Strike City Lanes 2.0
Intro to Concept
Located at 613 McMeans Avenue, Strike City Lanes is a city-owned recreation center featuring a 14-lane bowling alley, special event facilities, and the Spare Time Diner. On average, approximately 10,000 people visit Strike City Lanes annually and many residents view the facility as an asset. As evidenced throughout the visioning sessions, stakeholder interviews and online survey results, residents of all ages want to see Strike City Lanes evolve into a modernized community amenity to make better use of the facility and support its financial sustainability.
Moving forward with this new vision for Strike City Lanes 2.0, the City of Bay Minette should consider:
- Moving forward with this new vision for Strike City Lanes 2.0, the City of Bay Minette should consider:
- Creating a contemporary menu for the Spare Time Diner
- Hosting weekly specials for people of all ages
- Developing partnerships with local schools, non-profit organizations, and businesses
Rebranding
A vital component to evolving Strike City Lanes is rebranding the logo and tagline of the facility to help community members think of the space as more than just a bowling alley: a space for food, drinks, fun, and bowling.
TopGolf, a national chain of golf bays with food and drink, uses the slogan: “Eat, drink, and play,” to communicate with their audience that even non-golf lovers can find a fun time there. Using this idea, a simple and effective slogan for Strike City Lanes 2.0 might be: “Eat. Drink. Bowl.”
A logo is the first point of interaction a company has with a potential consumer. A strong logo that invokes an immediate reaction from the viewer can go a long way. Capitalizing on nostalgia for the 90’s (and late 80’s) which is at an all time high, even amongst college students born in the early 2000’s, Alchemy created the following potential logo:
Option 1: 90’s Neon Nostalgia
Option 2: Art-deco Inspired
Option 3: Classic Bowling Alley Logo
Along with the new brand, the decor of the bowling alley should match the tone of the chosen logo. For example, with the first presented logo, 90s-themed decor and neon signs would be prevalent around the interior. The alley could easily host 80’s and 90’s-themed costume events. This option would prove easy for the existing Strike City lanes, the interior of which is already slightly dated toward this era.
Strike City Lanes 2.0 should launch a stand-alone website to coincide with its rebranding. Websites including an online version of the menu are of the utmost importance to consumers. A study in 2019 concluded that nearly “60% of restaurant guests viewed restaurant website before deciding where to dine.” Depending on staffing and capabilities, it is also recommended that Strike City launches an Instagram page featuring its food and drink specials, as well as photos from events such as College Night or themed parties; the same study concluded that “86% of millenials will try a new restaurant after seeing food-related content online.”
PROGRAMMING
When it comes to programming, Strike City Lanes offers a variety of offerings for people of all ages including league play, tournaments, cosmic bowling, birthday parties and other special events. In addition to this programming, Strike City Lanes should also offer regular weekday and weekend specials and promote these to complement the food and drink specials.
| Example Weekday Specials | |
| Monday | Live Trivia |
| Tuesday | Family Night (1/2 off bowling, 2 games maximum) |
| Wednesday | Student Night ($1 per person/game) |
| Thursday | Karaoke |
| Friday & Saturday | Live music |
These weekday specials can be changed once, maybe twice per year but no more than that to build up a consumer base who chooses to visit Strike City Lanes regularly to reap the deals and new amenity features.
Additionally, it is important for Strike City Lanes to continue evolving its programming and amenity offerings such as more flat screen TVs (to feature popular sports or music videos), new arcade games, rental board games/pool/darts, live trivia and karaoke nights, live music and even a DJ with a temporary dance floor for weekend evenings. Offering a variety of activities will reach a broader audience and will revamp the perception of Strike City Lanes as the place to hang out in Bay Minette.
PARTNERSHIPS
To support ongoing programming and special events, Strike City Lanes should continue to bolster its partnerships with local schools, non-profit organizations, and businesses. Special events should target as many of these organizations as possible to expand the consumer base for the recreation center, but more importantly, to bring together a diversified crowd from the broader region. Special events for these groups can include school field trips, company outings, holiday parties, etc. It is also important to engage the business community, especially through annual sponsorships of each bowling lane. Annual sponsorships should be roughly $1,500 for a sign with a logo to hang on each bowling lane for the year. Not only would a business be able to advertise to thousands of people for approximately $4/day, but Strike City Lanes would also increase its gross revenue by $21,000/year to reinvest in recreation center and improve amenity offerings.
Lastly, since Bay Minette is home to Coastal Alabama Community College, Strike City Lanes should use some of the facility to show off some fanfare for the Sun Chiefs. This is especially important if Strike City Lanes wants to see more buy-in from the students at the community college. To promote “Student Night,” it would be best to hire (e.g., $20/week to post once per day on each social media platform) a few influencers from CACC to create and share content on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat to promote the weekly specials and events occurring at Strike City Lanes.
A concept business model is available for review in Appendix E.
Action Steps
Identify capital improvements at Strike City Lanes
WHO:
City of Bay Minette, Strike City Lanes staff
HOW:
First, staff at Strike City Lanes should take a full audit of the amenities at the facility to ensure everything is still functional. Second, staff should work with the city to determine capital improvements that modernize the facility (e.g., exterior façade, interior wall paint, various lighting features, lounge couches with low dining tables, large TVs or projection screens, trendy wall art, etc.). Lastly, create a strategy to finance these improvements over time (ideally, between 1-3 years).
WHEN:
Q1 2020
Determine weekly specials for programming
WHO:
City of Bay Minette, Strike City Lanes staff
HOW:
Survey residents at local schools, churches, businesses, and Coastal Alabama Community College to determine which weekly specials will attract more consumers on a regular basis.
WHEN:
Q2 2020
Determine new menu offerings at Spare Time Diner
WHO:
Strike City Lanes/Spare Time Diner staff
HOW:
Analyze the revenue stream for the Spare Time Diner and determine the biggest sellers and most profitable items (often, these are not the same). Condense the menu to include the most profitable items and biggest sellers (if they are profitable) but do so in a way that modernizes the food being offered at Strike City Lanes. This limited menu should offer plenty of variety and capitalize on being able to use many of the same ingredients for multiple items on the menu to reduce waste.
WHEN:
Q2 2020
Implement new branding and marketing strategy
WHO:
City of Bay Minette, Strike City Lanes staff
HOW:
Create a stand-alone website for Strike City Lanes, update social media accounts, and recruit college students and young professionals to become influencers for the new brand. Build momentum for the improvements to be made at Strike City Lanes.
WHEN:
Q3 2020
Begin capital improvements at Strike City Lanes
WHO:
City of Bay Minette
HOW:
Based on the improvements and implementation strategy identified in Step 1, begin to make interior and exterior improvements to the facility as is financially feasible. Implementing the annual business sponsorships is one way to bring in immediate funding and will continue to be a resource for facility enhancements each year.
WHEN:
Q4 2021
