C’mon Back. Please

A recent industry report indicated that bowling centers that convert to FECs or BECs can make about 50% more revenue than without this conversion. 

This is primarily due to the increase in arcade revenue, laser tag type of offers as well as food and beverage revenue.

I have also heard numbers that these new centers are creating revenues of $5mm to $15mm per year. I know some of these proprietors and they have shared these numbers with me so I believe that the aforementioned is true.

I also believe that first year numbers are not as strong an indicator of longer term success since almost everyone in a market wants to “try the new flavor.” Who doesn’t?

The real key is retaining these customers to be frequent customers; not just one and done – even though recent studies by Qubica as reported at the recent Bowl Expo this past June indicate that the average open play bowler goes bowling about twice a year. The challenge is to get them back more frequently, isn’t it?

So let’s look at the strategy of retention and frequency.

If the average customer attends your venue twice a year and spends $15 per visit, that would equate to $30 per year per customer. At $1.5 million in revenue for this sample center, that equals to 50,000 visits x $30 per customer.

If you could increase those 50,000 visits to 60,000 visits at $15 per visit, you would create an additional $150,000 in increased income. 

While you may feel the pressure to market to everyone to achieve this goal, you may make compromises to get to everyone.