April 23, 2024 • 37 mins
Puttshack owns a global concept patent on automatic scoring in miniature golf, CEO Joe Vrankin, tells Bloomberg Intelligence, creating a barrier to entry for its competitors. In this episode of the Choppin’ It Up podcast, Vrankin sits down with BI’s senior restaurant and foodservice analyst Michael Halen to discuss how the company has used technology to reinvent the game and paired it with a food and cocktail menu to attract the coveted 21-39 year-old demographic. He also comments on Puttshack’s unit economics, marketing strategy and development plans.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:22):
Welcome to Chopping it Up. I'm your host, Mike Halon,
the senior restaurant and food Service analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
So today we're joined by Joe Rank and the CEO
of put Shack Tech infused mini golf Experience. Thanks for
doing this, Joe.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thanks for having me. Mike happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Can you talk a little bit about your career prior
to put shack and what attracted you to this opportunity?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Sure, time fly. So for probably the past twenty five years,
I've either been involved in sports, leisure, entertainment, social entertainment.
I think the thing that it's most relevant to what
we're building a Putchack. I was the CEO at a
(01:05):
concept called top Golf earlier in my career and joined
that when there was just one Top Golf location in
the US and helped build the foundation and grow that
which was a lot of fun and obviously it's done
exceptionally well, continues to do exceptionally well. And the link
(01:27):
really with putchak is the guys who invented the game
of putchack are identical twin brothers out of London, Steve
and Dave Joliffe. They were the same guys who invented
the game at Top Golf. So I've known him for
over fifteen years now, and you know, and they're incredible
inventors and they're avid golfers. And so they stepped back
(01:50):
one day and said, you know, miniature golf has been
around for one hundred years and it hasn't changed in
one hundred years. How can we reinvent this game? So
they started taking a look at technology that didn't exist
back when they had created Top Golf and started to
look at, hey, how can we change this game around.
(02:12):
So what they managed to do was put essentially a
mini iPad inside the golf ball. So inside every golf
ball is a computer processor. There's a battery system in there,
it's GPS enabled, Bluetooth enabled. So what that created the
ability to do was write the game so that you
(02:33):
can track the ball on every inch of every hole.
Created automatic scoring, so there's no more carrying around a
pendulum paper, and of course there's also no more cheating
because if you pick up the ball and move it,
the system knows it and then really change the game.
And so instead of getting trying to get the lowest
score possible, you're trying to get the highest score possible.
(02:55):
And the way they did that is you get bonus
points if you get a hole in one, and then
every hole has a way to either score bonus points
or hazards where you can lose points. So, for example,
there's a pop the question hole. It's a true false question,
so you'll get a true false question. It comes up
on your screen. If you think the answer is true,
(03:16):
you put under a bridge. It says true. If you
think it's false, you put under a bridge it says false.
If you get it right, you get bonus points. If
you get it wrong, you lose points. Right, and then
they created all of the holes really around our core demographic.
So our core demographic is twenty one to thirty nine
year olds. So you'll have a beer pung hole, you'll
have a roulette hole, you've got to pop the question hole,
(03:39):
you've got to shoot the basket, which is a basketball hole.
What you won't find at Putchack is things like pirate
chips and windmills that were great when you grew up,
but now as an adult, you want a different experience.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Very cool. So are all the courses the same or
does some of them have you know, different holes based
on location or whatever it might do.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, so we have our typical venue has four nine
hole courses, so there's thirty six holes in every venue.
I think at this point now we have over thirty
unique holes. There's a handful that we repeat because they're
guest favorites, and then the courses. You know, we we
(04:23):
don't do ground up builds, or haven't up to this
point in time. We've we've done adaptive reuse. So the
space within each venue is slightly different based on what
we're stepping into. So every you know, nine holes in
Chicago may look different than nine holes in Boston, although you'll,
you know, you'll end up over the thirty six holes
(04:44):
using the same ones.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I'd imagine using re readapted spaces helps your build costs.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It does, And you know, we really focus on partnering
with the landlords and our and our development partners. We
are fortunate that we have you know, we have a
guest demographic that is very attractive within our landlords, whether
that's an outdoor lifestyle mall or a mixed use development.
(05:14):
You know that twenty one to thirty nine year old
is is kind of the demographic that everybody wants to
get to and typically dry between three hundred and fifty
and four hundred and twenty five thousand visitors per year
per venue. So so the great part about that is,
you know we'll partner with with that landlord and become
in essence for existing location or an existing development, you know,
(05:38):
that new anchor. So you know in the suburbs of Chicago,
we took over a former Lord and Taylor space and
put in a punt check there. In mid town Atlanta,
it was a mixed use development and we anchor seventy
five thousand score feet of retail with our twenty five
thousand score feet. So it's more cost well, I would
(06:00):
say it's more cost effective, but it depends on kind
of what you're starting out with. But we do get
really great support from from our development partners.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
All right, great about is twenty five thousand square feet?
Is that the typical size and how much do they
cost to build?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Sure? It is. We do have some that have gone
a bit larger. So our largest is in Dallas and
Addison at thirty thousand, but twenty five thousand is our typical.
It was a lot less costly to build kind of
before the pandemic hit and construction costs have risen dramatically
since then. But including all of our soft costs and
(06:37):
opening costs, you know, we're in the thirteen to fourteen
million dollar range, depending on where what market we're in.
Part of what makes put check I think different than
other concepts within our space is we do focus very
much on investing in a high end build from you know,
(06:58):
not only the technology and the course and everything around
the game itself, but all of the you know what
the restaurant side of our business, the bar side of
the business, the food and beverage, it's you know, we
all really focused on developed or delivering a brand experience
that's really elevated in nature.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Okay, so they're not cheap to build, but I know,
yeah for some pretty strong AUVs. So so where where
do they come in at? And what's the revenue split
between games, food and drinks.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Sure, so, you know, our average AUV is in the
thirteen to fourteen million dollar range, and we do about
forty two to forty percent of our revenue is generated
by the game, which is is very profitable, which is great,
but we do fifty eight percent of our business on
(07:51):
the food and beverage side. So it's a standalone restaurant
our our. You know, our venues are doing anywhere from
seven and a half to our our strongest performing I
use almost twelve million dollars of a standalone restaurant, which
is a huge significant operation in and of itself. You know,
on the restaurant side of the business, as we focus
(08:12):
on it, were because of the gas and the fact
that they can drink while they're playing the game. You know,
we skew more than a typical restaurant would on the
beverage side, and you know alcohol is a part of that.
So you know, our economics are incredibly strong. It's one
of the things that really drew me to the concept.
You know, I think long term success within the social
(08:37):
entertainment and dining space is really anchored on three things.
