Latest / The GrowthPro Edge / Winning Through Partnership and Innovation | The GrowthPro Edge

Transcript

Winning Through Partnership and Innovation | The GrowthPro Edge · The GrowthPro Edge

0:00
Denise Killian: Welcome to the GrowthPro Edge.
0:02
We're here to help scale your business, build stronger teams,
0:06
and sharpen your leadership skills.
0:08
Welcome to this week's episode of the GrowthPro Edge.
0:12
I'm your host, Denise Killian, with the GrowthPro Group and Trainertainment.
0:16
And today we're going to be celebrating the FEC of the Year, Star Lanes Polaris,
0:21
with one of its owners, Doug Mechlin, along with two of the tech partners who
0:27
have helped Star Lanes Polaris become their success, and that's Sarah Poz with
0:32
Embed, and Sarah Mallet with Qubica AMF.
0:37
So let's get started and learn how those partnerships are a
0:41
vital part of the path to success.
0:45
Well, welcome everyone to this week's GrowthPro Edge.
0:50
Very excited to have Doug Mechlin, who is the head of the FEC of
0:56
the Year, Star Lanes Polaris.
0:58
Thank you, Doug, for being here.
1:00
Doug Mechlin: You're welcome.
1:01
Um, I'll correct you, it's Mechlin.
1:05
But-
1:05
Sara Paz: See?
1:05
I did it.
1:06
We had the
1:06
Denise Killian: whole conversation, and see how I did it?
1:09
Doug Mechlin: The only reason I said it was because we talked about it
1:11
before we got on the air, right?
1:14
Sara Paz: I mean, this is my problem,
1:16
Denise Killian: right?
1:17
This is why I ask.
1:19
Um, okay.
1:20
So Doug, uh, we'll start off with you.
1:23
We also have Sarah Poz with Embed, and we have Sarah Mallet with Qubica, and
1:29
we're gonna talk about first you and what you've done at Star Lanes Polaris.
1:35
So start us off with a little bit about Star Lanes Polaris.
1:39
Doug Mechlin: Yeah, so we are a 35,000 square foot bowling anchored
1:44
family entertainment center that is, um, situated, uh, on the
1:47
northern end of Columbus, Ohio.
1:50
Um, and we have 20 lanes of bowling, uh, about a 65-piece, uh, arcade.
1:57
We have an XD theater, an Omni arena, a virtual reality arena.
2:02
We have three bays of, um, augmented reality darts by 501,
2:07
um, full bar and restaurant.
2:09
Um, we're, we're, we're in somewhat of a, an affluent suburb of the city.
2:14
Um, a lot of corporate traffic that comes through, a lot of families,
2:18
um, that come through our venue.
2:20
And so, um, yeah, we've been open since 2013.
2:24
Um, uh, it's a family business.
2:27
My brother, my father and myself are the owners and, uh, we've
2:31
had a lot of fun with Star Lanes.
2:32
We have a great staff.
2:33
Um, I believe we have a great product.
2:36
Um, very proud of what we have there.
2:40
Denise Killian: Well, congratulations on being the FEC of the year because
2:43
that's- Thank you … kind of a big deal.
2:45
Doug Mechlin: That's, uh, well, we are a big deal.
2:46
What can I say?
2:48
Denise Killian: I love it.
2:49
I love it.
2:50
That's
2:50
right.
2:50
So let me ask you, right?
2:51
Let me ask you, in the last three to five years-
2:54
Doug Mechlin: Yeah
2:55
… Denise Killian: what do you think are some of the decisions that you guys have
2:57
made at Star Lanes to sort of position yourself to be named the FEC of the year?
3:05
Doug Mechlin: I think there's a bit of a maturing that happens,
3:07
you know, as you become, you know, more tenured in operations, right?
3:10
And so we've always had this idea, the concept for us that's most important is
3:15
that the people that come through the door that are gonna, you know, that we're lucky
3:20
enough they wanna come through and give us their money, that we owe it to them
3:22
that we're gonna give them a good product.
3:24
And whatever that is, if it's a corporate event, that, that
3:27
their team has a great time.
3:28
If it's a family out, they feel like that they got value for their dollar.
3:31
If they're, you know, out for entertainment and food, um, that
3:35
we've, that's- that's our job, right?
3:37
And so there's a lot that goes into that, and so it's very important for us.
3:40
We've always looked at- If you wanna call it innovation, um, you wanna call
3:45
it, um, you know, continued growth, but for us it's just kind of evolving
3:50
and making sure that our venue's clean, we're giving good hospitality, we're
3:55
controlling the things that are within the four walls that we can control.
3:59
But there's a lot that goes into that in, in, in, in terms of kind
4:02
of figuring out, um, you know, in the game room for instance,
4:06
what games are we gonna take out?
4:08
What are we gonna bring in?
4:09
You know, what updates are we gonna do inside the venue?
4:11
If it's furniture, if it's software updates, if it's hardware updates.
4:15
And so, you know, we've always, um, had that kind of just as a, as
4:19
a basic, you know, belief as we've operated through these 13 years.
