Have you ever dined on tenderloin and sushi while sitting on an ice rink? How about been given a ride around a racetrack in the pace car to celebrate your birthday? Or what about catching a foul ball during your company picnic? All of these scenarios are possible, and probable, through facilities’ use of group sales.
"Group sales is the easiest way to build revenues and attendance at your facility," says Mike Phillips, president of Excel Food Services, a regional foodservice contractor operating minor league ball parks in Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina. Many facilities are making the most of their off-peak times and days by booking youth, church, and civic groups for breakfast or lunch events.
Marketing your assets
Gone are the days when corporate dinners or parties had to be held at a hotel or banquet hall. Phillips says tying into the facility is the easiest and most effective way to encourage repeat business. Sal Ferullo, general manager of Boston Concessions at the National Car Rental Center in Sunshine, Fla., couldn’t agree more. "We have a lot of versatility in this building; we have had repeat groups where their first party was in one part of the arena, and their next party is in a different part of the building," says Ferullo. "It is a completely different atmosphere and it allows us to accommodate just about any group." The National Car Rental Center is home to the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, and stages everything from ice shows to major recording artists’ concerts in the off-season. It also can host private parties of up to 4,000 or a business meeting for 10. "We try to network through our suite holders," says Ferullo. "We explain the large events we are capable of having and tell them they can use their suite for a meeting during the day." Ferullo says the Center hosts an annual cocktail party for suite holders where they can sample new items and peruse the menu. "Everyone says we should have pasta to order, carved tenderloin and sushi, and those things are nice and people order them on occasion, but typically people order pizza, nachos, chicken wings and hot dogs," says Ferullo. "Those are your volume sellers, along with beer and soda, and then they order from the larger menu on special occasions."
Never to be accused of wasting space, the Center recently hosted an event in their parking lot. As a Center sponsor, Lexus wanted to do a promotional event and used the expansive lot to do it in. For three days, Lexus hosted 150 people who test drove their vehicles and then were chauffered (quickly) by professional drivers. "We catered all three meals for all three days in an air-conditioned tent and was a great business for us," says Ferullo.
Few sports in the past year can match the increase in interest and number of fans that car racing has enjoyed. The Rockford Speedway, a 53-year old racing operation featuring a high-backed quarter mile oval track in Rockford, Ill., has reaped the benefits using creative group sales options. "We work really hard at group sales to increase our fan base, because a lot of people still have the idea that racing is just cars going around a track," says Jack Deery, president of the family-owned Speedway. "Besides racing, we always have a special night with a novelty race, one of the most popular being the Trailer Race Night."
Deery says besides the 56 paid spectator events that run during the racing season from April to October, there are about 40 additional events taking place, like practices and industry events closed to the public. Local industry and community groups are offered large discounts on the price of admission on Wednesday nights. "It is harder to draw a better crowd during midweek, so we give them a great deal on a ticket," says Deery. The facilities and possibilities for group sales at Rockford Speedway are endless: suites, bleachers, clubhouse levels, picnic and camping areas all are options. "We have a couple of prestige type of events and we get a lot of competitors and fans from all over and those are the big camping weekends," says Deery. "We offer camping in the parking lots and we really encourage that even though it’s not really a typical campground." The Speedway has a picnic area that can accommodate up to 600 people; the NASCAR room for everything from birthday parties and bachelor parties; a VIP tower for 60 people with VIP bleacher seating; and a new two-tiered tower containing 10 suites and a lower clubhouse level with reserved seats. "People really like those because they get a private bathroom," says Deery. Recently the venue hosted a "Welcome to Rockford" night sponsored by MCI Worldcom for their employees at their new 1000-person facility, and Deery says birthday parties are "great for us" as well. "We really target the kids with the menu and fun and they get to ride in the pace car, which is what they talk about more than anything else," says Deery.
Keep it convenient
Staging children’s parties is always a challenge, and parents have found that there are more options than just ordering in pizza. As there is more and more competition for people’s time, money, attention and leisure income, amusement parks, movie theatres, and an array of other venues have been actively marketing themselves as a convenient, relatively inexpensive way to host a party. Phillips says the key to a successful birthday party is keep the menu simple and make it convenient. By providing convenience for the parents by having everything included, like food, event ticket, souvenirs and photo opportunities, "kids will have a great time and the parents will appreciate the experience even more," says Phillips.