It's anchored on a fun and engaging game that people
want to come back and play time and time again.
But then also has some intellectual property protection, right, so
there's a barrier of entry, there's a moat that's created
so people can't go, oh wow, that's a great concept.
I'm just going to open one across the street and
(08:58):
compete with you. So we own a global patent on
automatic scoring a miniature golf. So with the technology that
the inventors were able to create, they were able to
secure a concept patent. And what that means is somebody
else could look in and go, oh wow, I could put
different technology inside the golf well and scored automatically. If
(09:20):
it scores the game, it violates the concept patent that
we own on a global basis, which creates a really
nice barrier of entry. But that by itself today I
think within the space that we're in, doesn't ensure long
term success. We were really focused on saying, we have
to deliver a food and beverage experience that is as
(09:41):
good as any casual dining option that our guests can
choose from, because really we're competing against those leisure and
entertainment dollars, and whether that's movie theaters, whether that's casual dining,
whether that's other social entertainment concepts, we have to be
able to compete across the board. So it was really
important for us when we were developing the F and
(10:03):
B side, is it has to be as good and
as strong as the game, because really that's the brand
that we're creating. The third component with that is the
guest service experience, which you know, in today's environment may
be the hardest thing to actually deliver. You know, hospitality
had a lot of people leave during the pandemic, and
(10:24):
I think a lot of people are back, but you know,
creating that guest service experience where we're linking the game,
the food and beverage, tying it all together, where we
can activate all the senses from site, sounds, smell, et cetera,
and our associates really tying it together so people have
great memories. That's the real strength and I think we
(10:44):
see that within the economic model that we have our
typical venues will do in the mid twenties. For site
level Ebada, we've opened eighteen venues now for in the
UK and fourteen in the US, including three the we've
opened in the in the first quarter of twenty twenty four.
Every venue that we've ever opened has been profitable in
(11:08):
the first thirty days from opening the doors, so we
actually the last venue we opened was in Louisville in
the middle of March, and I was just looking at
our March numbers. It was profitable after two weeks.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Very impressive, all right, You spoke about a few things
that we're going to circle back to. One follow up.
What's the alcohol mix?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
A typical restaurant is like two thirds food one third beverage.
We're about the opposite. We're about two thirds beverage one
third food.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Wow, all right, great, definitely helps margins. Are you willing
to share any of the margin data and any other
unit level economics?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I mean, our the great part about the game is,
you know, it's about ninety five percent gross margin. You know,
we have the cost of the ball, we have the
cost of hutters or our team that are game in
bass to help with the guest game experience. And then
on a blended basis, we operate at about eighty four
to eighty six percent gross margins at the venue level
(12:13):
and then operating costs, rent, et cetera. You know, we're
in the you know, our best our highest revenue performing
sites are a thirty percent plus site level Libada, and
our average is, you know, kind of in the twenty
two to twenty six percent range.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Okay, strong, How many stores do you have and how
fast are you opening new ones?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Sure? So we have opened our eighteenth location. We have
an additional eight more locations that we have in various
stages of development from design, permitting to construction. So yeah,
we have a you know, we'll we have at least
twenty six locations that we that we've got committed to
(12:58):
and and you know, obviously want to continue to grow.
It's it's been amazing as I kind of step back
and take a look at how quickly we've managed to
kind of grow the business and open really across the
country so far. But you know, of the last twelve
(13:22):
US venues that we've opened, we've opened those twelve venues
in twenty months.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
So you have some in the UK as well, right,
what's the split?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So we have four we have four in the Greater
London area, so you know, the inventors of the game
are from there, and the co the third founder is
a gentleman by the name of Adam Breeden who's done
a number of other social entertainment concepts. All three of
them are from London. So the very first test location
was in West London that opened in June of twenty eighteen.
(13:55):
I joined the organization in January nineteen. There were a
few more that were committed it in the UK, and
really though the main focus since twenty twenty one has
been growth in the US.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, so let's get back to the menu. It's elevated.
I haven't had the opportunity to get to one yet,
but you know, I checked out the menu online and
it's not what you'd expect at a miniature golf.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Joint, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So if you could talk a little bit about that
menu and do you have customers that come in just
to eat and not even play play the games?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, So the answer is we do have people to
come in to do that, and oftentimes it's not because
they're not wanting to play the game, but it more
often the case that we're fully booked for the evening,
but they came in just to eat and drink anyway,
and the environment and the ambiance that that's created. So
(14:57):
our goal are. Vice president of Food and Beverage is
a guy by the name of Mark Boynton. Mark's a
French trained executive chef. I have known him for over
a decade and when we got together, you know, we said, okay,
how do we really elevate the food and beverage experience? Right?
(15:20):
Mark is a huge believer in presentation that you know,
people eat with their eyes eat with their eyes first,
drink this in the same way, we created a globally
inspired menu. We have a lot of shareables because people
tend to come in groups, right, but you would not
expect to go to a miniature golf location and get
(15:41):
you know, wood fire Thai octopus, right, But that's the
menu and it's amazing them. By the way. You know,
we have Mediterranean lamb skewers, Persian chicken skewers, so there's
a whole variety. And we have a lot of offerings
as well, for you know, that are vegetarian, vegan, gluten free,
(16:04):
so you know, just as a as a vegan option.
For example, we have nine dishes that are available as
a vegan option, so it's not like we threw one
or two together and go okay, great, that's it. But
then we also have you know, we have terrific flatbreads.
We have handheld So the important part and I think
(16:27):
what people people who are really into the the restaurant
space would probably be able to relate to. But one
of the gifts that Mark has is not only in
creating you know, fantastic menu and with that we have
over one hundred housemaid recipes that go into our dishes.
(16:49):
But on a on a Saturday during you know, throughout
the day, we could have twenty two to twenty five
hundred people come through the door. Right, So, putting together
a menu that is elevated to tastes really good that
you can deliver and have the presentation consistently when you
have that kind of volume, that's really hard to do, right.
(17:13):
I mean it's you know, you look at the dish,
you go, okay, great, you know, it's really nice. But
actually being able to deliver that in the quality of
the presentation is a is a it's a credible gift
that he has in doing that. He's what's interesting in
today's environment. You know, fifteen years ago doing this you
could just say okay, we've got you know, we've got
(17:34):
you know, casual dining menu and a full service bar.
Today there is such a huge focus on what your
signature cocktails are, you know, how are they different from
where you can go and get you know, from someplace else.
