Bowling For Beverage Profit
AMF Bowling Centers Score a Strike With New Beverage Program

From the beginning, Fred Hipp knew that the beverage program at AMF needed a makeover. Hipp joined AMF Bowling Centers Inc., the world’s largest owner and operator of bowling centers, as president and CEO after leading California Pizza Kitchen through an unprecedented growth phase. He immediately recognized the opportunity before him.
    Hipp knew that a great customer bowling experience wasn’t just about the bowling. He recognized a huge opportunity in considering and improving the overall experience of guests visiting AMF locations and that a big piece of this opportunity was in food and beverage.  With food and beverage accounting for about 30 percent of an average unit’s total sales, Hipp immediately looked to hire a professional. He found that professional in Joe Scarnaty — a CIA-trained chef, with many years of experience, including successfully operating his own restaurant. They agreed that enhancing their current food and beverage programs was a top priority.      Scarnaty quickly set about the task of improving the quality of food from the back door, all the way through to the guest and hired an outside expert to assist with the beverage program overhaul. He knew that getting the beverage program right was critical, as beverage sales account for approximately 50 percent of total food and beverage sales. 
    Hipp also understood that an effective beverage program significantly can impact the overall sales and profitability of the concept.

Assessing the Situation
    Assessing the state of the beverage program uncovered numerous opportunities and challenges. There were many inconsistencies in the beverage program, and consistency is critical in a chain environment.
    The quality of products, from mixers, to spirits, to beer and to wine was inconsistent, as was use and size of glassware. Standard pours were nonexistent. Costs varied widely as a result of the lack of standards.
    After reviewing the AMF demographic and how customers utilize the concept, it was time to begin putting systems in place. 

Establishing New Standards
    A core product list was developed to set a minimum standard for quality of products to be used in preparing beverages at AMF Bowling Centers. This list documents which brands of liquor, beer and wine are used and establishes standards for mixers and garnishes. Some concepts carefully establish quality standards for the spirit they use in a recipe and then ignore the quality of the mixers used.
    This is a mistake, as the mixer to spirit ratio is often three to one, and a good drink cannot be created with a bad mixer. This also reinforces the importance of properly maintaining the brix ratio on the soda system. 
    Another important aspect of establishing standards for the beverage program was the selection of glassware. At AMF, many of the outlets used plastic glasses instead of glass to serve their drinks to their guests. Operators presented myriad reasons as rationale for why they should continue to serve beverages in plastic glasses. After some discussion, debate and cajoling, it was agreed to implement glassware as part of the beverage program. 
    Glassware has worked very well in enhancing the look and perceived value of the beverages and has been positively received by the guests. 
    The team established beverage recipe standards. Recipe standards include specific quantities of ingredients, proper glassware, garnishes and, most importantly, preparation procedures. Utilizing proper drink preparation methods is critical to the outcome of many popular cocktails. 
    Novice bartenders often do not understand the critical role the drink preparation method plays in creating quality beverages. Signature drinks — which help to communicate to guests and to employees what is done well — provide a great opportunity for increased sales and profits. AMF developed new signature drink recipes with standardized recipes.

Promoting the Product
    The last piece of the puzzle was to create a beverage menu to communicate the beverage offerings to the AMF guest and to emphasize the signature drinks. A beverage menu is a great tool for the staff to use to guide guests to beverage choices, and it has the added benefit of reminding the staff what a concept is focused on. Every concept provides a food menu to communicate to the guest what products are available, and it is amazing that there are still concepts that don’t provide the same information regarding their beverage offerings.
    After the AMF beverage program was developed, it was rolled out market by market, which included meeting with and training senior management, center managers and key employees to help ensure that the rationale behind the program was well understood. AMF has hired Kerry Lang, formerly of On The Border and Red Robin, as the beverage director to continue to keep their beverage program on track. AMF is realizing double-digit beverage sales increases.       NCB