the world's only magazine devoted exclusively to …the world's only magazine devoted...
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THE WORLD'S ONLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE BUSINESS OF BOWLING
PUBLISHER & EDITORScott Frager
[email protected]: scottfrager
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERDavid Garber
OFFICE MANAGERPatty Heath
CONTRIBUTORSPatty Heath
Evan HenersonPaul Lane
Anna LittlesKevin MillsRobert Sax
CONTRIBUTING EDITORFred Groh
EDITORIAL DIRECTORJackie Fisher
ART DIRECTION & PRODUCTIONDesignworks
www.dzynwrx.com(818) 735-9424
FOUNDERAllen Crown (1933-2002)
12655 Ventura BoulevardStudio City, CA 91604(818) 789-2695(BOWL)
Fax (818) [email protected]
www.BowlingIndustry.com
HOTLINE: 818-789-2695SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One copy ofInternational Bowling Industry is sent free toevery bowling center, independently ownedpro shop and collegiate bowling center inthe U.S., and every military bowling centerand pro shop worldwide. Publisher reservesthe right to provide free subscriptions tothose individuals who meet publicationqualifications. Additional subscriptions maybe purchased for delivery in the U.S. for $50per year. Subscriptions for Canada andMexico are $65 per year, all other foreignsubscriptions are $80 per year. All foreignsubscriptions should be paid in U.S. fundsusing International Money Orders.POSTMASTER: Please send new as well asold address to International Bowling Industry,12655 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City, CA91604 USA. If possible, please furnishaddress mailing label.Printed in U.S.A. Copyright 2015, B2B Media,Inc. No part of this magazine may be reprintedwithout the publisher’s permission.
MEMBER AND/OR SUPPORTER OF:
6ISSUE AT HAND
Destiny CallingBy Scott Frager
8SHORTS
• Queen of Heartsraffle is a two-plus,
million-dollar hit.• Karl Kielich joins
BVL BOD• Creative Works
and Bowlmor AMFstrike a working
partnership.• Bowling ball
pyramid—quite anaccomplishment!
By Patty Heath
16CENTER STAGEMemory Lane…Inthe 21st Century
Maple Hall indowntown Knoxville
maintains the intimacyof an old center with
all of the modernupgrades.
By Evan Henerson
22HIDDEN LANES
Things Old andNew in The Upper
Hudson River ValleyIn Ballston Spa, NY, #68 Milton Avenue
held a secret for over100 years.
By Anna Littles
CONTENTS VOL 24.10
26
42
IBI October 20164
36
26COVER STORYSeeking EdWho’s going to buymy center?By Robert Sax
36TOURNAMENTSUpon the SeaAn auspicious year for theQubicaAMF World Cupin ShanghaiBy Paul Lane
42PROFILEKevin Mills, The ManAfter a career spent buildingFECs, Kevin Mills is havingsome fun for himself.By Kevin Mills with Paul Lane
54REMEMBER WHEN1962Tareyton CigarettesBy Patty Heath
48 Showcase
49 Classifieds
COVER STORY
26 IBI October 2016
is a cult TV comedy series that firstran on NBC from 2000 to 2004. Themain character, Ed Stevens, is a WallStreet lawyer who retreats to hissmall Ohio hometown after losing his
job and marriage. He decides to stay, buys the town’s run-down bowling center and revives it while also running his newlaw practice out of it.
The series was quaint, quirky and fictional, but Ed didreflect a key aspect of selling a small center. It takes a particulartype of person to operate a small center, and, like Ed, theydon’t come along every day. If you own a small center andwant to sell, how can you find that special buyer?
A small center is generally defined as having fewer than 24lanes and focused on bowling, as opposed to venues likerestaurants and nightclubs that have added a few lanes ofbowling. Bill Wammes, a small center owner and former chairof the BPAA’s small center affinity group, estimates that thereare several thousand such establishments nationwide, makingup as much as 50% of BPAA member centers. In addition there
are many small center owners who do not belong to BPAA,so the total number of small centers is higher.
The majority of bowling centers in this country are stillowned by individuals or families. Indeed, as a business,bowling is unusually family-oriented; compared to other smallbusinesses, a disproportionate number of bowling centers arepassed down from one generation to the next. “It is notunusual to find second, third and even fourth-generationowners actively involved in this business,” says center brokerSandy Hansell.