4:23
And so I wouldn't say there's anything necessarily different
4:25
we did five years ago.
4:26
You know, we're coming out of COVID, you know, and, and,
4:29
and those, you know, times.
4:32
You know, we were, we were still at that time trying to just get as
4:37
many people through the doors and give them the best experience that
4:39
we could, just like we always do.
4:41
Um, but we never really lost sight of, um, reinvesting in the business.
4:46
And so it's always been important to us to reinvest and make sure that,
4:50
you know, what we have out there… And I think that, you know, Sarah,
4:53
both the Sarahs were in our venue recently for FEC Connect, and if you
4:57
walked in there and you thought that it was a 13-year-old venue, then
5:00
we haven't been doing a good job.
5:02
And I've hoped that they would both say that they felt like, you know, our venue
5:05
being 13 years old, that it still looks as good and would put it up with anybody
5:09
else that's out there opening up today.
5:11
Um, so that's always been our goal.
5:13
And, and so these two partners that we have here from Embed and from
5:17
Cubica, they're critical partners to us, and they're a, a lot, you
5:21
know, a, a, a big part of that.
5:23
You know, on the Embed side, you know, we have continued to…
5:26
We've, we've reinvested in hardware.
5:28
We changed all of our hardware out, um, several years ago, kind of-
5:31
Mm-hmm … and position ourselves to be able to continue to move forward.
5:35
On the, on the Cubica side, oh my gosh, this year we are having the, the biggest
5:40
investment as a one-off that we've ever had, um, in, in installing, um,
5:45
NV and the Neoverse wall in our venue.
5:48
And so- That, the upgrades to our point of sale with Square, and then how these,
5:54
um, the two organizations that these two women represent come together on
5:58
the technology side, it's just, um, it's, it's huge, and it's a lot of work.
6:01
It's a lot of… You know, we, we ask our team in the venue
6:04
to focus on the guests, right?
6:06
And that experience.
6:07
But all this stuff runs in the background, and so you have to…
6:11
You know, my brother, who's my partner, and I are, you know, we're
6:13
continually trying to move that forward.
6:15
So it's not just- Right … like a singular thing.
6:18
It's, it's everything just dragging it along as we go, right?
6:21
And that's, I think, how we kinda got to where we were, and, and
6:24
we're gonna continue that way.
6:26
Denise Killian: Yeah, and that's, that's exactly it.
6:28
The, you should be focusing on the guests, right?
6:31
And, and your job as an operator is to make sure that the guests coming
6:35
in have this great experience.
6:38
But there's a whole lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that can h- either
6:43
help you focus on that or completely prevent you from focusing on it.
6:49
Yeah.
6:49
So when you're making decisions on these, on these partners, uh, because
6:54
no, no one stands alone, right?
6:56
We all need partnerships, uh, and, and certainly tech partners.
7:00
Doug Mechlin: Yeah.
7:00
Denise Killian: How did you guys make the decision about which
7:03
tech partners you would go with?
7:05
Doug Mechlin: Yeah, I think in the beginning, you know, we
7:06
relied a lot on outside sources.
7:08
Um, you know, when we opened, you know, we opened as an Embed and Cubic
7:11
AMF venue, and so we were relying on others that were out there that had
7:16
had good experiences with both of those organizations, and we did that.
7:21
And, and ultimately, it's paid dividends for us.
7:23
And so I think for us, you know, we've had good relationships with them.
7:27
They've been responsive.
7:28
You know, no relationship's perfect.
7:29
We're not perfect as an operator of guests that come in.
7:32
I mean, but it's how you, it's how you, you know- If, if something is not
7:36
right, how do you respond to it, right?
7:38
And so both of these organizations, um, have been solid throughout the
7:43
time that we've been open, so what are we gonna go somewhere else
7:46
for and try something else, right?
7:48
We haven't, we haven't, you know, nobody's dropped the ball to the point
7:51
that, um, it's, it's just, it's been a great relationship for us, so let's
7:55
continue it and keep it moving forward.
7:56
What I love about both of these organizations is they are both innovators.
8:00
They both wanna move it.
8:01
They both wanna … The same way that we wanna innovate, they want their
8:04
products to be better, and it's evident.
8:06
They're out there.
8:07
They're showing what the innovations, those products are.
8:10
The Square and Concur and Square and Embed integrations, that, that's a good
8:16
example, you know, of how, you know, for us as an operator, when you talk
8:21
about things that are disjointed on the technology side, you know, I think
8:25
everybody that's out there that's been an operator from 10 years ago on could say,
8:30
"Hey, listen, we've got a point of sale.
8:31
We've got this attraction.
8:33
We've got this attraction." But these things don't talk, and there's out
8:36
there, there's people that are out there trying to figure out, well, these two
8:39
have actually figured out how to make it h- Like, their organizations have
8:42
figured out how to make it happen, right?
