What’s Fueling the Success of New-Wave Eatertainment?

I learned too late that ax throwing was a serious game. In my mind, ax throwing has always been a serious game. concept;A little lumberjack cosplay. but i was there smash park Outside Roseville, Minn., he made a ferocious lunge, knee-deep, with a blunt hatchet arcing behind his head. My eyes narrowed. To my left, our assigned coach, Wolfgang, lunges beside me, rocking back and forth in his thick mountaineering boots, demonstrating his devastating throwing skills. My ax hit the outer ring of the bullseye, and a red and white screen image was projected onto the sensor-calibrated plywood. My avatar, a lion in a red flannel shirt, flashed on the screen: 2 points.

There’s more to Smash Park than just ax throwing. The 30,000 square foot complex features duckpin bowling, party darts, shuffleboard, karaoke, cornhole and pickleball. It is one of the emerging brands in the ‘Etatainment’ space, an ever-growing category of venues that offer both entertainment and (various) restaurant-quality cuisine. For example, Smash Park sets itself apart from bowling alley burgers with thoughtful dishes such as: Frito pie, BBQ sampler platter, bang bang shrimp. Eatertainment is It has become popular nationwide in the last few years.and there’s a bit of a hyper-local boom happening in the Twin Cities. In the past year and a half, we’ve welcomed Smash Park. patarya maze-like, adults-only mini-golf bar in the North Loop. and now pat shacka newly opened high-tech mini-golf complex in Edina. Another is planned for Minneapolis.. There is no doubt that more brands will emerge in the future. dave & busters to chicken and pickles to pinstripe It is rapidly expanding and reshaping our dining and entertainment landscape towards ubiquity.

Smash Park’s flagship store is located in Des Moines, Iowa. Founder Monty Lockyear is a former marketing executive and early pickleball prospector. Pickleball, of course, is the brand’s highlight. On the night I visited, a reunion for former Minnesota Vikings players and their families was being held at Smash Park, and a group of four gray-haired former football players were happily sharing drinks. Over the internet in the indoor gymnasium. The building has the cavernous feel of a water park, but is divided into areas for eating, drinking and playing. There is a small bowling alley. The narrow neon-lit arcade is filled with teenagers. An all-season cornhole green adjoins a luxurious lounge area where couples were chatting over cocktails. A large outdoor space with yard games attracted a happy hour crowd. Kelly Sims, Smash Park’s vice president of marketing, said the company’s target audience is fairly broad, but there are three main archetypes: athletes, “over 21” customers and families. Private events like bachelorette parties and corporate team building are also a big hit.

Eatertainment is not a new phenomenon. Its roots lie in the frenetic arcade spirit of Dave & Buster’s and Chuck E. Cheese. even The misty, magical world of Rainforest Cafe. However, today’s Etatainment has arguably increased competition in this space to offer flashier and more clearly marketable experiences, offering a more engaging experience than the next. It has an aura of self-centeredness and self-interest. Take food: level 99a 40,000-square-foot Puzzle Room complex in Providence, Rhode Island, incorporates a “scratch kitchen” serving dishes such as brown butter three-cheese popcorn. Simulated auto race venue F1 arcade They offer an entire raw bar including a seafood tower for $129. Even the casual Eatatainment menu has a researched feel to it. Promising a “culinary journey through the flavors of the world,” Pat Shack has an encyclopedic appetizer list that includes Lebanese hummus, poutine, Persian chicken skewers, Thai fried chicken, Korean barbecue buns, and chorizo ​​empanadas. there is. As far as entertainment goes, the new wave of Eatatainment seems to be leaning towards a Smash Park-like Garden of Delights approach that offers a plethora of activities. Or, like Putt Shack, which came from the founders of Topgolf, they seem to be leaning more toward enhancing the classic game with technology. , use something similar “Trackball” technology Automate score management. Hijingo in the UK offers “multisensory futuristic bingo” with light shows and live dancers. At the table tennis social club Spin, you can play against other players. Robot “Spinny” An AI opponent with a serve that doesn’t fail.

F1 arcade

F1 arcade

Hijingo

An astonishing amount of money has been poured into Etatainment over the past few years. Investors range from fledgling venture capitalists to restaurant industry executives. Giant investment companies like Blackrock. Professional athletes are also benefiting: Patary receives a $10 million investment From professional golfer Rory McIlroy; Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes invested in Chicken N Pickles. Like other hospitality industries, Etatainment very confused Due to pandemic closures, however, it has grown in size in the years since: Take entrepreneur Robert Thompson, for example. lost as CEO Punch Bowl Social just before business filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy 3 years later he Secure at least $200 million for his new pickleball venue, Camp Pickle. after that, Emerging fundsa growth capital fund backed by 30 hospitality industry veterans, funding “early-stage” Etatainment and RestaurantTech brands. After launch in March 2023, raised $52 million for the first 6 months.