How is the theater around that, and how is that
presented so that your guests like get a wow factor
that's out of it. Right, And and Mark on the
(17:58):
mixology side probably spends as much time putting together our
signature cocktails as he does the signature dishes. So, you know,
we've got a breaking bad pisco punch right that that
comes out, you know, it's a mescal tequila and it
comes out in a in a treasure chest with hemp
(18:22):
smoke to it, and you know it's kind of all
part of that breaking bad, you know, serious theme. We've
got a you know, margarita's are are going to be,
you know, seemingly a staple no matter what. But we
have a spice pineapple mezcal martarita right where there's a
(18:45):
Holopeni infused popsicle. And and as that it melts within
the drink, it changes the flavor profile as you're drinking
the cocktail. So there's just a lot of fun and
unique things that go along with the beverage and the
food side. And you know, for me, I think as
(19:05):
we try to get the you know that those three
key things right, what I really like is when I'm
talking with you know, somebody who's been to Putchek for
the first time, and I ask them, you know, okay,
tell me the good, tell me the bad, you know,
give me all the feedback and and two things I
really like. One is when they say, you know, the
(19:25):
game was great, which you know, I quite frankly really
expect them to say. But it's when they say, oh
my god, the food was so good. I really didn't
expect the food to be that good. And and to
your point, where they go, I come back just to
eat and drink here, right. And then the other part
is really that third component is when they'll go and
(19:46):
you know, you know, and I've gotten this kind of
a couple of times from people that use this exact phrase.
Your associates just exude joy. And I'm like, Okay, if
we can do those three things, then we're creating exactly
what our brand is aspiring to be. And really have
a fun environment where people come in and create memories.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
That's really cool. And you're making me want to have
a cocktail as well. But I got way too much work.
You have way too much work to do today and tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
But it's five o'clock somewhere for sure. All right.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
That's that's interesting what you mentioned in terms of of
the hospitality aspect and the ethos and how do you think,
how do you what's enabling you to achieve that because
that's that's hard to achieve.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, you know, it's a huge focus that we spend.
I think a lot of it comes down to early on,
we really focused on what's our what are our core values,
what's our brand? What do we stand for? Right? Because
if you know what you stand for, if you set
your core values, then you can build all your training
programs around it. Because at the core I think of
(21:00):
having engaged associates, it's the training part, and the training
part comes down to, well, what is it that you
believe in and who are you for us? That came
down to four. We distilled that to four things. Bring
your A game, lead the way, own the fund, and
care deeply what we call block Okay, so we ask
(21:23):
our associates to bring their a game every day, make
sure that they are engaged with our guests in creating
the fund memories. We also ask them to lead the way,
which means to take some risks. Right. If we're going
to be an exceptional brand, you can't do that by
being conservative and not risk taking. Right. So you know,
(21:45):
we don't want them to do stupid things, but we
want them to lead the way and that means taking
risks and as part of that. That also means that
we will fail at times, right, it's inevitable, and encourage
people to take the risk. But then learning from any
failures and not punishing is what I think will help
(22:06):
drive continue to drive the brand forward. Own the fun
is really you know, people come into Puncheck because they
want to have fun. All the squirrels that are running
around in their head throughout the day, they just wanted
to stop for a couple hours and enjoy the time
with the people they're with. You know, when the DJs
are playing, you know, the music's going, the lighting, and
you know it in the evening. We're an adult only venue, right,
(22:27):
so it's it turns into an upscale night club feel right,
And we want people to have fun, and we want
our associates to own that fun as well. And then
the fourth one is care deeply care about our guests,
care about our associates, and care about the communities that
we're part of. So you know, one of the things
(22:49):
that we do, we have a signature menu that mark
Tailor's to every market called the Tailpipes, which is a
spring roll. A dollar of every one of those goes
back to a local charity and it's not a charity
that I pick, or anybody on the central team picks.
The managers at the venue pick a charity that's important
(23:11):
within the local community, and then they give back to
that And each one of those tailpipes is kind of
custom made for the venue. So in Chicago, not surprising,
it's a hot beef spring roll which ardnare in it.
In Boston it's lobster maca cheese, right. But you know,
(23:31):
in the first year in the suburbs of Chicago, we
sold over ten thousand of those tailpipes that we were
able to give back in that market. It's to a
local food bank, right. So I think for us, if
you demonstrate that, if you do those things, and if
you show with our associates that we care about them,
(23:53):
then it makes it easier for them to take the
step of really caring about our guests.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
That's great in terms of the tailpipes and letting your
managers pick the charity. And you know, I'd imagine that
definitely helps create engaged employees and customers too, right. I mean,
people especially in your core demographic, want to be associated
with brands that that do good. So that's that's some
really cool stuff and you also mentioned the freedom to
(24:23):
take risks. I know I appreciate that in my job,
so I'm sure your employees and you know, appreciate that
as well. Do you have any turnover metrics that you'd
like to share. I'd imagine it sounds like it'd probably
be pretty good compared to you know, competitors in the
restaurant space.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
It is, you know, I would say, it's still it's
one of those things that we build that builds over time,
all right. So it's kind of evolved a bit with
you know, I mean the first venue we opened was
in the middle the pandemic and hiring anybody who was
like virtually impossible, right, So, and the people that you
(25:07):
want to hire when you're a new brand and establishing yourselves,
you know, like when you want to hire the best bartenders,
the best bartenders already have a job, so they want
to know, hey, is this really going to work before
I quit my other job and come over to put shack.
So what we learned, like any industry, every industry is small,
(25:30):
and work gets around quickly. And the other thing that
I've learned over my career is good people know other
good people. Right, So as we open for example, we
opened in Philadelphia last month, Yeah, in February. Sorry, when
(25:50):
we opened our portal to bring on associates, we had
hundreds more people apply. Then we had spaces to fill,
which is great, which is was not the case at
the first venues when you know, people wanted to see, hey,
is it really going to work? So, you know, I
(26:13):
think we're very fortunate that we have a great concept,
we have people who truly believe in, you know, in
our core values. And I think, you know, we also
have the opportunity because we're growing, that we can create
a career path for people. Right We've had people at
(26:33):
our at our earlier you know, at our oldest venues
and I say our oldest venues in the US, they
are like two and a half years old, right, So,
but they started as hourly associates, maybe as a bartender,
as a server, and then you know became you know,
shift managers and salaried managers and and our goal is
(26:53):
to really continue to create a culture where we can
develop people within and then promote them into or and
better opportunities within the organization.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Col And are you are you transferring a lot of
your current gms into the new stores.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
We are, we're I mean, we have a number of
What we tend to have is we have kind of
our GM, which we call ADO director of Operations, and
then we have a hospitality director and a beverage director
and ideally we're taking and then hospitality and beverage managers.
