundle formations to show the customers something new each month. Check out the Test Games Spreadsheet and Top 60 Redemption and Merchandise Games Combined Sections for more details. These two ticket games show how important hit frequency and ticket putout % is and why simplicity is a major factor in creating a top redemption or merchandiser game. It also dramatically demonstrates that going completely ‘ticketless’ is not all it is cracked up to be. Even in a ticketless redemption operation, tickets can still be used in merchandisers.
The International Association of Trampoline Parks (IATP) 2nd Annual Conference & Trade Show
Here’s the Ticket!
The International Association of Trampoline Parks (IATP) 2nd Annual Conference & Trade Show took place October 14-16 in Scottsdale, AZ. Attendance counts totaled 235 comprised of 165 trampoline park owners, managers and affiliates, and 70 exhibitor attendees from 36 companies. Several well-known coin-op and FEC suppliers exhibited: AMOA, Bay Tek, Betson, Center Edge, Creative Works, Northeast Insurance Center, Embed, Party Center Software, Quik n’ Crispy, Rhode Island Novelty, Sureshot Redemption, TrainerTainment, Tricorp Amusements, and Zone Laser Tag. Well known FEC presenters (non-exhibiting) included Jerry Merola (Amusement Entertainment Management), Shery Bendelglass (SherylGolf), Wayne Pierce (Pierce Law Firm), and Frank Seninsky (Amusement Entertainment Management). I presented two seminars: ‘Enhancing Revenue through Added Attractions’ and ‘Games & Redemption’. I also attended 10 of the 51 seminars and learned a lot more about trampoline parks.
There are approximately 200 trampoline parks in the U.S. and another 100 worldwide. Another 100 are planned over the next year. The TP model has many similarities to the FEC model and some important differences. Many of the original TP’s are paying very high per sq. ft. rates but quickly learned that 15% of revenues is more in line. The time of stay is 1 hr to 1-1/2 hrs and the average per capita is around $14, but does not include non-jumpers. Birthday parties and groups are a big part of the business. Most do not focus on food but do sell beverages and ice cream products. Some have games but do not focus on them. The per capita spending of spectators (like parents and grandparents) is almost non-existent. Size ranges from 20,000 sq. ft. to 40,000 sq. ft. The children, teens and young adults actually jump for about 20 minutes of each hour. The main competitive focus for the future is to come up with different jumping attractions just as FEC’s look to change-out or upgrade their attractions.
FEC time of stay is longer (2 hrs to 2-1/2 hrs) and the per capita spending is slightly higher but also includes revenues from all visitors. FEC’s have multiple attractions and food and game revenue is a big part of the business. Birthday parties and groups are very important.
Pictured Right: (L to R) Armando Lanuti of Party Center Software pictured with Frank Seninsky at the IATP 2nd Annual Conference & Trade Show.
What this could mean. The trampoline park industry, began a slow growth period with the first park opening in 2004 until about 2010, when the industry exploded and is now seeing parks open at a rate of 5-6 per month. Most of the industry is driven by young entrepreneurs who are not aware of the ups and downs of the FEC industry over the past 30 years. They are not aware of the fate of single attraction facilities such as bowling and laser tag that had to add attractions in order to survive after the shine wore off. They are franchise driven and there are more than a dozen suppliers (4 main ones).
My financial analysis shows that each park is giving up as much as 50% of their potential revenues by not also including a full games zone, full snack bar, and other smaller footprint attractions and encouraging their customers to stay longer, spend additional money, and increase their frequency of visitation . All of the facilities have high ceilings and there is a great opportunity to fully utilize the existing overhead space. Many of these facilities could be designed properly to take advantage of these revenue opportunities currently and in the future. There are a few that can be considered as stage 1 trampoline-anchored FEC’s and I commend them.
Insurance costs are 2-3 times higher for TP’s than for traditional FEC’s and this is a major industry concern. However, the IATP is aggressively and proactively focusing on this issue. My research shows that insurance companies will soon offer a blended rate where food, games, and FEC attractions revenue will not be rated the same as the trampoline attractions revenue, but at much lower rates. The same will hopefully apply to FEC’s that add a trampoline attraction, rather than rating all of the FEC revenues at the higher trampoline rate.
There are already several market areas that have multiple trampoline parks and this saturating trend will continue until feasibility studies are taken more seriously. Some trampoline parks will close and others will see this and quickly transform. I predict that within 3 years, the majority of the trampoline park facilities will begin to focus on capturing the additional revenue that is required for long term profitability. In the meantime, the exhibitors and FEC consultants will continue to educate the IATP members (now about 110 facility members) and the franchisors to avoid failures and be successful. After all, we are all in the same leisure entertainment industry.
For more information about the Indoor Trampoline Park Association, visit www.indoortrampolineparks.org.
