810 Billiards & Bowling is looking to fill the South with franchise partners, particularly in Florida and Texas. Ultimately, however, the key is finding the best partner as opposed to the top market. Even though running an eatertainment concept requires more skill and financial standing than a typical restaurant, Siniscalchi says the company decided to franchise knowing it could scale much faster by leveraging the experience and systems of well-equipped operators. With that said, corporate stores will expand in parallel to the franchise footprint.
“As long as the market is viable from a demographic standpoint, we don’t let the geography get in the way of working with the right people,” Siniscalchi says. “We’ve got franchise partners in Sacramento and southern New Jersey, and Nashville, Tennessee. The geographical strategy is secondary to a people strategy of finding the right partners that can deliver the customer experience we want to maintain.”
To ensure growth, the concept hired COO Wayne Stancil, who previously worked as Main Event’s vice president of operations for nearly four and a half years. The industry veteran has already made an impact by building the real estate strategy, tweaking operations, and streamlining communication.
Siniscalchi also lauds the hire of national sales director Melisa Schisel, who entered the brand in July 2021 after past stops at eatertainment chains Lucky Strike, Jake’s Unlimited, Spin, and FatCats. With her presence, the burden of the sales process and communicating contracts is taken off the franchise operations team. This allows management to focus on executing customer experience.
In deciding whether to partner with prospective franchisees, Siniscalchi favors operators who meet 810 Billiards & Bowling’s primary philosophy, which is putting people first. Food and beverage experience is helpful, but not the biggest piece in the decision-making process.
“It’s about that brand core value alignment and understanding the bigger picture of P&L management, and basically having experience and bandwidth to operate a multifaceted venue that has different moving pieces and being able to understand what successful management looks like,” he says.