We're training the managers to become directors, and then those
(27:30):
two right hand people then are the ideal people that
we want to promote to become a DOO when we're
opening up a new venue in a new market.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Gotcha awesome? What's the challenge Hall?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
The challenge Hall is, so, you know, the great thing
about what we are is, at the heart of it,
we're a technology company. So we're continuously always looking at, hey,
how can we continue to improve either the kind of
exist game through the technology and software development. And at
(28:05):
one point we said, you know, what we'd really like
to do is create a game where right now you
can play and you can drink, but it's not really
conducive to eating. So is there a way that we
can create another game or another way to play the game,
or you can eat, drink and play all at the
same time. So that was kind of the thought process
(28:28):
behind the Challenge Hole, which we launched in December and
are opening in Addison, just outside of Dallas. So the
Challenge Hole is a single standalone hole, So think about
it like a bowling alley or a bay a top
golf type of scenario. So you can sit, eat, drink
(28:48):
and play. And then you have a sixty five inch
monitor at the top of the hole, so there's just
one hole instead of instead of putting into a single hole,
there's twenty two slots at the top. And then there's
six games that we play. So if you think about
putting the ball up this ramp and into the various slots,
(29:09):
and then think about the game duck Hunt right where
the ducks are coming across the screen and you're putting
the golf ball and you're knocking the ducks out and
you're scoring points. And then there's ducks that come across
where you can lose points. So we have six different
games that people can play. It is ideally suited for
(29:29):
groups of called six to twelve. You know, our traditional
game is perfect for date night groups of four six.
If you get eight people on a single hole, it
can get a little It starts to get a little
bit crowded, and so the Challenge Hole really addresses that.
(29:50):
The guests have absolutely loved it so far. The great
thing is again because at the heart of it, we're
really a technology company. We're getting real time feedback and
other games that they want to see, and so we've
already got a lot of games that we're continuing to
develop in the background as well. So we'll be including
(30:11):
the Challenge Hole in all of the venues that we
open really starting in the second half of this year.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
All right, great, and is there any other potential for this,
you know, in terms of maybe being retrofited, retrofitted to
existing locations, or maybe even a smaller unit that maybe
only has these challenge Hole bays and uh you know
bar kitchen type area.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Yep. Yeah, So I think part of what we're thinking
through now from strategically, you know, what can we do
with this, We're you know, we're just we're just scratching
the surface, and I think all the opportunity so the
Challenge Hole is great as kind of a standalone product,
which we we might actually partner with people to put
(30:56):
in into other kind of concepts, but we can all
also potentially do it into more smaller markets that might
not be able to support a full size punchback location.
So whether that's fewer number of traditional courses or maybe
even a smaller venue footprint that has just the challenge holes,
(31:20):
smaller kitchen footprint that we can then get into markets
that allows us, you know, a much bigger tam for
the overall business. So yeah, we're excited about where it
fits within our traditional kind of buildouts, and we're equally
excited about I think the opportunities that we're just starting
to take a look at now as far as you know,
(31:42):
what can we do in a smaller venue footprint? Awesome?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
And can you talk a little bit about marketing. I
saw your Ace Putman videos.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
They're funny.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
I saw them on YouTube. So if you can talk
a little bit about some of that strategy, I'd imagine
social media is probably pretty big.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, So for us, social media is absolutely key to
the marketing that we do. Ace Putman is a marketing
program that initiative that we launched about six weeks ago now,
and we thought it was just a really fun, engaging
way to educate people about how putchack is different. There's
(32:23):
only one place in the world that you can play it,
and that is at a punchack. There may be other
places that you could play miniature golf, but it just
doesn't compare. And they're they're really good thirty second kind
of snippets that really kind of help educate the marketplace
as far as what it is. And you know, the
(32:45):
great thing about how social marketing works today, you know,
miniature golf in general and punchack at you know, it's
a multi generational game, right. You can play it at
seven years old, you can play it at seventy seven
years old. And while our core demographic is that twenty
one to thirty nine and we're built only in the evening.
(33:05):
In the daytime, we do a lot of corporate events,
we have a lot of families, particularly on the weekends
and then but marketing programs like Ace Popman, which is
really geared towards our core demographic, right, those that twenty
eight year old that'll that'll come on a Saturday night.
We'll have no idea that a twelve year old was
(33:26):
there at two o'clock in the afternoon, right, which is
exactly the way we want. And yeah, it's a you know,
our marketing team did a great job in putting that
together because it's a really fun campaign.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Yeah, it's funny and I imagine that and the venues
are pretty instagrammable, so I'm sure that helps too.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Absolutely, we have you know, we have this sign that
that's in the venues. Actually we started moving it into
the core of the venues, but we had it in
the It's in all of our bathrooms as well. It
says stop quit looking at my putt. And there are
so many people who photograph that with you know, sticking
their butts out and instagramming that out, which is you know,
(34:10):
it's it's amazing how you know what things people get,
you know, get get picked up and then and then
fired out all over the place. And I think you
know that's and really the food and beverage side as well,
is you know, it's just you know, when when you're
opening up a drink that's smoking, like, people immediately want
to instagram that out and and show everybody, which you know,
(34:31):
there's nothing better than when your guests are are doing
some of the marketing for you.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yeah, definitely, Man, Where's where's the closest put shack?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
To me?
Speaker 1 (34:39):
What do I have to go to Philly?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
What's what's the Philip Philly would be the closest. We
have two now in Boston, one in Seaport, and one
in the suburbs in Natick in Pittsburgh. Those are kind
of the ones closest to New Jersey. I'd love to
be in New Jersey as soon as we can find
the right the right deal in the right location. Very cool.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
I have to hit one up while I'm on the
road or check out Philly one of these days. But
thanks for doing this, man. It's a it's a great story.
I look forward to to following it, you know, going forward,
where can the audience go to find their nearest put schack?
Speaker 2 (35:15):
So if you go to putchak dot com, will you
can pick your location because we're everywhere from east coast, midwest,
south north and uh and west out and as far
west as Denver and Scottsdale.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, and I guess one more one last question too.
You know you they're kind of scattered around the US.
But you notice that that when some of your customers travel,
they'll go to a puts shack in another city, right
they will.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
It's a you know, try as much as I travel
now and oftentimes I'm wearing a branded shirt or something.
When I get on a plane, you know, like I'll
get out. Well, we were at ICR actually when when
we uh last talked, which was in Orlando, right, there's
an event there and the bartender was like, oh my god,
(36:06):
you're with Putchak. I was just in Pittsburgh playing there.