However people who grew up in the business know whata grind it can be, and the lure of easier, better-paying jobs inurban areas is working against the tradition of familysuccession. “A small center is an awful lot of work. It’s hardon a marriage. It’s hard on a family,” says Ken Paton, afinancial adviser and loan broker who has worked with manysmall center owners. “I’m a little pessimistic that we will haveenough second and third generation people that will keepthese small centers going.”
For those willing to work hard, small centers can be just as
EdBy Robert Sax
COVER STORY
27IBI October 2016
profitable as large ones. For one thing, overhead is usuallylower than at a larger center, because the owner doesmore of the work and has fewer employees. The marginsmay be smaller, but a small center can provide a great
opportunity if it’s the onlyplayer in town or has aspecialized niche in themarket. “Small centers can beequally profitable, but they havecompletely different economics,”says Ben Jones, the FEC domainexpert of Live Oak Bank. “I seelots of neat opportunities forsmaller centers,” says Jones.
As more owners near the endof their careers, Wammesbelieves retirement will be theprimary reason that small center
owners will want to sell. After thirty years at Al Mar Lanes inBowling Green, Ohio, Wammes is approaching retirementand feels lucky to have a successor. “Fortunately, my son-in-law is currently taking over,” says Wammes. “If I didn’t havesomebody taking over, I would be looking to sell forretirement.”
Your Buyer May Already Be inThe Building
The good news is that you probably don’t have to lookbeyond your area, or even your own four walls, to find a qualifiedbuyer. According to a study by market research company IBISWorld, the bulk of an average bowling center’s revenue isderived from customers living within 13 miles of it. It’s the samewith buyers, says Paton. “Eighty or ninety per cent of the buyersfor small centers come from within a half an hour away.”
The most likely buyers are your center employees orcustomers. “I know everybody that bowls [in my center] prettywell,” says Wammes. If he had to sell he could “probably pick
out the guys that wouldfinancially be able to do it,and the ones that had thepersonality to do it and thework ethic.” Owners of otherlocal businesses can be goodprospects as well. They maywant to acquire anothersource of revenue or belooking for a business for theirchildren to run.
Curtis Huenink startedbowling as a child in GreenLake, WI, and worked at local
centers as a teenager. After getting a certificate inbowling center management from Vincennes University inIndiana, he returned to Wisconsin and worked as a bowlingmanager and general manager for several centers around
the state. At one point, hiscollege teacher, Gary Sparks,introduced him to Bob Maki, aco-owner with Lloyd McIndoeof Alpine Lanes in Muskego.That led to McIndoe hiringHuenink as a general managerat the twenty-lane center, aposition he held for six years.
When McIndoe decided itwas to time to sell, heoffered the center toHuenink. Although he was
only 27 years old, Hueninkfelt ready to run his own place. It didn’t take long to put thedeal together, and Huenink took over Alpine Lanes in October2015. McIndoe is an investor in the center and remains avalued mentor and resource for Huenink.
As with Ed, former residents who are returning to thearea for personal reasons canalso be good prospects. A fewyears ago Jim Nyhan wasrunning his family’s Forest ViewLanes, a 20-lane center inTemperance, MI. But after 20years in the business andneeding more time to take careof ailing family members, Nyhanbegan thinking about selling.
Around the same time RichKenny returned to Temperanceto care for his ill mother. Kennyhad worked for Nyhan at thecenter when he was a teenager, and hebegan hanging out at Forest View Lanes again. One dayNyhan suggested in jest that he buy the place. The ideaslowly took hold, and once they became serious about it, theyreached a deal in about a year.
Gary Sparks
Ken Paton
Lloyd McIndoe
Sandy Hansell
COVER STORY
30 IBI October 2016
GETTING READY FOR A SALEKeep your center properly maintained and presentable to
entice buyers and their financiers. Ken Paton recalls one dealthat was set to go; the seller signed, the buyer signed, the loanwas approved. “The bank had to do a site visit. The presidentof the bank happened to be in town, so he walked in andnoticed that one of the glass pieces next to the front door was broken,”says Paton. “He assumed that if the owners hadn’t repaired visibledamage, there must be other deficiencies and killed the deal.”
