For the past 10 years, Texas residents have learned that if you want a good dose of family fun, you need to head to a Main Event Entertainment FEC. With nine locations throughout Texas and more on the horizon throughout the United States, Main Event Entertainment has made having fun their primary mission.
Although Main Event Entertainment is based in the Dallas area, the company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ardent Leisure Group of Australia. A veteran in the theme park and entertainment industry, Ardent owns and operates many entertainment facilities in Australia including Dreamworld and WhiteWater World theme parks, Kingpin Bowling and Good Life Health Clubs. As CEO of Main Event Entertainment, Charlie Keegan is working to expand the Ardent and Main Event business philosophy throughout the United States.
“We plan on growing the company throughout the country opening new FECs,” said Keegan, who has held the CEO post for the past three years. “We paused a bit over the last 18 months so that we could monitor the economic conditions and adjust our strategies. But expansion has been and still is a part of our future.”
Main Event Entertainment is a company that is anchored in bowling. Each FEC guarantees its guests high quality, clean and well-managed facilities dedicated to exemplary guest services. While Main Event Entertainment FECs vary in some ways depending on the size and layout of the center, each FEC centers around its bowling facilities that contain high-tech innovations including backlighting, laser shows and big screens to view music videos and sporting events. In addition, Main Event Entertainment offers billiards, laser tags, gravity ropes, glow golf, rock climbing and more than 100 video games at each location, which range in size from 60,000 to 75,000 square feet.
“Our guests come to our FECs because they feel so at home here,” Keegan noted. “We want them to see that we run our FECs with the same care that they run their homes. We just have more on hand to keep everyone happy and busy.”
Food has become an important factor in attracting customers as well. Each FEC offers three food options: a quick service outlet where guests can enjoy items such as pizza, a full service grill and bar restaurant and catering that accompanies the private parties and events.
“Our food is in the midst of some changes as well and probably the biggest change is that we are going to offer our own proprietary brand pizza in our venues in the near future,” Keegan said.
As director of amusements for Main Event Entertainment, John LeGuen noted that the company takes great care to find out what their guests want when they visit the FEC. Part of his responsibility is testing out games before committing them to the various venues.
“We usually buy the top 20 games of the games the company tests for each FEC, and then vary remaining amusements depending on the location, size and layout of the individual locations,” LeGuen said. “We are very fortunate in that we have quite a few locations and guests who can test the games for us,” LeGuen said. “We know what will work in our FECs and what will not. We are able to eliminate the guess work with our amusements.”
Along with the games and activities, Main Event Entertainment supports a large redemption area in each of the FECs known as the “Winner’s Choice.” Here, guests have the opportunity to win high-quality prizes without breaking their budgets. The redemption merchandise in the Winner’s Choice area is supplied by BMI Merchandise, formerly known as Bonita Marie International.
“When we go to a Main Event Entertainment venue, it is our responsibility to lay out the Winner’s Choice area,” said Shelley Fernandez-Katz, vice president of BMI Merchandise. “We can take on every aspect of that redemption room from floor to ceiling including lighting, custom displays, and a targeted computerized inventory system. We have to be on top of inventory and make sure that it does not get too low or depleted. The redemption area has to be well stocked if the FEC is going to attract customers in.”
BMI Merchandise also monitors what redemption merchandise is hot and what merchandise has worn out its popularity. Katz said that BMI Merchandise entered the redemption industry 10 years ago, and she has seen the trend toward personalized service and inventory control blossom. “We have to know the merchandise. If guests are not happy with the redemptions, they are not going to play the game, so we make a point to understand the trends and anticipate them for our clients. We want our customer to be successful, and we view each venue as a flagship store for them. So, nothing less than perfect service is what we want to give.”
As director of marketing for Main Event Entertainment, Amy Johnson works to design promotion and marketing plans that reflect the company’s philosophy to bring customers in to eat, bowl and play. The primary targets of Main Event Entertainment’s promotions are mothers.
“We target all moms with children over the age of 6,” Johnson explained. “We find that mothers are the decision makers when it comes to family entertainment, so we go to them.”
Some of the most successful campaigns that Johnson has worked on has been the FEC chain’s bowling clubs, which are similar to leagues but without the intense competition. The Halloween Bash has also become an annual promotional success. Instead of bringing your kids trick or treating, families come in costume to a Main Event Entertainment FEC and enjoy bowling, food and the amusements.
“The Halloween Bash and our New Year’s Eve promotion work out to be great ticketed events. They allow families to plan an evening that is safe and fun.”
The New Year’s Eve promotion consists of two different sessions, and each session typically sells out by mid-December. From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. families with young children come in for New Year’s festivities that include unlimited game play in the price of the ticket. Then from 9 p.m. until closing, adults of all ages enjoy a night of celebration at Main Event Entertainment.
Other popular promotions are the Ten Buck Bowling, where a group of up to six members can bowl for a total price of $10. Main Event Entertainment also offers the $10 Pick and Play where customers can choose three amusements for unlimited play at $10.
“We do whatever we can to bring customers in and show them how much fun Main Event can be, and the value that they can get here.” Johnson said.
She also acknowledged that the marketing strategies are two-fold: to attract individual customers and families and also businesses, groups, churches, etc. who look to a venue like Main Event Entertainment for organized events.
“We want to be there for everyone. We want to show everybody in the country how great Main Event Entertainment is,” Johnson noted. “We are looking at existing sites that once housed big box stores as possible venues, and we are looking outside of the state of Texas too. We know the magic of Main Event, and we want to expand it throughout the country.” -