What makes Eatertainment such an attractive investment?Here’s the statistic: People Eating out has decreased recently.and eatertainment offer two-to-one brand appeal, offering (ostensibly) more value to consumers by combining food and entertainment. Interest in this area is growing, with certain brands seeing traffic increases of 20-50% over the past few years. restaurant business magazine I will report it. There are also other factors that make Eatertainment a particularly viable business model. Some brands like Pat Shack and Pinstripes Take advantage of deals with landlordspeople who are attracted to the large venue area and the possibility of a lot of foot traffic. Depending on the model, counter service or self-service model Like a wall of beer. And as restaurant business magazine and restaurant dive According to a report, Eatatainment brands often earn relatively higher margins on the activity portion of a venue, increasing the revenue generated from food and beverages. For example, a round of mini golf at Putt Shack costs just $14 per person, but Susan Walmsley, the company’s chief operating marketing officer, told me that about half of the brand’s revenue comes from gaming. He acknowledged it. These factors give Eatertainment an advantage over the traditional restaurant model and facilitate its expansion into new markets.

Chick & Pickles

smash park

tipsy pickles

But there’s more to Etatainment’s success than enviable profit margins. A common narrative I found in my reporting is that consumers are craving experiences, emerging from the isolation and social misery of the pandemic.Becoming a little weird and playful again” A few gloomy years later. Eatertainment’s project isexperience economy”, or as Camp Pickle CEO Robert Thompson puts it, “joy economy” Eatertainment venues are more than just date or office party destinations. Much better than the rudimentary arcades and bowling alleys of past eras, it offers a seamless, satisfying, and authentic human “experience” based on three axes of enjoyment: food, drink, and play. Provide. For example, Kristin Krueger, director of operations for The Sims and Smash Park, says the true appeal of Smash Park goes beyond pickleball to the brand’s multi-activity, full bar, “crafted kitchen” and social interaction. He emphasized to me that the premise and everything else is there. It is alchemized into a single “legendary experience”.

I understand what they mean. Smash Park was colliding with Bruno Mars as we passed a bar and a cornhole green carpeted with emerald grass. We idly drank pink slushies and peered into the private karaoke room. To me, the game seemed like an absurd and decadent assortment of sweets. Manufactured sugar rush. When it was time for ax throwing, we were directed to designated lanes. Throwing an ax at a target was thrilling at first – hitting the target and making you scream – but it dwindled to a lull as your arm tired. This is because my goals have become more methodical and more strenuous. In between pitches, I found myself hypnotized by the flat screen televisions set up around the room, flashing Rolodexes of event advertisements. That song from the 90s. A glow-in-the-dark “Dink and Drink” party is planned for Saturday night. I started to feel nauseous, I remembered the empty feeling I had when I was playing. The Sims It felt like stepping into the game myself when I was a kid. On an outdoor pickleball court, we squint into the faint sunlight and hit the ball back and forth over the net, wondering whether to order the Big Mule, a 192-ounce Moscow Mule served in a pumpkin-sized copper mug. We discussed.

As I gazed out over the edge of a pickleball fence at the flat, dusty sky, I realized that what made me nervous about Smash Park, and the whole Eatatainment concept, was exactly what the blurb said. I noticed that. About play. Seamlessly orchestrated pleasure is more of a simulation than an “experience.” If Etatainment were to boom post-pandemic, it’s unlikely that we’d be immersed in the world again, but more likely to be retreating further from it, escaping into a reality tastier and more enjoyable than our own. I think so. That Friday night we sat outside and listened to the live music provided for that evening. A friendly guy, about my dad’s age, had a guitar, a quarter zip, and a voice like honey. We hummed Pure Prairie League and stuffed ourselves with garlic fries. He then played Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl”, replacing the lyrics with “And whatever happens/It’s so slow until Tuesday/I’m going to Smash Park with my transistor radio.” He was funny and we laughed, but I could see a bit of an empty cave around me. It hardens like the edge of a snow globe. In Smash Park, all roads lead to the same place.

Provided by Smash Park

Additional photo illustration credits: Mini Golf Images by Puttshack