Michelle Berryhill, ECM, concessions administrator for Cinemark USA, says the best marketing plug for the movie theatre’s birthday packages are the kids themselves. With theatres in 32 states and 12 countries, Cinemark has approximately 30 locations with Studio Eats Cafes (fast-food restaurant and coffee bar concept) or restaurants (similar to pizzerias). The cafes and pizzerias are all equipped to host birthday parties and special events, with set packages to choose from and opportunities for add-ons. "If the party is at a theatre the kids wouldn’t normally go to, they will tell their parents all about it and help bring in the whole family," says Berryhill. "Another huge plus of the birthday parties is the reserved seating factor because it is so hard for a group to all sit together without having to get there too early." Each theatre approaches birthday parties differently, depending on whether they have a café or how much the theatre manager wants to promote them. "If they [theatre managers] have the time, energy and staff, it pays off," says Berryhill. "We are starting a corporate program to cater to big groups, not just birthday parties, and that’s a work in progress."
Sweet, sour & salty
Most large facilities, by combining their concessions and catering or fine dining divisions, can come up with an expansive menu with a myriad of options for the party planners. Besides renting out the entire arena and hiring a band, a recent American Express-sponsored party for 4,000 at the National Car Rental Center featured international food stations. "We curtained off the food court concessions areas with colored linens and served everything from carved turkey, tenderloin and roast beef, to shrimp, beef empanadas, Swedish meatballs and sausage brochettes," says Ferullo. He says he is fortunate because Boston Concessions has all of the food contracts in the Center, so there is no competition between the concessionaires and fine dining for space or food options for these types of parties. A company who held a business meeting, then invited the attendees to visit the concession stands, sponsored another recent party, which also had a guest list of almost 4,000. "They printed off paper money and gave each one of their guests $15 worth of the money to go to the concession stands and buy whatever they liked," says Ferullo. Another recent party featured a four-course dinner for 800 people, who sat on the covered ice surface eating such delicacies as shrimp and prime rib off fine china.
At the Rockford Speedway, suite holders can hire their own caterers if they wish. "We will cater fun foods, like brats, burgers, pizza and subs, and we supply liquor and beverages," says Deery. While the Speedway does not allow general seating patrons to bring in their own food, they won’t go hungry given the large concessions menu. "We believe in sweet, sour and salty as the three main ingredients of a nutritional diet," says Deery. Everything from chicken fingers, hot dogs, nachos, barbecue sandwiches and pizza to french fries, fried dough (known as Doughboys in Rockford) and candy, as well as a beer pavilion, is available to patrons. The beer area can seat up to 200 patrons, and can also be used for parties. Deery explains that for the bigger events, the Speedway sets up beer and soda satellite stations to help deal with the increased attendance. "The bigger the event and the more crowded it gets, the rule of thumb is that your per caps go down," says Deery. He says the beverage stands, as well as satellite italian beef carts, popcorn stands and submarine sandwich stands help assuage ravenous fans and supplement the permanent concession stands.
Berryhill explains that their Studio Eats Café birthday packages usually include pizza, popcorn and candy, with optional dessert add-ons. Cinemark also runs a summer kids program, where each theatre has a set day where it will show a G-rated movie at a discounted package price for kids, which includes a kids combo with popcorn and soda. "A lot of day cares participate because it is a regular activity they can do with the kids once a week," says Berryhill.
Keeping the menu simple for children is Phillips’ advice, and to help add variety and boost revenue, venues can add-on beer or wine for the parents or photo opportunities with mascots. "Some of our theatres bring out our company mascot and the kids have a lot of fun with that," says Berryhill.
Creativity pays off
Group sales have found their niche at many venues: contributing heartily to the food and beverage bottom line and providing an alternative place for parties, meetings and functions. Concessionaires have found that the variety of themes, food choices and add-ons is endless. Why have a business meeting back at the office when you could watch hockey practice and dine in your suite at mid-day? Why have a horde of screaming children in your house when you can conveniently entertain and feed them all afternoon at a movie theatre? These are the questions that concessionaires and venue managers try to answer by offering their facilities to groups. The most powerful marketing tool is still word of mouth. "We are starting to get great business now because of what people have seen us do," says Ferullo at the Center. "Out of 4,000 people, someone will talk about this great party and word will start to get around."