SPECIAL FOCUS

But a well-designed concession area not only can enhance the overall customer experience, it can also impact a park district's bottom line.

A typical hot dog stand-type concession area will generate about $1 per person in revenue, according to Mike Holtzman, president of Profitable Food Facilities in California, which specializes in food and beverage issues.

"If you bring in a grill, you'll double that. And if you add fryers, you'll get close to $2.50 to $2.60 a person," he said. Owners must figure in equipment and space requirements, naturally.

Besides cost, there are a number of factors to consider, including:
• The delivery method: Self-serve or full-serve or a combination?
• The anticipated menu and how selected food items will impact other considerations, such as equipment, space, ventilation and personnel
• The planned operators: In house or an outside firm?
• The hours: Will lunch be served?

Offering Self-Service

In 2001, the Vernon Hills Park District undertook a big expansion to its aquatic center. Among the improvements was a new concession building to replace the former, smaller setup of a step-up window. Now patrons enter a self-serve, cafeteria-style concession area, select their food and take it to one of two cashier stations. There are areas for drinks, for candy, for hot food, plus a few refrigerator-freezers to hold ice cream and frozen goods. Hot menu items - nachos and cheese or pizza among them - can be prepared ahead of time and then are placed under a warmer. "People just grab what they want and they're all set," said Jay Bullman, the district's aquatics and facilities supervisor.

Not only does the setup speed the lines, meaning more people get through and more items are sold, but customers also can eat while they wait, pointed out Bullman. "They may be a little more patient," he said.

The proof is in the numbers: "In our best year prior to the expansion, concessions grossed $21,000. In our worst summer since, it was $45,000," Bullman said. Of course, net numbers are less, ranging from several hundred dollars in 2003, when cool weather and other problems hurt attendance; to $10,349 in 2001, the first year the new pool was open; and $13,451 in 2002. Last year, another cool summer, the concessions area netted $7,647.

www.ilparks.org July/August 2005 35

Don't overlook vending machines. They are the ultimate self-serve option: patrons who just want something to drink don't have to congest the food service lines.

To run the concession area requires five to six people, including cashiers, cooks and an overseer, Bullman said.

The Des Plaines Park District was ahead of its time in 1996, when it opened its completely renovated Mystic Waters Family Aquatic Center, replacing a 1940 Works Project Administration pool.

PHN Architects of Wheaton, which specializes in aquatic centers and other recreational facilities, designed a "scramble" type of concession stand. As at Vernon Hills, also designed by PHN, patrons get their own food and drinks and pay the cashier on the way out. "I've heard nothing but rave reviews over the setup," said Executive Director John Hecker.

"We're trying to help park districts serve more people more quickly," said PHN principal Douglas Holzrichter, who helped design both the Des Plaines and Vernon Hills concession areas. "These newer designs help minimize concession lines, which leads to happier patrons. At the same time, because less staff is usually needed, park districts see an improved bottom line. Everyone benefits.

"Self-serve concession facilities are a tried-and-true concept and one that park districts should consider if they're going to provide their own concessions. They can serve a higher volume of people than full-serve facilities," said Hoizrichter. "Obviously, the process of people standing in line, considering their order, placing their order and then waiting for their food to be prepared takes much longer than when people pick up pre-prepared food for themselves."

Hecker said the Des Plaines facility is one of the first of its kind. As intended, "it speeds people through the concession lines, particularly someone who wants just one thing. They go in, they get it, pay for it and leave. Customers like it."

The district likes it, too. Net profits from concession sales have averaged $18,000 to $19,000 a year. Of course, said Hecker, he'd like that figure to be even higher. He said he wants to review all aspects of the concession operations, including staffing, pricing, menu, marketing and the existing policy permitting patrons to bring in their own food.

At Des Plaines, a scramble-type concession area speeds patrons through the lines, which encourages a higher volume of sales and minimizes the need for concession area staffing.

At the Vernon Hills Park District, a cafeteria style set-up allows patrons to grab their own food before heading to the cashier stations.

Mixing Self-service and Full-service

The Bolingbrook Park District decided in 2001 to add a secondary concession area to the outdoor portion of its Pelican Harbor Indoor/Outdoor Aquatic Park.

The second site, placed a distance from the first, is self-serve only, composed entirely of quick-serve items such as soda, water, ice cream or packaged munchies, said Director Ray Ochromowicz. "If you just want a pop, you don't have to wait behind ten people who want hot dogs," he said.

For Bolingbrook, it was an especially cost-effective solution, as the new concession area is housed in a building the district was building anyway. The structure was built as part of an overall aquatic center expansion project that required a separate set of pumpers. District personnel also decided a second set of washrooms was critical; thus, the building houses the pumpers, the washrooms and the concessions area, well separated from one another.

Bolingbrook even takes food out to the patrons, selling from a food cart that features just one item, such as lemonade.

Another advantage of the secondary site is that the operation can be shuttered during bouts of poor attendance and easily re-opened when the weather gets warmer and the facility becomes busier. "Like any outdoor facility, it's weather-dependent," said Ron Oestreich, superintendent of revenue facilities. "The quick-serve concept is a great idea. Should we have a hot summer this year, we'll be able to serve soda pop, ice cream and packaged goods quickly." Overhead costs are low, an additional benefit, he added.