I told all my family they have to go. It's
the best thing I've ever had, you know. And then
I get on a plane and there's another guy from
a different city, and yeah, it's you know, it's great
when you know, you when people start coming up to
you and not asking, hey, what's Putchak? But I've been there,
(36:29):
and I'm checking it out in a different city, or
I'm telling all of my family and friends that live
in different cities to go. So yeah, that's you know,
it's it's a fun part of the job.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Yeah, that's very cool, man, very cool. I'm looking forward
to checking it out. I also want to thank the
audience for tuning in. If you liked the episode, please
share it with your friends and colleagues. Check back soon
for a discussion with Matt Tucker, the CEO of talk
Speaker 2 (37:02):
FO
Welcome to Chopping it Up. I'm your host, Mike Halon,
the senior restaurant and food Service analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
So today we're joined by Joe Rank and the CEO
of put Shack Tech infused mini golf Experience. Thanks for
doing this, Joe.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thanks for having me. Mike happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Can you talk a little bit about your career prior
to put shack and what attracted you to this opportunity?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Sure, time fly. So for probably the past twenty five years,
I've either been involved in sports, leisure, entertainment, social entertainment.
I think the thing that it's most relevant to what
we're building a Putchack. I was the CEO at a
(01:05):
concept called top Golf earlier in my career and joined
that when there was just one Top Golf location in
the US and helped build the foundation and grow that
which was a lot of fun and obviously it's done
exceptionally well, continues to do exceptionally well. And the link
(01:27):
really with putchak is the guys who invented the game
of putchack are identical twin brothers out of London, Steve
and Dave Joliffe. They were the same guys who invented
the game at Top Golf. So I've known him for
over fifteen years now, and you know, and they're incredible
inventors and they're avid golfers. And so they stepped back
(01:50):
one day and said, you know, miniature golf has been
around for one hundred years and it hasn't changed in
one hundred years. How can we reinvent this game? So
they started taking a look at technology that didn't exist
back when they had created Top Golf and started to
look at, hey, how can we change this game around.
(02:12):
So what they managed to do was put essentially a
mini iPad inside the golf ball. So inside every golf
ball is a computer processor. There's a battery system in there,
it's GPS enabled, Bluetooth enabled. So what that created the
ability to do was write the game so that you
(02:33):
can track the ball on every inch of every hole.
Created automatic scoring, so there's no more carrying around a
pendulum paper, and of course there's also no more cheating
because if you pick up the ball and move it,
the system knows it and then really change the game.
And so instead of getting trying to get the lowest
score possible, you're trying to get the highest score possible.
(02:55):
And the way they did that is you get bonus
points if you get a hole in one, and then
every hole has a way to either score bonus points
or hazards where you can lose points. So, for example,
there's a pop the question hole. It's a true false question,
so you'll get a true false question. It comes up
on your screen. If you think the answer is true,
(03:16):
you put under a bridge. It says true. If you
think it's false, you put under a bridge it says false.
If you get it right, you get bonus points. If
you get it wrong, you lose points. Right, and then
they created all of the holes really around our core demographic.
So our core demographic is twenty one to thirty nine
year olds. So you'll have a beer pung hole, you'll
have a roulette hole, you've got to pop the question hole,
(03:39):
you've got to shoot the basket, which is a basketball hole.
What you won't find at Putchack is things like pirate
chips and windmills that were great when you grew up,
but now as an adult, you want a different experience.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Very cool. So are all the courses the same or
does some of them have you know, different holes based
on location or whatever it might do.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, so we have our typical venue has four nine
hole courses, so there's thirty six holes in every venue.
I think at this point now we have over thirty
unique holes. There's a handful that we repeat because they're
guest favorites, and then the courses. You know, we we
(04:23):
don't do ground up builds, or haven't up to this
point in time. We've we've done adaptive reuse. So the
space within each venue is slightly different based on what
we're stepping into. So every you know, nine holes in
Chicago may look different than nine holes in Boston, although you'll,
you know, you'll end up over the thirty six holes
(04:44):
using the same ones.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I'd imagine using re readapted spaces helps your build costs.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It does, And you know, we really focus on partnering
with the landlords and our and our development partners. We
are fortunate that we have you know, we have a
guest demographic that is very attractive within our landlords, whether
that's an outdoor lifestyle mall or a mixed use development.
(05:14):
You know that twenty one to thirty nine year old
is is kind of the demographic that everybody wants to
get to and typically dry between three hundred and fifty
and four hundred and twenty five thousand visitors per year
per venue. So so the great part about that is,
you know we'll partner with with that landlord and become
in essence for existing location or an existing development, you know,
(05:38):
that new anchor. So you know in the suburbs of Chicago,
we took over a former Lord and Taylor space and
put in a punt check there. In mid town Atlanta,
it was a mixed use development and we anchor seventy
five thousand score feet of retail with our twenty five
thousand score feet. So it's more cost well, I would
(06:00):
say it's more cost effective, but it depends on kind
of what you're starting out with. But we do get
really great support from from our development partners.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
All right, great about is twenty five thousand square feet?
Is that the typical size and how much do they
cost to build?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Sure? It is. We do have some that have gone
a bit larger. So our largest is in Dallas and
Addison at thirty thousand, but twenty five thousand is our typical.
It was a lot less costly to build kind of
before the pandemic hit and construction costs have risen dramatically
since then. But including all of our soft costs and
(06:37):
opening costs, you know, we're in the thirteen to fourteen
million dollar range, depending on where what market we're in.
Part of what makes put check I think different than
other concepts within our space is we do focus very
much on investing in a high end build from you know,
(06:58):
not only the technology and the course and everything around
the game itself, but all of the you know what
the restaurant side of our business, the bar side of
the business, the food and beverage, it's you know, we
all really focused on developed or delivering a brand experience
that's really elevated in nature.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Okay, so they're not cheap to build, but I know,
yeah for some pretty strong AUVs. So so where where
do they come in at? And what's the revenue split
between games, food and drinks.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Sure, so, you know, our average AUV is in the
thirteen to fourteen million dollar range, and we do about
forty two to forty percent of our revenue is generated
by the game, which is is very profitable, which is great,
but we do fifty eight percent of our business on
(07:51):
the food and beverage side. So it's a standalone restaurant
our our. You know, our venues are doing anywhere from
seven and a half to our our strongest performing I
use almost twelve million dollars of a standalone restaurant, which
is a huge significant operation in and of itself. You know,
on the restaurant side of the business, as we focus
(08:12):
on it, were because of the gas and the fact
that they can drink while they're playing the game. You know,
we skew more than a typical restaurant would on the
beverage side, and you know alcohol is a part of that.
So you know, our economics are incredibly strong. It's one
of the things that really drew me to the concept.
You know, I think long term success within the social
(08:37):
entertainment and dining space is really anchored on three things.
It's anchored on a fun and engaging game that people
want to come back and play time and time again.
But then also has some intellectual property protection, right, so
there's a barrier of entry, there's a moat that's created
so people can't go, oh wow, that's a great concept.
