Bowling Center Business Plan

Customer service is paramount in the bowling business. The starting point to accomplish this is to have a trained and motivated staff that enjoys working directly with the public. It is always easier to please your customers when the facility is spotless and all of the equipment is in proper working order. The center will establish community involvement to demonstrate how the business will contribute to a better quality of life. Community projects using the bowling center’s facilities will be developed to help civic groups obtain their financial goals. School, church, and other groups will be welcomed for tours of the bowling center.

5.1 Competitive Edge

Experience and Reputation:

1. Sally has experience as a bowler in the local community and as a marketing and business analyst for the Professional Bowling Association. Sally’s experience will give her the ability to contact local and national bowlers for recruiting leaguers.  Sally also has contacts within the National Ice Skating Association and Roller Skating organizations organizing competitions throughout the Region.
2. Bowl Weevil will have the reputation of being the most affordable, comfortable and convenient place of entertainment in town for the entire family.

5.2 Marketing Strategy

Marketing in a bowling business depends on reputation for quality bowling facilities and entertainment. It starts with Sally’s known contacts in the bowling and ice and roller industries, and continues with long-term efforts to develop reputation in local communities.

Bowl Weevil will develop and maintain a database of people in the bowling leagues. The database starts with the contacts we bring in with our first nine game bowling league tournament. From there we will add inquiries and participants, and bowling league newsletters. Bowl Weevil will use the database to make regular contact with mailings for additional bowling league tournaments, possibly group studies and market research reports.

We will recruit a core league of bowlers from the local and Professional Bowling Association contacts for the first nine game bowling league tournament. After the first tournament, the core league of bowlers will be cultivated for future participants and league organizers.

5.3 Sales Strategy

Bowl Weevil wants to attract local bowlers of all ages. This will require advertising on local radio shows and cable networks as well as reaching out to schools, churches, businesses, organizations and clubs.

The most important factor for closing sales in our case is getting them in the door. Once our customers come in the door they will be personally greeted by Sally Strike and made to feel comfortable so that they keep coming back.

The league manager will be hired part-time to contact local work places, clubs, and bowlers to participate in the nine-game league tournament. Participants in the tournament will be rewarded with trophies for the first three teams and the champion will receive a cash prize equal to half of all the entry fees. The Marketing Coordinator will maintain a database of contact information and sales data about regular bowling leaguers to optimize services to our target customers during league hours. Reduced prices will be offered to senior citizens on a daily basis between certain low-volume hours and on certain food and drink items all day long. Advertisements to teenagers will be placed in local college and weekly papers, highlighting their favorite video games, their favorite tunes on the jukebox, and the Saturday morning teenager tournaments.

The manager will go out in the field calling on churches, schools, clubs, organizations, scouts to sell group outings/lessons.  Private party times will be sold for each area as well.

5.3.1 Sales Forecast

The start-up period will be spent setting up the bowling alley, the gaming room, the restaurant and lounge. This will include building the bowling lanes setting up the pins and connecting the scoring terminals. During this time, the manager will recruit bowling leaguers for his first nine game bowling league tournament and begin advertising in local papers for the opening and senior discounts.

In April, Bowl Weevil Bowling Lanes will open for business. We project an increase in business in June, when school lets out, and families need entertainment for their children during daytime hours. We will start league games in July.

The table and charts below show detailed projections of sales and cost of sales for each category. Detailed monthly projections for the first year can be found in the Appendix. Cost of sales for bowling is a projection of direct wear and tear on equipment which will need replacing, cleaning, or repair. Costs for food and liquor are costs of ingredients. There are no anticipated direct costs from the video games.

5.4 Milestones

The accompanying table lists important program milestones, with dates and managers in charge, and budgets for each. The milestone schedule indicates our emphasis on planning for implementation.

What the table doesn’t show is the commitment behind it. Our business plan includes complete provisions for plan-vs.-actual analysis, and we will hold monthly follow-up meetings to discuss the variance and course corrections.