8:43
And so it's you put your money where your mouth is, and when you see that as an
8:46
op- from an operator perspective, we're closer now th- than we've ever been to
8:50
having a true reward-and-loyalty program that we can take across all of our revenue
8:57
streams and put that together and have it be cohesive where I'm not having to
9:01
take, you know, one piece and add it to another piece and add it to another piece.
9:06
And so that, I think, for us, when we look at these two, you know, as
9:12
partners in a nutshell, are we gonna continue to go down the road with them?
9:15
Absolutely.
9:16
We've made that clear in how we positioned ourselves, so I don't,
9:20
I don't see it any other way.
9:22
Denise Killian: Oh, that's great.
9:23
That's great.
9:24
So I wanna talk a little bit, um, about that working together part, right?
9:29
Mm. 'Cause so many times we've got 50,000 different options that kind
9:34
of do the same stuff, but maybe they don't talk to each other.
9:38
Yeah.
9:38
Right.
9:38
Uh, so Sarah, I wanna ask you with Embed.
9:41
Sara Paz: Yes.
9:41
Yes.
9:41
Denise Killian: I know with your tech stack, you guys do a lot of collaboration
9:46
with, with other companies to help make sure everything works together.
9:51
Sara Paz: Th- that's right.
9:52
And so, you know, even before I get started down that path, what I do
9:55
wanna say is the, the one thing that I love about what we're doing right
9:59
here- That feels so good and so magical is the fact that this is, this
10:04
is our industry at its best, right?
10:06
In which you have four different entities, four different companies
10:09
that are experts in their own specific sector and domain who come together as
10:14
a me- of, as a meeting of the minds, if you will, to talk about what, what
10:18
works and what's magical and what's incredible, and that's certainly
10:21
how I feel about Sarah at Cubica, as she knows from the minute I met her.
10:25
And the same thing goes for Doug.
10:26
And what's fascinating, because he made reference to, um, how long he's been
10:30
working with us, which is basically since they opened, and he had an opportunity
10:35
when he was doing a renewal, okay?
10:38
To say, "No, I'm gonna go with another system." Right?
10:41
But he didn't.
10:42
Instead, he continued innovating, and this is something that I really
10:45
like about, uh, the Doug Mecklings of the world, if you will, and that is
10:50
that they don't set it and forget it.
10:51
They continue to innovate.
10:52
They continue to learn.
10:53
They have a growth mindset.
10:55
And so, and the same thing goes for Cubica.
10:57
This is actually something that really attracted, that we were attracted to, um,
11:02
from the Embed perspective, and that is that with Cubica, they're like, "Hey, you
11:05
know, we continue innovating as well."
11:07
Right?
11:07
"We're trailblazers in our area." And what's wonderful is that they
11:11
make it easy to work with them.
11:12
What does that mean?
11:13
It's an API.
11:13
It's a simple like, let me just demystify an API in terms of
11:16
integration, and that is imagine a power cord and a wall power socket.
11:22
Does one plug in with the other?
11:24
And does it talk, and does it work?
11:26
That is integration at its best.
11:28
But the reality is that many companies, especially in our
11:32
industry, do not have APIs.
11:34
They're not easy to integrate.
11:36
And so what ends up happening is companies like myself, and I know companies also
11:40
like Cubica, is that you have a lot of players that are saying, "Hey, how
11:45
do we integrate with your system?"
11:47
And at the end of the day, it's a resource situation in which you're
11:50
looking at your dev team, and you're saying, "Am I gonna take my dev team
11:54
and work on integrations or continuing to innovate? Or how do I split the
11:59
manpower in such a way, and then how do I set priorities?" And the priorities
12:04
are always set by critical mass.
12:06
Right?
12:06
Square.
12:08
Square was a no-brainer, and it was last August.
12:11
And Doug, you can, you know Set me straight here if, if my recall is
12:16
off, but he spoke with Renee, our CEO, about Square, and he was saying,
12:20
"Listen, we need an integration." And usually for Renee, our CEO, like, her
12:25
knee-jerk reaction generally is a no.
12:28
Unless it's a Kubica of the world, unless it's a h- you know, big players.
12:33
Big players mean critical mass, which means we have an overlap of customers.
12:36
Like Sarah and I have an overlap of a customer in Doug, right?
12:41
And so that integration is a no-brainer.
12:43
But for her, at the moment, she was like, "Well, we're
12:45
gonna have to evaluate Square."
12:47
And I remember Doug kind of looked at us and he was like, "It's a no-brainer."
12:51
And it took a couple of months and they were like, "Oh my God, it's a no-brainer.
12:54
Doug is right.
12:55
Look at how many customers they have that are Embed customers.
12:57
We need that integration." We prioritized it on the roadmap, um, and we made
13:02
it happen and, you know, making it happen was really a feel-good for us
13:06
when Doug came back and he was like, "Yes, you guys actually listened to
13:09
me and you did this integration."
13:11
It doesn't always work that way, but I'm happy to say that it worked in this case.
13:15
Denise Killian: Yeah.
13:15
No,
13:16
Sara Mallet: that's fantastic.
13:16
I, I wanna echo what Sarah
13:18
said about Doug.
13:19
You know, Doug is tough.