I'm just going to open one across the street and
(08:58):
compete with you. So we own a global patent on
automatic scoring a miniature golf. So with the technology that
the inventors were able to create, they were able to
secure a concept patent. And what that means is somebody
else could look in and go, oh wow, I could put
different technology inside the golf well and scored automatically. If
(09:20):
it scores the game, it violates the concept patent that
we own on a global basis, which creates a really
nice barrier of entry. But that by itself today I
think within the space that we're in, doesn't ensure long
term success. We were really focused on saying, we have
to deliver a food and beverage experience that is as
(09:41):
good as any casual dining option that our guests can
choose from, because really we're competing against those leisure and
entertainment dollars, and whether that's movie theaters, whether that's casual dining,
whether that's other social entertainment concepts, we have to be
able to compete across the board. So it was really
important for us when we were developing the F and
(10:03):
B side, is it has to be as good and
as strong as the game, because really that's the brand
that we're creating. The third component with that is the
guest service experience, which you know, in today's environment may
be the hardest thing to actually deliver. You know, hospitality
had a lot of people leave during the pandemic, and
(10:24):
I think a lot of people are back, but you know,
creating that guest service experience where we're linking the game,
the food and beverage, tying it all together, where we
can activate all the senses from site, sounds, smell, et cetera,
and our associates really tying it together so people have
great memories. That's the real strength and I think we
(10:44):
see that within the economic model that we have our
typical venues will do in the mid twenties. For site
level Ebada, we've opened eighteen venues now for in the
UK and fourteen in the US, including three the we've
opened in the in the first quarter of twenty twenty four.
Every venue that we've ever opened has been profitable in
(11:08):
the first thirty days from opening the doors, so we
actually the last venue we opened was in Louisville in
the middle of March, and I was just looking at
our March numbers. It was profitable after two weeks.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Very impressive, all right, You spoke about a few things
that we're going to circle back to. One follow up.
What's the alcohol mix?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
A typical restaurant is like two thirds food one third beverage.
We're about the opposite. We're about two thirds beverage one
third food.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Wow, all right, great, definitely helps margins. Are you willing
to share any of the margin data and any other
unit level economics?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I mean, our the great part about the game is,
you know, it's about ninety five percent gross margin. You know,
we have the cost of the ball, we have the
cost of hutters or our team that are game in
bass to help with the guest game experience. And then
on a blended basis, we operate at about eighty four
to eighty six percent gross margins at the venue level
(12:13):
and then operating costs, rent, et cetera. You know, we're
in the you know, our best our highest revenue performing
sites are a thirty percent plus site level Libada, and
our average is, you know, kind of in the twenty
two to twenty six percent range.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Okay, strong, How many stores do you have and how
fast are you opening new ones?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Sure? So we have opened our eighteenth location. We have
an additional eight more locations that we have in various
stages of development from design, permitting to construction. So yeah,
we have a you know, we'll we have at least
twenty six locations that we that we've got committed to
(12:58):
and and you know, obviously want to continue to grow.
It's it's been amazing as I kind of step back
and take a look at how quickly we've managed to
kind of grow the business and open really across the
country so far. But you know, of the last twelve
(13:22):
US venues that we've opened, we've opened those twelve venues
in twenty months.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
So you have some in the UK as well, right,
what's the split?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So we have four we have four in the Greater
London area, so you know, the inventors of the game
are from there, and the co the third founder is
a gentleman by the name of Adam Breeden who's done
a number of other social entertainment concepts. All three of
them are from London. So the very first test location
was in West London that opened in June of twenty eighteen.
(13:55):
I joined the organization in January nineteen. There were a
few more that were committed it in the UK, and
really though the main focus since twenty twenty one has
been growth in the US.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, so let's get back to the menu. It's elevated.
I haven't had the opportunity to get to one yet,
but you know, I checked out the menu online and
it's not what you'd expect at a miniature golf.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Joint, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So if you could talk a little bit about that
menu and do you have customers that come in just
to eat and not even play play the games?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Yeah, So the answer is we do have people to
come in to do that, and oftentimes it's not because
they're not wanting to play the game, but it more
often the case that we're fully booked for the evening,
but they came in just to eat and drink anyway,
and the environment and the ambiance that that's created. So
(14:57):
our goal are. Vice president of Food and Beverage is
a guy by the name of Mark Boynton. Mark's a
French trained executive chef. I have known him for over
a decade and when we got together, you know, we said, okay,
how do we really elevate the food and beverage experience? Right?
(15:20):
Mark is a huge believer in presentation that you know,
people eat with their eyes eat with their eyes first,
drink this in the same way, we created a globally
inspired menu. We have a lot of shareables because people
tend to come in groups, right, but you would not
expect to go to a miniature golf location and get
(15:41):
you know, wood fire Thai octopus, right, But that's the
menu and it's amazing them. By the way. You know,
we have Mediterranean lamb skewers, Persian chicken skewers, so there's
a whole variety. And we have a lot of offerings
as well, for you know, that are vegetarian, vegan, gluten free,
(16:04):
so you know, just as a as a vegan option.
For example, we have nine dishes that are available as
a vegan option, so it's not like we threw one
or two together and go okay, great, that's it. But
then we also have you know, we have terrific flatbreads.
We have handheld So the important part and I think
(16:27):
what people people who are really into the the restaurant
space would probably be able to relate to. But one
of the gifts that Mark has is not only in
creating you know, fantastic menu and with that we have
over one hundred housemaid recipes that go into our dishes.
(16:49):
But on a on a Saturday during you know, throughout
the day, we could have twenty two to twenty five
hundred people come through the door. Right, So, putting together
a menu that is elevated to tastes really good that
you can deliver and have the presentation consistently when you
have that kind of volume, that's really hard to do, right.
(17:13):
I mean it's you know, you look at the dish,
you go, okay, great, you know, it's really nice. But
actually being able to deliver that in the quality of
the presentation is a is a it's a credible gift
that he has in doing that. He's what's interesting in
today's environment. You know, fifteen years ago doing this you
could just say okay, we've got you know, we've got
(17:34):
you know, casual dining menu and a full service bar.
Today there is such a huge focus on what your
signature cocktails are, you know, how are they different from
where you can go and get you know, from someplace else.
