Founded 150 years ago by German immigrants (many of whose descendants still live and work there), Frankenmuth is famous for its Bavarian restaurants, Alpine village style lodgings, and gingerbread-house stores and shopping. Visitors are charmed by performers and attendants who wear elaborate Old World costumes right out of "Hansel and Gretel." The annual Oktoberfest highlights Frankenmuth's year-round schedule of family-oriented events.
Alpha-Omega Amusements, Inc. (AOA) of East Brunswick, N.J., is bringing new levels of professional entertainment to Frankenmuth as consultants and suppliers of equipment, service, and training to a trio of amusement centers owned and operated by the Zehnder family, owners of the world famous Bavarian Inn hotel and restaurant facility.
- In August, AOA launched Phase 1 of a new 40,000 sq. ft. Family Entertainment Center at Frankenmuth's prestigious new RiverPlace retail outlet mall complex.
- Earlier this summer, AOA upgraded an existing FEC at The Bavarian Inn Lodge, increasing weekly game revenues during the first several weeks by more than 300%! This was accomplished by actually reducing the number of games from 110 to 100, creating a new layout, eliminating red label violent games, and adding the proper mix of redemption and merchandise dispensing machines.
- Last year, AOA added a 30-game fun center in the Bavarian Inn Restaurant's Castle Shops to test the new concept.
"As a result of changes instituted by Alpha-Omega and under their direction, we have shown a very dramatic improvement in amusement revenues," stated Bavarian Inn Manager Steve Leix. "We have just opened our third facility with Alpha-Omega and we plan to expand our amusement ventures over the next couple of years with AOA's ongoing support. I'm confident that revenues will keep growing as we progress."
"All of us at Alpha-Omega Amusements are very proud to be associated with the Zehnder family and their hard-working staff. We are all delighted by the results and of our ability to work together," said Frank Seninsky, President of the Alpha-Omega Group of Companies. "Our entire Alpha-Omega team continues to be involved in concept creation, planning, marketing strategy, game selection, game installation, redemption management strategy, prize merchandise acquisition, staff training, and ongoing technical support."
"The owners and managers of the Bavarian Inn companies are excellent partners," President Seninsky added. "They have responded enthusiastically to our ideas and concepts. Everything from budgeting to execution has been right in keeping with the Zehnder family's tradition of the providing the highest quality. I believe Alpha's reputation for honesty and follow-through greatly contributed to the Zehnder's decision to initiate exclusive agreements with our company at their three key facilities."
The Bavarian Inn Restaurant and Lodge, the associated Castle Shops, and the RiverPlace FEC are all owned and operated by the Zehnder family. Today three generations of Zehnders and 600 employees make the Bavarian Inn Restaurant one of the top 10 dining facilities in the U.S., with seating for 1,200 who enjoy the eatery's famed "all you can eat" chicken dinners. The Bavarian Inn Lodge (7 acres under one roof) has 354 guest rooms and 5 pools; its FEC includes an 18 hole Miniature Golf course.
Alpha-Omega's President Seninsky first visited Frankenmuth over 18 months ago at the request of Randy White of White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, who was then helping design Frankenmuth's new RiverPlace retail complex. Seninsky met with Zehnder family representatives including Co-Owner/General Manager Judy Zehnder Keller, Co-owner Bill Zehnder, and Manager Steve Leix. He outlined an aggressive plan for equipment upgrades and marketing for the existing Bavarian Inn Lodge family entertainment center. Major points of the plan included establishing a redemption component and installing a variety of other equipment to expand the game room's customer appeal across the entire demographic span, from tots to great-grandparents. Alpha-Omega's plan also called for a significant reduction in both the number of action-themed video games and in the violence levels of those video games that remained on site.
With the enthusiastic support and cooperation of General Manager Judy Zehnder Keller, The Bavarian Inn signed an agreement with Alpha-Omega to go forward with the plan. Redemption counters were built, and Ms. Zehnder Keller approved budgets to make sure that the best quality merchandise was ordered. The entire Alpha-Omega team including co-owner and COO Joe Camarota, along with staff members Steve and Joseph Camarota, was closely involved with executing the plan, devoting a great deal of time and expertise to the selection of the right equipment and its proper installation. As always, Alpha-Omega paid special attention to make sure that the games had proper settings for redemption play pricing, ticket payout percentages, and point values.
According to Manager Steve Leix, "Alpha-Omega's highly professional staff came into the area, did a superb job of selecting games and prizes, and taught us how to operate redemption properly. Everything was installed, up and running in a timely manner. This required extra hard work because we had to make the change in a very short time frame."
Once the new games arrived, the game room became so busy that the Zehnders decided to hire six new employees to staff the 3 redemption prize centers, perform minor maintenance on token and ticket devices, and to help with secure cash flow accounting, cash box collections, redemption merchandise ordering and fulfillment.
"The upgraded Bavarian Inn Lodge game room has achieved strong and sustained revenue increases. Alpha-Omega has tripled our weekly game room earnings by leading us into the redemption market," Liex stated.
The redesigned game room's new popularity is especially evident on Sunday mornings, the time when many guests of The Bavarian Inn are preparing for noon check-out. Prior to Alpha-Omega's remake, Sunday mornings were among the slowest times for the Lodge game room. Since the redesign, Sunday mornings are among the center's busiest times. Excited children line up at the redemption counter all morning long to cash in tickets and keep the center humming.
Alpha-Omega continues to support the three game centers with regular ongoing consultation and supervision from the company's New Jersey offices and every day regular on-site visits by Alpha-Omega technical service personnel.
Following the remarkable success of the redesigned Castle Shops game room, the Zehnder family retained Alpha-Omega's services this year to upgrade the Family Entertainment Center at the Bavarian Inn Lodge. In mid-June, Alpha-Omega began installing new games, eventually bringing the FEC's complement of equipment to 100 machines. Bavarian Lodge FEC revenues increased from $6000 per week to an average of $21,000 per week for the past eight weeks. "This 300% increase has been accomplished during what the Lodge terms its slow season," said Alpha-Omega President Frank Seninsky. "We are all looking forward to seeing what new heights will be attained when the busy season arrives, starting with Oktoberfest."
Alpha-Omega is now setting up the Zehnder family's RiverPlace FEC with a first-phase installation of 50 games. A total of 100 coin-operated games will eventually be installed. The FEC at RiverPlace also includes a Foam Factory children's play area, additional rides, party facilities and another world class Zehnder restaurant.
Manager Steve Leix reports that the Bavarian Inn is extremely pleased with Alpha-Omega's professional services. "We enjoy close, ongoing communication and consultation from the entire staff by phone, fax, and email, and strong in-person technical support," Leix said. "The biggest strength that Alpha-Omega has brought to us is their expert knowledge and strong open communications."
"We have also been impressed by their total integrity and accountability," Leix continued. "Alpha-Omega has been very straightforward with us, including on financial matters. In one case where we overpaid, they let us know immediately and moved in a very responsible fashion to straighten out the numbers. In sum, I would say Alpha-Omega has earned our trust on every level: operations expertise and performance; personal and business integrity; and close, reliable, ongoing support."
"It is remarkable what can be accomplished by first thinking big and then planning the details," Alpha-Omega President Seninsky concluded. "This has been the secret of the Zehnder family's success, passed down to the succeeding generations, and it blends extremely well with the operating success and teaching abilities of Alpha-Omega Amusements. We look forward to working hand in hand with The Bavarian Inn companies to continue expanding their amusement attractions and growing their amusement revenues for a long time to come."
SOURCE: Press Release