13:21
Like, he is… And, and I mean that in all of the good ways,
13:24
Doug, because you do it right.
13:26
Like, I remem- like, you had great opportunities 'cause
13:29
every time you innovate and you grow, you do the research.
13:33
And it's so funny because we run into customers all the time, and they're
13:37
either so, uh, so price-focused or not relationship-focused,
13:42
and that makes it difficult.
13:43
It makes it difficult pr- on the sales standpoint.
13:45
It make- because Kubica is a relation-based comp- company, right?
13:49
We- Yes … we sell what we believe in.
13:52
We, we want to work with customers that, and vendor partners that are like-minded.
13:59
And even though Doug may seem tough, he does all the right things.
14:04
He is constantly researching.
14:05
He's, he's constantly holding vendors accountable.
14:08
And before he makes a decision, and I know the Neoverse invest ND was
14:12
a big decision, as he said it was the largest capital purchase he's
14:17
made probably in the past 10 years.
14:19
Um, those are, those customers, the customers that take the time, um,
14:25
they'll find the right partners.
14:27
Uh, we pray it's in us.
14:28
Sometimes it's not.
14:29
Um, I mean, we can't be a great fit for everyone.
14:32
But I wanna just encourage whoever is listening to this to do the research,
14:37
take the time, be tough, do all the things before you invest in a partner to make
14:43
sure that that partner is a good fit for you, because it's super important
14:48
Denise Killian: And,
14:48
and to that point, Sarah, I, I just wanna ask you, uh, 'cause you're right,
14:52
a lot of times it's the bottom line, and because people maybe be, might be
14:56
scared of the technology or not fully understand it, not quite get all the
15:01
great things that it can do to help them, or okay, maybe, but can we use it?
15:06
You know.
15:07
Um, so they kind of look at, well, what's the cheapest, right?
15:11
Which might not be the best approach.
15:13
Just anybody out there listening, that's, you know, not always the best approach.
15:17
But I wanna ask, what are the things that people should ask when they're considering
15:24
a partnership with a tech company?
15:27
Sara Paz: Right.
15:28
Well, I think Sarah actually, um, I, I don't know which Sarah you
15:31
were talking about, but what I will say is that Sarah has the best
15:33
quote, and I don't mean this Sarah.
15:35
I'm not speaking in the third person, I'm talking about Sarah.
15:38
Sarah said to me, "If you buy on price, you're gonna pay twice." Yeah.
15:41
I mean, you mentioned that to me once, and I wrote it down, and I thought, "Oh."
15:45
'Cause it'll cost you if you buy on price.
15:48
It'll cost you if you don't ask questions like, "Hey, who are the rest
15:52
of your customers? Who has developed your tech? Do you own your IP?" Right?
15:58
And if you have a data center, am I gonna recognize the name of your data center?
16:02
Everybody recognizes Amazon Web Services.
16:04
Everybody recognizes Google and Apple.
16:07
They know it's enterprise-level software.
16:10
And what I, what I usually like to tell people who, let's say, are unfamiliar
16:14
with Embed is that, "Listen, we work with the best of the best because
16:17
our customers, customers like Doug, are the best of the best." Right?
16:22
And the best of the best at, to Sarah's point, they are demanding.
16:25
There's no question about it.
16:26
They need reliability, they need scalability, they need enterprise-level
16:30
innovation, and they need to know that you're gonna help take
16:33
them to the next level, right?
16:35
Because you're… Because I know Embed is not a low-cost leader, and we would
16:38
never go out there and be like, "Oh, you know, we're gonna be the cheap…"
16:41
No.
16:41
We're gonna be the most reliable, the most innovative, the most
16:44
trailblazing, just like Qubica.
16:47
And for me, I was blown away, Sarah, when you were sitting on that panel at
16:51
Amusement 360, and you're like, "Hey," you know, 'cause you had an audience
16:55
full of people that were thinking about, you know, setting up their venues.
16:58
And I love that you were able to come in and just say, you know, "Bowling
17:01
101. Let me demystify some of the misconceived notions that people
17:05
have about bowling, that it's hard to maintain, that it's costly to maintain,
17:09
that your ROI per square foot isn't going to be, you know, as good as an
17:12
arcade, that the bowling balls…"
17:14
And then she whips out these little balls, and, and then they started discussion
17:18
about ball size, which was hilarious.
17:20
And so anyway, um, I, I just think that, you know, you wanna have
17:25
partners who are, you know, at the forefront of trailblazing technology.
17:31
Denise Killian: So yeah.
17:31
Right.
17:32
Absolutely.
17:32
So with Qubica, for example, what are those kinds of questions that
17:37
you would really love people to ask before they, they bring into a tech
17:44
company and you for a partnership?
17:46
Sara Mallet: So
17:47
Qubica is really unique because we manufacture all of our products in
17:50
the United States outside of our software s- which is manufactured at
17:54
our headquarters in Bologna, Italy.
17:56
Um, and so we-- nothing that we sell is brown box in, brown box out.
18:01
So we don't just drop off a quote.