How is the theater around that, and how is that
presented so that your guests like get a wow factor
that's out of it. Right, And and Mark on the
(17:58):
mixology side probably spends as much time putting together our
signature cocktails as he does the signature dishes. So, you know,
we've got a breaking bad pisco punch right that that
comes out, you know, it's a mescal tequila and it
comes out in a in a treasure chest with hemp
(18:22):
smoke to it, and you know it's kind of all
part of that breaking bad, you know, serious theme. We've
got a you know, margarita's are are going to be,
you know, seemingly a staple no matter what. But we
have a spice pineapple mezcal martarita right where there's a
(18:45):
Holopeni infused popsicle. And and as that it melts within
the drink, it changes the flavor profile as you're drinking
the cocktail. So there's just a lot of fun and
unique things that go along with the beverage and the
food side. And you know, for me, I think as
(19:05):
we try to get the you know that those three
key things right, what I really like is when I'm
talking with you know, somebody who's been to Putchek for
the first time, and I ask them, you know, okay,
tell me the good, tell me the bad, you know,
give me all the feedback and and two things I
really like. One is when they say, you know, the
(19:25):
game was great, which you know, I quite frankly really
expect them to say. But it's when they say, oh
my god, the food was so good. I really didn't
expect the food to be that good. And and to
your point, where they go, I come back just to
eat and drink here, right. And then the other part
is really that third component is when they'll go and
(19:46):
you know, you know, and I've gotten this kind of
a couple of times from people that use this exact phrase.
Your associates just exude joy. And I'm like, Okay, if
we can do those three things, then we're creating exactly
what our brand is aspiring to be. And really have
a fun environment where people come in and create memories.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
That's really cool. And you're making me want to have
a cocktail as well. But I got way too much work.
You have way too much work to do today and tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
But it's five o'clock somewhere for sure. All right.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
That's that's interesting what you mentioned in terms of of
the hospitality aspect and the ethos and how do you think,
how do you what's enabling you to achieve that because
that's that's hard to achieve.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, you know, it's a huge focus that we spend.
I think a lot of it comes down to early on,
we really focused on what's our what are our core values,
what's our brand? What do we stand for? Right? Because
if you know what you stand for, if you set
your core values, then you can build all your training
programs around it. Because at the core I think of
(21:00):
having engaged associates, it's the training part, and the training
part comes down to, well, what is it that you
believe in and who are you for us? That came
down to four. We distilled that to four things. Bring
your A game, lead the way, own the fund, and
care deeply what we call block Okay, so we ask
(21:23):
our associates to bring their a game every day, make
sure that they are engaged with our guests in creating
the fund memories. We also ask them to lead the way,
which means to take some risks. Right. If we're going
to be an exceptional brand, you can't do that by
being conservative and not risk taking. Right. So you know,
(21:45):
we don't want them to do stupid things, but we
want them to lead the way and that means taking
risks and as part of that. That also means that
we will fail at times, right, it's inevitable, and encourage
people to take the risk. But then learning from any
failures and not punishing is what I think will help
(22:06):
drive continue to drive the brand forward. Own the fun
is really you know, people come into Puncheck because they
want to have fun. All the squirrels that are running
around in their head throughout the day, they just wanted
to stop for a couple hours and enjoy the time
with the people they're with. You know, when the DJs
are playing, you know, the music's going, the lighting, and
you know it in the evening. We're an adult only venue, right,
(22:27):
so it's it turns into an upscale night club feel right,
And we want people to have fun, and we want
our associates to own that fun as well. And then
the fourth one is care deeply care about our guests,
care about our associates, and care about the communities that
we're part of. So you know, one of the things
(22:49):
that we do, we have a signature menu that mark
Tailor's to every market called the Tailpipes, which is a
spring roll. A dollar of every one of those goes
back to a local charity and it's not a charity
that I pick, or anybody on the central team picks.
The managers at the venue pick a charity that's important
(23:11):
within the local community, and then they give back to
that And each one of those tailpipes is kind of
custom made for the venue. So in Chicago, not surprising,
it's a hot beef spring roll which ardnare in it.
In Boston it's lobster maca cheese, right. But you know,
(23:31):
in the first year in the suburbs of Chicago, we
sold over ten thousand of those tailpipes that we were
able to give back in that market. It's to a
local food bank, right. So I think for us, if
you demonstrate that, if you do those things, and if
you show with our associates that we care about them,
(23:53):
then it makes it easier for them to take the
step of really caring about our guests.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
That's great in terms of the tailpipes and letting your
managers pick the charity. And you know, I'd imagine that
definitely helps create engaged employees and customers too, right. I mean,
people especially in your core demographic, want to be associated
with brands that that do good. So that's that's some
really cool stuff and you also mentioned the freedom to
(24:23):
take risks. I know I appreciate that in my job,
so I'm sure your employees and you know, appreciate that
as well. Do you have any turnover metrics that you'd
like to share. I'd imagine it sounds like it'd probably
be pretty good compared to you know, competitors in the
restaurant space.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
It is, you know, I would say, it's still it's
one of those things that we build that builds over time,
all right. So it's kind of evolved a bit with
you know, I mean the first venue we opened was
in the middle the pandemic and hiring anybody who was
like virtually impossible, right, So, and the people that you
(25:07):
want to hire when you're a new brand and establishing yourselves,
you know, like when you want to hire the best bartenders,
the best bartenders already have a job, so they want
to know, hey, is this really going to work before
I quit my other job and come over to put shack.
So what we learned, like any industry, every industry is small,
(25:30):
and work gets around quickly. And the other thing that
I've learned over my career is good people know other
good people. Right, So as we open for example, we
opened in Philadelphia last month, Yeah, in February. Sorry, when
(25:50):
we opened our portal to bring on associates, we had
hundreds more people apply. Then we had spaces to fill,
which is great, which is was not the case at
the first venues when you know, people wanted to see, hey,
is it really going to work? So, you know, I
(26:13):
think we're very fortunate that we have a great concept,
we have people who truly believe in, you know, in
our core values. And I think, you know, we also
have the opportunity because we're growing, that we can create
a career path for people. Right We've had people at
(26:33):
our at our earlier you know, at our oldest venues
and I say our oldest venues in the US, they
are like two and a half years old, right, So,
but they started as hourly associates, maybe as a bartender,
as a server, and then you know became you know,
shift managers and salaried managers and and our goal is
(26:53):
to really continue to create a culture where we can
develop people within and then promote them into or and
better opportunities within the organization.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Col And are you are you transferring a lot of
your current gms into the new stores.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
We are, we're I mean, we have a number of
What we tend to have is we have kind of
our GM, which we call ADO director of Operations, and
then we have a hospitality director and a beverage director
and ideally we're taking and then hospitality and beverage managers.
