Evolve Or Die

I've just returned from the F2FEC family entertainment center business conference in Phoenix, and the energy at the event was contagious. F2FEC is a "face 2 face" educational event for operators, manufacturers and suppliers. The program is the brainchild of Rick Iceberg, CJ Barrymore's; Ben Jones, Live Oak Bank; and George Smith, Family Entertainment Group, who collaborate as "The Three Amigos." The Amigos set out to bring together the "best and the brightest" industry professionals, to stimulate their curiosity, pool their knowledge and share their passion in a relaxed, free-form environment to foster ideas and identify opportunities. And they succeeded.

The wide-ranging and candid exchange among operators, manufacturers and suppliers was extremely refreshing and made this event uniquely worthwhile. It was an uplifting experience to observe like-minded peers, some of them competitors, working together to empower one another to make a positive impact on the industry.

The topics were all thought provoking, served to get everyone involved, and even pushed a few buttons. "Evolve or die" emerged as the theme common to all the discussions. And I think we can all agree that, no matter what primary business you are in, we all must change and grow in order to find better ways to serve our customers' needs.

This is how we create a positive future for our industry. According to some 170 FEC experts who participated in the confab, it starts with investing in the customer, making your business memorable (for both your employees and your customers) and by shifting your business focus from a service economy to an experience economy.

While there are some distinguished exceptions, the traditional FEC is nearly extinct, the old-fashioned tavern is virtually nonexistent and mall arcades have disappeared. How, then, do we remain relevant as an industry? What do today's customers want that they may not even know they need? We must create diverse, desirable experiences that give guests a reason to get out of their homes and come back again. This requires dedication and investment in our locations and our employees, because the front line has a direct impact on the bottom line. And that requirement is not confined to site-based operations.

Many FEC owners spoke about diversifying their locations by adding new experiences, such as traditional arcade games (like cranes and redemption), concessions in their bowling alleys and enhancing customer engagement in larger facilities with attractions such as trampolines, bumper cars, go-carts and batting cages. But all recognized that the food and the bar have proven the big drivers to their locations, and so well worth the investment. Of course, this got me thinking...

The "street" coin machine business is generally perceived as a route-serviced concession industry. Coin machine operators have two skill sets, one of which is efficient and reliable route operation and control. The other, of course, is understanding the varying tastes and desires of different populations in the locations they serve. The second, at least, can be put to good use in a site-based installation; and the importance of management controls to ensure individual accountability developed by successful route operators will be of equal value in managing redemption-counter attendants and other personnel in an FEC.

Refreshment service is another important area of overlap. Children enjoy using vending machines, and most people recognize that using a vending machine can provide some entertainment, especially if it drops a bottle or retrieves an ice cream bar from a base-mounted freezer. I'd argue, too, that well-cared-for vending machines can deliver products of quality equal to any chain foodservice operation. And then there is coffee service; many OCS operators have been successful in developing turnkey specialty-coffee programs for small restaurants and taverns, where coffee-based dessert drinks are very beneficial to check averages.

Some high-end contract foodservice management firms have responded to the requests of upscale clients for jukeboxes, air hockey tables and other coin-op leisure-time equipment in their employee cafeterias. If well-compensated people are being asked to work long and often irregular hours, their employers will want to keep them happy at the workplace.

The point here is that vending and coffee service operators have the ability to get into the FEC business, if they want to, and to partner with expansion-minded FEC operators to offer new attractions. By the same token, FEC operators looking to broaden the attraction of their establishments might adopt some of the tools and techniques developed by and for the workplace service industries to strengthen their stores' appeal as destinations. Both can benefit from some of the less-recognized virtues of the others' tools.