18:03
We don't just say you need this, because you might not need it.
18:07
It might not be a good fit for you.
18:09
And when I said Doug was tough, it's because h- I will never forget
18:14
the first time I talked to him about the Neoverse video wall.
18:16
We were in, we were in Texas, and he had a lot of questions, some of
18:20
which I didn't have the answer for And I said, "We're gonna find someone
18:23
on our team that does," and we do.
18:24
We have an entire team of hundreds of people that will watch this and be like,
18:27
"Sarah, you sit through training, you know this." But I can't know everything,
18:31
and we have a great tech department.
18:33
And so I will say that questions to be asked, um, are If I, if I
18:40
have a heavy food and beverage, how will your sy- system handle it?
18:45
Um, what does your scoring look like?
18:48
How often do you update your scoring?
18:51
For a Neoverse video wall, we pride ourselves in the amount of content that
18:55
we create each year, and we make a promise to create X amount of content each year.
19:00
If you are looking to either invest in your current facility or build a
19:06
facility, don't be afraid to ask a question, because there is no question
19:10
that is right or wrong or stupid.
19:13
Because everything that we put in front of you is going to be an
19:17
option, not necessarily for you.
19:19
So we have to get to know you, you have to get to know us, and I encourage people
19:23
to do that with every partner because-
19:25
Mm-hmm
19:26
… everyone is different.
19:27
But what makes us special is we will customize a package to you.
19:32
Um, we have two different levels of scoring.
19:34
It, one might not be a good fit for you.
19:37
So I just recommend that you get to know your vendors, whoever you are
19:43
looking at, and make sure that you're having these conversations, um, because
19:49
if you don't ask, you won't know.
19:51
And I hope that you will recognize a vendor is also asking you questions,
19:56
because they need to know as much about your business as you need
19:59
to know about theirs so they can recommend good products for you.
20:02
Sara Paz: Mm-hmm.
20:04
Yeah, that's right.
20:04
And, and, and I think, you know, if I just add on to what Sarah was saying,
20:07
um, and I think we, before you started recording, I was actually mentioning
20:11
this, that I was already so impressed with, um, with, you know, how long
20:16
Sarah has been in the industry, and the Cubica AMF team, et cetera.
20:21
Like she said, things are not brown boxed, they're not OEM'd, they're
20:25
built here in the United States.
20:27
Um, and what, at least what fascinated me was when I saw someone that we were
20:31
both speaking to who, um, is a future customer of both of ours, I think, and
20:37
when Sarah said to her, "Let's see the CAD drawing," 'cause the woman's like,
20:42
"Yeah, you know, we've broken the ground, but we haven't finalized the venue."
20:44
She's like, "Well, let's see the CAD drawing." And she whips
20:47
open her CAD drawing, okay?
20:50
And Sarah's kind of advising her of what to place where and, you know, watch
20:54
out, watch out for if you put certain things in certain places bec- because
20:57
of the manpower required, et cetera.
21:00
And I thought to me- myself, wow, that is such an amazing way to just layer value.
21:05
And to say… You know, and it was beyond technology.
21:07
And the same thing goes for Doug.
21:08
When Doug talks about some of his winning tactics and combinations and
21:12
how he layers values for customers, what I found is that he will-- He's
21:17
not looking for a silver bullet.
21:19
He will maximize even the smallest of opportunities, like the, if
21:23
I'm not mistaken, Doug, it was the children that are homeschooled Right?
21:27
And having certain brackets of time in which you have offers for those
21:31
students and those kids who are at home being homeschooled that could,
21:36
they can come and take a break in his venue during time periods that
21:39
would normally be low revenue.
21:41
To me, that is a stroke of genius.
21:44
It is a simple solution to an extraordinary problem.
21:48
Doug Mechlin: Yeah.
21:48
I think that, you know, thank you for that.
21:50
I think on the, on, you know, from that question maybe to the
21:55
owner/operator side, if you will, there's a, there's a few things in
21:58
there that I think are important.
21:59
I, and I remember clearly, Sarah Paz, the, um, the conversation I had with Renee
22:05
in Dallas last year when we talked about the integration with Square and Embed.
22:11
And I think that, you know, people that are out there, like,
22:14
I'm not your biggest customer.
22:16
I know that.
22:16
I'm neither one of your biggest customer.
22:18
And, but what I'll say about that, being a single location venue at this
22:23
point, is that I'm not treated like I'm, you know, like, like Renee could've
22:29
been like, "Oh yeah, that's nice.
22:30
You know, that's, that's a good thought." But no, it was actually taken seriously
22:34
and, and it was seen through to fruition.
22:35
And so I think with both of these organizations, you know, a piece that
22:41
it's very important for us on the operator side that we're not viewed as a, and I
22:45
don't mean this in a disparaging way, but, um, that we sit up atop of, um, our
22:51
entertainment peers that are big chains.
22:53
And a- and I, in my backyard I have Topgolf, I have PuttShack,
22:57
I have Dave & Buster's, I have Slick City, I have Activate.
23:00
I have all of these chains that are all around us.