“The biggest problem for most [owners] is that they come in the placeeveryday, they get used to it as it is. It’s sohard for them to step back and see it as astranger would,” says Paton. “A fewthousand dollars of labor and materials torepaint the building can make it look like anew place.” You can ask colleagues or otherbusiness owners to give you an opinion onyour center’s aesthetics. An alternative is touse the BPAA’s secret shopper program toreview your center and even compare it toyour closest competitors.
You should also make sure your financialbooks and records are accurate andunderstandable and have been properly
maintained from day one. This will enablepotential buyers and bankers to obtain anaccurate picture of the business operation andits value. You should also have your tax returnsprepared and available. While it’s not necessaryto use a CPA to prepare your tax returns andincome statements, banks and many buyers willlikely feel more confident about these documentsif an accounting professional prepared them.
It’s not always easy for a first-time operator toget bank financing, and it can be hard to find abuyer who can buy the center without help.Often the seller ends up financing some of thedeal, carrying the buyer until he can build enoughof a business track record to get a bank loan.
Ben Jones emphasizes the importance of aseller doing proper due diligence on a buyer. ABen Jones
COVER STORY
34 IBI October 2016
qualified buyer is more likely to appeal to a banker,especially one who has run a business through severalcycles, even if it wasn’t in the bowling business.Experience in the bowling business is certainly a plus,but Jones says it’s just as important to find someone whois passionate about the business and willing to do the workthat running a small center requires. He will frequently askprospective buyers “Are you willing to work while others play?”
CONTINUITY IS KEYGetting the word out that your
center is for sale can be a delicatebusiness. You want to attract buyersbut don’t want to give your regulars oremployees a reason to go elsewhere.“I could count on my hand the four orfive people who might buy my center,”said Wammes, urging caution. “So if Iwanted to do that, I might casuallymention it to them. But I definitelywouldn’t advertise it.”
Once a sale is pending, it’s wise toreassure your regulars and employeesthat the center will remain the greatplace they have always enjoyed. You
will reduce the risk of losing customersand employees at the time when you can least afford it.
If you’re the new owner, get to know the regulars and what they like aboutthe place before you even think of making any changes, cautions Wammes,especially if you aren’t from the community. “Every region has [its] own littleidiosyncrasies. If the [new owner] is smart, they come in and try to learn howthey did it there and do it that way. But they want to come in and changeit their way and it doesn’t work.”
Bad feelings on the part of the former owner after the sale can createproblems, says Jim Nyhan. He has seen sellers and old employees sabotagethe transition by not endorsing the new owner. “Try to stay professional inall situations as you are dealing with the sale of a bowling center,” says Nyhan.
“And keep the old owner on for a periodof time as an advisor. That could be a key.”
Rich Kenny believes it’s important toretain some structure as you transition tothe new ownership. “Day one, you thinkyou might understand it all, but over thecourse of four years, I think everydaysomebody comes up to you and you don’tknow how to deal with it,” says Kenny.Whether it be a customer situation or aleague situation, whether it be a buildingsituation, it makes sense to make sureyou have a good transition.”
In the case of Curtis Huenink and Lloyd
McIndoe, their prior relationship and Lloyd’scontinuing interest in the business have beeninvaluable to Curtis. “Lloyd is the kind of guywho’s going to be available for phone calls andquestions that I have as long as he’s alive,” saysCurtis. “At this point, I talk to him at least twicea week.”
Key employees who feel threatened by thesale can also harm the business by leaving anddrawing away customers. Offer to try to helpthem keep their jobs with the new owner or
give them a good severance package so they willleave on a positive note.
It’s possible to find a buyer for a small center,but as with running one, it takes passion, luck andpatience. It helps to think ahead, too. Whenshould an owner start looking for a buyer?According to Ken Paton, “the day you buy it,” sokeep an eye out for Ed. ❖
Robert Sax is a writer and PR consultant in
Los Angeles. He grew up in Toronto,
Canada, the home of five-pin bowling.
Bill Wammes
Curtis Huenink
Rich Kenny and Jim Nyhan