Choosing the Menu - Or Menus

"Know what your menu is going to be," advised Sheavoun Lambillotte, superintendent of recreation for the Geneva Park District. "That sounds simple, but I don't think it happens all the time. If you're going to have cheeseburgers and fries, then you're going to need ventilation. You're going to need a fryer. You're going to need a grill."

"A lot of my customers want to do pizza and grilling," said Holtzman of Profitable Food Facilities. "We say, do one or the other." Statistics indicate customers prefer grilled food, so he advocates that instead of pizza, which can be difficult to do right and frequently leads to more waste. "I'm not saying it's a bad product," he said. "I'm just saying you don't have to do both."

36 Illinois Parks and Recreation www.ILipra.org

But that's not to say that concession areas need to have a single menu for all hours of operation. Holtzman suggested facilities need two menus, one for the lunch crowd and one for the mid- and late-afternoon snackers.

But many district facilities open after lunch, at 12:30 or 1:00 p.m. Holtzman's suggestion? Open an hour earlier to capture the lunch swimmers: "Your costs to be open that extra hour are very, very minimal. At the same time, many places realize half the sales between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m."

Of course lines aren't always going to be this short. But you can use techniques to get patrons through the concession area more quickly and boost sales.

Do the Operation In House or Outsource?

PHN's Hoizrichter has helped a number of park districts design concession operations. And of course, he pointed out, not every park district wants to be in the concession business. "Park districts should consider their own needs and wants and how much they want to devote to the concession business," he said.

Many agencies, including Bolingbrook, outsource the process. Even with paying outsourcing fees and even with allowing people to bring in their own food (something not many park district facilities allow), Bolingbrook nets probably $13,000 to $15,000 per season, Ochromowicz said.

In the western suburbs, Geneva began contracting out pool concessions several years ago after initially running operations in house, said Lambillotte. "It's worked well," she said, expressing no regrets about giving up preparing pizza, nachos and popcorn for hungry patrons.

Districts need to weigh the amount of time and training they want to invest in having their aquatic staff learn the concession trade, she said. Concession operators need to know about inventory control, ordering, selling and staffing, among countless other details. If the staff isn't trained, she warned, then you don't make money. "If you can master that, you can make a lot of money running concessions yourself rather than contracting it out," she said, adding that more districts seem to opt for contracting lately.

Lambillotte estimated the district netted between $10,000 and $20,000 a year when operating its own concessions, and now it nets between $3,000 and $7,000.

Holtzman said outsourcing might not be the right answer. The other firm "may just be a local restaurateur. They may know how to run a concession, yes, but they may not know how to make a lot of money at it. Don't be afraid to take on the job. Once everything is set up right, the menu is right and the pricing is right, everything else is right, you can hand it to a crew of 14-and 15-year-olds."

Beth Boles is a writer affiliated with PHN Architects, which specializes in the design of aquatic centers, golf facilities and recreation centers. See www.phnarchitects.com.

Six Tips for Tastier Profits from Concession Operations Instead of just "thinking outside the box," as the saying goes, a Pennsylvania aquatic center doubled its concession take one Fourth of July weekend by cooking outside the box. The grill was moved out on the deck at the recommendation of Mike Holtzman, president of Profitable Food Facilites in California. "It's kind of the trend right now," Holtzman said, referring to restaurant kitchens open to patrons' views. People like to see their food being made, he said. The smell wafts throughout the facility and tempts taste buds. And just as importantly, moving the grill outside also opens up another food line, he said. Other aquatic facilities are following suit. For the Schaumburg Park District's newly renovated Atcher Island Water Park, PHN Architects in Wheaton designed a concession area that includes an outdoor grill. Holtzman has a host of tips about the concession business. 1. Have enough lines. Many park district aquatic facilities have a standard two-window setup. Open up to at least three windows. You can move 50 percent more people that way. 2. Limit your menu. Don't try pizza and grilling. 3. Charge $1 more in admissions, then give a dollar back at the concession area. A dollar-off coupon encourages more patrons to interact with the concession area and boosts sales, particularly from that small percentage of customers who otherwise don't visit the concession area or bring their own snacks. When you entice people to use the coupon and they encounter good food and quality customer service, they'll keep coming back. 4. If the line gets long, take orders in line, starting at the back. That helps patrons focus on what they want before they get to the ordering station. The order is written out, which, in turn, speeds the payment process and thus, the line. 5. Add fish to the menu- and serve it for $5.75. The more expensive item then makes the $3 hamburger seem like a bargain. And the fish is frozen, so there's no waste. Plus, while the fist sandwich may not be popular in June, it will be in August, when patrons tire of the more traditional fare. 6. Don't forget the "wow" factor. Go with a concept like "fresh food fast." For example, a water park could serve made-to-order Caesar salads. With the ingredients read to go in advance, they can be made quickly, and people aren't expecting that. That's the "wow" factor.

www.ilparks.org July/August 2005 37