23:05
And so for us as a one-off to be able to present ourselves Technology-wise,
23:12
we're on the cutting edge.
23:13
There's, the, few pe- people have better technology than us, some they just don't.
23:18
And we have that ability because of our vendor partners and,
23:20
and, and back to you guys.
23:21
And so when you, yeah, you, you look at pricing and you say, "Okay, could I save
23:25
on this? Could I save on that?" Sure.
23:26
There's certain things you can save on, and there's certain
23:29
things that you cannot save on.
23:31
And, and I think that when you have downtime, and downtime
23:35
is like death in our…
23:37
It's, you cannot have things that don't work, that don't operate.
23:41
Right.
23:41
If I go through our game room and I see a red swiper, why is the swiper red?
23:45
If I go through and I see the pin decks don't have the, the lights lit
23:49
up on them and it's a Saturday night, why do we not have the pin deck?
23:52
Like, like why are we down?
23:54
What's going on?
23:54
And so you minimize the downtime, you maximize the revenue, right?
23:59
That's the, that's the key.
24:01
And so those are the behind the scenes things.
24:03
You don't want your customers to have to see the, all that goes
24:06
into that, but we work on that.
24:08
You, you try to keep- Mm-hmm … the revenue flowing.
24:10
So, um, I think that's, that's, uh, it's a, it's a ma- value proposition,
24:15
whatever you wanna call it.
24:16
You're, you're, you pay- Yeah … you pay for what you get.
24:19
Denise Killian: And I think that that's, that's- That's- … an important
24:21
point I wanna delve into just a little bit here is- Mm-hmm … you know,
24:24
we think as operators, often you're thinking, "Oh, well I put on fresh
24:28
paint. We got new countertops at our, you know, uh, at our bar or whatever,"
24:33
the, the optics of the visuals.
24:37
But, and sometimes ignore updating the tech and keeping current with the tech
24:44
and being more innovative with the tech, and that's a dangerous cost to your
24:49
Doug Mechlin: business and to your profit.
24:49
Customers are savvy.
24:50
Customers are savvy.
24:52
They know what's going on.
24:53
They know, they know- That's right … when they walk through the
24:55
door, whether it's, it's, it's…
24:58
Yeah, they know that.
24:59
And, and in, again, in this competitive environment that, that we're in, you
25:04
have to, you've gotta stay on top of it.
25:08
Denise Killian: So I wanna ask a question to the, to the general and, uh, to the
25:12
team, and I, I know each of you are gonna have really insightful things to say here.
25:17
So, you know, the industry is evolving fast.
25:19
Tech is evolving so incredibly quickly.
25:22
Mm-hmm.
25:23
Um, how, how do you stay curious
25:28
and how do you continue learning
25:31
and growing?
25:34
Doug Mechlin: With regard to tech specifically?
25:36
Denise Killian: Uh, both with your, for you, both with the
25:38
business and with tech, yeah
25:42
Doug Mechlin: I mean, for us, you know, I know that this, again, the, the things
25:47
I told you at the beginning that are important to us, the, the customer
25:51
experience, um, being paramount to everything else, um, we're never, we're
25:57
never, we never think we've gotten there.
26:00
There's never been a point, and I don't ever see us having a point where we're
26:03
like, there's high-fives along the way.
26:05
We did great for this event.
26:06
We did great for this group.
26:08
We did great for this implementation, whatever it is.
26:11
But then it's, it's kinda onto the next thing, right?
26:14
It's like you, you win that, but then you gotta, okay, well, we
26:17
gotta go win the next one too.
26:19
So Again, it's not like one singular thing, it's just continuous growth
26:25
and innovation and improvement.
26:27
And, um, on the technology side for us, you know, and I think this is probably
26:32
more relevant for both of the Sarahs, but, you know, we, you know, if, if we're
26:37
not… I'll take Square as an example.
26:39
You know, we had a legacy MICROS point-of-sale system.
26:44
Nothing wrong with it necessarily, but let's make it
26:47
easier for the guests, right?
26:49
You know, what are, what are people used to when they come and they
26:52
transact in places like ours or restaurants now versus bringing out a
26:57
credit card slip and ha- signing that?
26:59
You know, so it's little things like that, I think, on the technology side that
27:02
are continu- gonna continue to evolve.
27:04
I mean, I don't know.
27:06
Sarahs, you tell me.
27:07
Do- is there anything we don't have, like, that we have that could
27:09
be better technology right now?
27:11
I don't think there is.
27:12
I think we- No … have the latest and greatest, right?
27:14
So.
27:15
That's right.
27:15
Um, yeah.
27:17
Um-
27:17
Denise Killian: But I love the focus of customer, like, what's
27:20
the customer's experience?
27:22
Yeah.
27:22
And that's what's spotting the innovation for you, of what you're looking for
27:26
in technology, is what's gonna make that smoother and easier, right?
27:31
Doug Mechlin: Yeah.
27:32
More
27:32
Sara Paz: interactive.