We're training the managers to become directors, and then those
(27:30):
two right hand people then are the ideal people that
we want to promote to become a DOO when we're
opening up a new venue in a new market.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Gotcha awesome? What's the challenge Hall?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
The challenge Hall is, so, you know, the great thing
about what we are is, at the heart of it,
we're a technology company. So we're continuously always looking at, hey,
how can we continue to improve either the kind of
exist game through the technology and software development. And at
(28:05):
one point we said, you know, what we'd really like
to do is create a game where right now you
can play and you can drink, but it's not really
conducive to eating. So is there a way that we
can create another game or another way to play the game,
or you can eat, drink and play all at the
same time. So that was kind of the thought process
(28:28):
behind the Challenge Hole, which we launched in December and
are opening in Addison, just outside of Dallas. So the
Challenge Hole is a single standalone hole, So think about
it like a bowling alley or a bay a top
golf type of scenario. So you can sit, eat, drink
(28:48):
and play. And then you have a sixty five inch
monitor at the top of the hole, so there's just
one hole instead of instead of putting into a single hole,
there's twenty two slots at the top. And then there's
six games that we play. So if you think about
putting the ball up this ramp and into the various slots,
(29:09):
and then think about the game duck Hunt right where
the ducks are coming across the screen and you're putting
the golf ball and you're knocking the ducks out and
you're scoring points. And then there's ducks that come across
where you can lose points. So we have six different
games that people can play. It is ideally suited for
(29:29):
groups of called six to twelve. You know, our traditional
game is perfect for date night groups of four six.
If you get eight people on a single hole, it
can get a little It starts to get a little
bit crowded, and so the Challenge Hole really addresses that.
(29:50):
The guests have absolutely loved it so far. The great
thing is again because at the heart of it, we're
really a technology company. We're getting real time feedback and
other games that they want to see, and so we've
already got a lot of games that we're continuing to
develop in the background as well. So we'll be including
(30:11):
the Challenge Hole in all of the venues that we
open really starting in the second half of this year.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
All right, great, and is there any other potential for this,
you know, in terms of maybe being retrofited, retrofitted to
existing locations, or maybe even a smaller unit that maybe
only has these challenge Hole bays and uh you know
bar kitchen type area.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Yep. Yeah, So I think part of what we're thinking
through now from strategically, you know, what can we do
with this, We're you know, we're just we're just scratching
the surface, and I think all the opportunity so the
Challenge Hole is great as kind of a standalone product,
which we we might actually partner with people to put
(30:56):
in into other kind of concepts, but we can all
also potentially do it into more smaller markets that might
not be able to support a full size punchback location.
So whether that's fewer number of traditional courses or maybe
even a smaller venue footprint that has just the challenge holes,
(31:20):
smaller kitchen footprint that we can then get into markets
that allows us, you know, a much bigger tam for
the overall business. So yeah, we're excited about where it
fits within our traditional kind of buildouts, and we're equally
excited about I think the opportunities that we're just starting
to take a look at now as far as you know,
(31:42):
what can we do in a smaller venue footprint? Awesome?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
And can you talk a little bit about marketing. I
saw your Ace Putman videos.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
They're funny.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
I saw them on YouTube. So if you can talk
a little bit about some of that strategy, I'd imagine
social media is probably pretty big.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, So for us, social media is absolutely key to
the marketing that we do. Ace Putman is a marketing
program that initiative that we launched about six weeks ago now,
and we thought it was just a really fun, engaging
way to educate people about how putchack is different. There's
(32:23):
only one place in the world that you can play it,
and that is at a punchack. There may be other
places that you could play miniature golf, but it just
doesn't compare. And they're they're really good thirty second kind
of snippets that really kind of help educate the marketplace
as far as what it is. And you know, the
(32:45):
great thing about how social marketing works today, you know,
miniature golf in general and punchack at you know, it's
a multi generational game, right. You can play it at
seven years old, you can play it at seventy seven
years old. And while our core demographic is that twenty
one to thirty nine and we're built only in the evening.
(33:05):
In the daytime, we do a lot of corporate events,
we have a lot of families, particularly on the weekends
and then but marketing programs like Ace Popman, which is
really geared towards our core demographic, right, those that twenty
eight year old that'll that'll come on a Saturday night.
We'll have no idea that a twelve year old was
(33:26):
there at two o'clock in the afternoon, right, which is
exactly the way we want. And yeah, it's a you know,
our marketing team did a great job in putting that
together because it's a really fun campaign.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Yeah, it's funny and I imagine that and the venues
are pretty instagrammable, so I'm sure that helps too.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Absolutely, we have you know, we have this sign that
that's in the venues. Actually we started moving it into
the core of the venues, but we had it in
the It's in all of our bathrooms as well. It
says stop quit looking at my putt. And there are
so many people who photograph that with you know, sticking
their butts out and instagramming that out, which is you know,
(34:10):
it's it's amazing how you know what things people get,
you know, get get picked up and then and then
fired out all over the place. And I think you
know that's and really the food and beverage side as well,
is you know, it's just you know, when when you're
opening up a drink that's smoking, like, people immediately want
to instagram that out and and show everybody, which you know,
(34:31):
there's nothing better than when your guests are are doing
some of the marketing for you.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yeah, definitely, Man, Where's where's the closest put shack?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
To me?
Speaker 1 (34:39):
What do I have to go to Philly?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
What's what's the Philip Philly would be the closest. We
have two now in Boston, one in Seaport, and one
in the suburbs in Natick in Pittsburgh. Those are kind
of the ones closest to New Jersey. I'd love to
be in New Jersey as soon as we can find
the right the right deal in the right location. Very cool.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
I have to hit one up while I'm on the
road or check out Philly one of these days. But
thanks for doing this, man. It's a it's a great story.
I look forward to to following it, you know, going forward,
where can the audience go to find their nearest put schack?
Speaker 2 (35:15):
So if you go to putchak dot com, will you
can pick your location because we're everywhere from east coast, midwest,
south north and uh and west out and as far
west as Denver and Scottsdale.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Yeah, and I guess one more one last question too.
You know you they're kind of scattered around the US.
But you notice that that when some of your customers travel,
they'll go to a puts shack in another city, right
they will.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
It's a you know, try as much as I travel
now and oftentimes I'm wearing a branded shirt or something.
When I get on a plane, you know, like I'll
get out. Well, we were at ICR actually when when
we uh last talked, which was in Orlando, right, there's
an event there and the bartender was like, oh my god,
(36:06):
you're with Putchak. I was just in Pittsburgh playing there.
I told all my family they have to go. It's
the best thing I've ever had, you know. And then
I get on a plane and there's another guy from
a different city, and yeah, it's you know, it's great
when you know, you when people start coming up to
you and not asking, hey, what's Putchak? But I've been there,
(36:29):
and I'm checking it out in a different city, or
I'm telling all of my family and friends that live
in different cities to go. So yeah, that's you know,
it's it's a fun part of the job.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Yeah, that's very cool, man, very cool. I'm looking forward
to checking it out. I also want to thank the
audience for tuning in. If you liked the episode, please
share it with your friends and colleagues. Check back soon
for a discussion with Matt Tucker, the CEO of talk
Speaker 2 (37:02):
FO
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