27:32
And, and I think- Yeah … yeah, and I think that's always the, the lens of, um,
27:37
the FEC business owner, is what is, you know, what's the, you know, the experience
27:42
economy Pine and Gilmore, right?
27:44
Meaning just immersion to gameplay and removing any friction or
27:49
obstacles is what's most important.
27:52
And so of course they're always gonna have their eye on that, right?
27:56
Uh, the, the lens, if you will, is how they'll, they'll view their business
27:59
that way, is the customer experience.
28:01
Now, from a tech development perspective, um, you can't be in tech
28:07
and not have a growth mindset, right?
28:09
There's no way.
28:10
Okay, and so the challenge for us right now is, and this won- won't be new to you,
28:13
Denise, 'cause you've heard it already before, is very much about AI, right?
28:18
And how do we use AI to put a layer of AI on our existing
28:23
products just like everybody else.
28:25
Everybody… By the way, everybody on this phone call, whether you know
28:28
it or not, you're already using AI.
28:29
So let me just demystify that, right?
28:32
But in terms of our technology and, and, and what we have, like, how do
28:36
we put that one layer of AI that will add a layer of automation, enhance
28:41
productivity for the operator?
28:44
Okay?
28:45
And again, it's just removing friction and adding productivity
28:49
in its place by automation.
28:51
And in order to do that, you have to be willing to learn,
28:55
unlearn, and relearn, right?
28:57
You have to be able to manage the paradoxes of any given situation and
29:02
know that two things can be true at once, and then making a decision about
29:06
what you choose to believe, right?
29:08
And so that's, that's basically the philosophy that I have at, at the
29:13
moment in which I'm trying to keep that Intellectual dexterity, you know?
29:18
The ability to be able to, to pivot on ideas that we have, because there's a lot
29:23
going on with AI, and it's really easy to go down a rabbit hole and get stuck there.
29:28
And so as a company on the whole, there isn't a single individual.
29:32
I mean, literally my copywriter, my creative designer, our developers,
29:36
everybody is looking at AI and how do we use it to maximize tenfold per individual
29:43
the productivity of each person.
29:45
So that's basically where we're at in terms of innovation and having
29:49
a growth mindset, and that's the approach that we're having, is just
29:52
learning, unlearning, and relearning.
29:55
Sara Mallet: Great.
29:56
Great.
29:56
So it, it's funny, I'm gonna date myself, but Qubica, when we announced
30:00
our new scoring, we came out with a product called QI, Qubica Intelligence.
30:04
Um, and the best thing I can relate it to is, like, a choose your own adventure.
30:07
And Doug, I, I'm sure you've experienced this when you go to your touch screen
30:11
and you decide where you're going to go on this journey through bowling, right?
30:14
Like, the majority of our customers aren't just walking up and bowling anymore.
30:19
They are actually experiencing playing other games.
30:22
They are, um, deciding what they do based on options Qubica is
30:27
giving them through the scoring.
30:28
And this was like, freak me out, what are we doing?
30:32
It looks like a childhood book to me of choose your own adventure.
30:36
But I will tell you, I think a lot of our, a lot of our customers feel that way.
30:40
A lot of our customers are probably in my age demographic,
30:43
where AI is very overwhelming.
30:45
New technology can be very overwhelming.
30:47
What I would love to do is recommend to everyone, one, if you're overwhelmed,
30:52
make sure your bathrooms are clean.
30:53
If you are a bowling center and you are out there, like, if you
30:55
have clean bathrooms, like, you are winning the game already, right?
30:58
That's right.
30:58
Like, every time I go into Doug's facility, the bathrooms are clean.
31:01
And even if it's a small victory, they are clean, and that makes a
31:05
difference, because I will go back because he had a clean restroom, right?
31:08
Like, it's no different than a Bucky's gas station.
31:10
You know the bathrooms are clean.
31:11
It's okay to stop.
31:13
That's right.
31:14
But out- outside of that, don't be overwhelmed.
31:16
There are so many resources, tools, podcasts, vendor
31:22
partners that want to teach you.
31:25
There are opportunities to learn, and it is, it can be scary, but know that
31:31
there are all these resources out there.
31:32
I, we do events all year long, which I know Sarah and I are probably tired
31:38
of doing at some point, so ignore us if we look tired, because we do.
31:41
We go to education event after event after event because there is so many
31:47
new developments in either scoring, technology- Whether it be card readers or
31:55
what- or integrations or point of sale.
31:59
And y- just stay immersed.
32:02
Learn.
32:02
Take advantages of all those opportunities.
32:04
So many of them are free.
32:05
I… There's some sort of learning podcast or seminar or
32:11
webinar daily in our industry.
32:13
Like, it's flooded with information, so don't get overwhelmed.
32:18
And if you need help, call any one of us.
32:20
Ca- The thing I love most about our industry is Doug would gladly
32:23
take a call from a competitor and guide them, without a doubt.
32:27
Absolutely.
32:27
I've, I've never seen one of our customers turn away someone that
32:32
had questions about products, their business, uh, the industry in general.
32:39
And use those resources.
32:41
If you are out there and you are overwhelmed, use the resources, because
32:44
we all wanna help you, and it, it's a lot.
32:49
Never quit learning, because- Yeah, and Sarah- Don't- You
32:52
Sara Paz: know, sorry, sorry to interrupt you, but wouldn't you just agree, 'cause
32:55
I just saw the sparks right now of magic.
32:57
Wouldn't you just agree that that is what makes our industry so extraordinary?
33:03
Okay, and I wanna just pull in Tri-Entertainment to that, because
33:05
you know, and the GrowthPro Group, because you know, Denise, that, um,
33:10
your group, it's small but mighty.
33:12
It's, it's literally, it's a brain trust, right?
33:15
And you're co- And, and obviously you have this growth mindset, and you're constantly
33:19
keeping pace of, you know, the pulse of the industry, and you're bringing people
33:24
together like us, Cubica, Embed, Star Lanes, Polaris, to talk about the goodness
33:31
of, you know, what you have here, and these partnerships and these friendships
33:34
inside and outside of the industry, and the magic that happens when all of
33:38
us collaborate and we work together.
33:40
I, you know, I've been in some industries before in different
33:43
tech sectors, as you guys know.
33:45
That's not common.
33:45
And they… It's not common to have people say, "Hey, I'll knowledge transfer you.
33:49
Absolutely.
33:49
Let's cross-pollinate ideas.
33:51
Yeah, that's a good idea." You, you just don't see that.
33:54
And so that, that's, I think, the magic of this industry and the magic of the Sarahs,
33:59
the Dougs, and the Denises of the world.
34:02
Denise Killian: Right?
34:02
Say
34:02
it.
34:02
It is, it is a lovely-
34:04
Yeah
34:04
… lovely thing.
34:05
And I think, you know, for me, I always encourage people to ask,
34:09
"What are you doing and why?
34:12
Why are you doing it this way?
34:13
Why are you taking orders this way?
34:15
Why is your POS this way?
34:17
Why is your scoring this way?" And with fresh eyes and ask why, and
34:22
is there a better way to do it?
34:24
Is there an easier way to do it?
34:26
Is there a way that's better for the customer, easier for our employees who are
34:30
also doing seven other things at the same time, when we talk about that innovation?
34:35
And collaborate with your vendors, right?
34:38
If you're not working with a partner who is willing to have those conversations
34:42
with you and find those answers, or at least try, then you're working
34:46
with the wrong partners, right?
34:50
Doug Mechlin: Yeah.
34:51
Denise Killian: Yeah, very true.
34:52
Oh, well guys, listen, we are at the end of our time, but I am so grateful to
34:57
each of you for this great conversation.
35:00
Doug, congratulations once again on FEC of the Year.
35:03
Doug Mechlin: Thank you.
35:03
Appreciate it.
35:06
Denise Killian: Woo-hoo.
35:06
Woo-hoo.
35:06
Uh, Sarah with Embed, and Sarah with Cubica, two fabulous companies
35:11
that I enjoy working with so much.
35:13
I work with so many clients that work with both of you, sometimes
35:16
independently, sometimes together.
35:18
And again, that collaboration is just really, really important.
35:21
So thank you guys for this, and we're all gonna be at BLL Expo
35:26
here in a couple weeks, right?
35:28
Sara Paz: That's right, yes.
35:29
Yes.
35:29
Doug Mechlin: I'll be there.
35:30
Denise Killian: So if you got questions, come see us in Nashville.
35:33
Uh, I think we're all gonna be there, and looking forward to that.
35:36
Always enjoy seeing everybody there.
35:38
Uh, but thank you- That's right … guys so much for your time today.
35:40
Thank
35:41
Sara Paz: you.
35:41
Thank you.
35:41
Yeah, and, and yeah, absolutely, and thank you, and also thank you to
35:45
Cubica, because they, they joined forces with Embed to put out a bunch of ads,
35:50
and Doug, you're gonna see it in the magazines that are coming out in June
35:52
and July, basically congratulating you on being FEC of the Year.
35:56
Doug Mechlin: Oh, thank you for that.
35:57
Appreciate that.
35:58
Thank you.
35:59
Wonderful.
36:00
Denise Killian: It's, like we said before, it's kind of a
36:01
big deal, so congratulations.
36:04
Doug Mechlin: We are a big deal.
36:05
Sara Paz: Oh.
36:05
Look at Doug, he's blushing.
36:09
Denise Killian: Well, we hope today's conversation has given you some
36:11
practical tools to help you sharpen your edge and accelerate your growth.
36:17
If you're ready to grow your team, your business, or yourself, contact us at
36:22
thegrowthprogroup.com and set up a free growth call with one of our coaches.
36:28
Once again, a special thanks to our sponsors, Embed, Party Center Software,
36:33
A&A Global, Betson, Semnox, Shaffer, and Roller, for all that they do to
36:38
help us bring you The GrowthPro edge.
36:42
And until next time, I'm Denise Killian with The GrowthPro Group.
36:46
Keep learning, keep growing, and keep striving for the extraordinary.