JERSEY JACK

By Jack Guarnieri, PinballSales.com & ShuffleAlley.com

Go For It: Starting Up a Route In 2006

An old friend recently took a detour from a trip to visit me at my office. It seems that he wants to get back into the game business.

Over 20 years ago, I was actually the reason he went into the business the first time. We were friends, and he was interested in what I was doing. So he began a route in New York. Over the years his route changed, and he scaled it down then shut it down. He took a comfortable desk job with a company outside our industry. He made a living but was not really happy in what he was doing. He told me that he was his happiest when he was an operator.

Once the bug bites and it gets in your blood, it's hard to leave this industry. We hear about routes being sold and some companies shrinking because they will not keep up with their competition and buy new equipment. That's been going on for years. Honestly, I have not heard about many new people coming into the business so when my friend came over, I was genuinely happy for him and excited at the opportunities that he would have to build a new company.

So he needs a few things to get started: a company name, a bank account and money to put in that account. He also needs equipment and locations. How does he go about beginning again in 2006? He lives in a part of New York where, within a 50-mile radius, there are over two million people. He lives in a white-collar area, a bedroom community.

As I remember, the best bar locations made money in blue-collar neighborhoods. Today, I don't think that still rings true everywhere. Bars are not the easiest locations to get as every one already has amusement equipment including a jukebox and pool table. It's probably not a good idea to visit the bar owners and give them your new business card; that will only solicit trouble.

What comes first: the chicken or the egg, the equipment or the location? Actually, neither. My friend first needs to get his financing in place, maybe with a national company like Firestone Financial. He'll get an open account with his friendly local distributor as well. He then needs to learn about new equipment that's available and making money. After all that, we still need our first location. Places that I had success with were pizzerias, laundromats, grocery stores, bodegas, bowling alleys (now called bowling centers) social clubs, comic book stores, health clubs and smaller family amusement parks that let me operate video games while they operated redemption.

My friend called to say he registered the name of his new business. He got a new phone number, and he was going to get business cards made. I then started to tell him what I thought he should do to get new locations. I told him to go to the county clerk's office and get their listing of new businesses. These are locations that probably have not been solicited, and some might not even be open for business yet. I told him to contact his local liquor or beer distributors for bar locations that may be opening and to check with the State of New York for new liquor licenses that have been issued. This holds true for many other types of businesses; they have associations and suppliers that can be contacted. A great place is the local sign shop. I had a friend who had a sign shop, and I got quite a few locations from his lead. Most every new business needs a sign, right?

My newly-minted operator also needs to get out his little black book. That's the book of friends and acquaintances and contacts that he has had for many years. A lot of those people own businesses, and they have friends who own businesses. Through that network of personal recommendations and referrals, he is bound to get his first location. I told him to join his local Chamber of Commerce and to go to their networking events. It couldn't hurt.

My friend should also make tactful inquiries of the local operating companies in his area because maybe one (or more) of them would be interested in selling the business or selected locations. It seems that some older operating companies do not have that next generation joining the business. Many are holding on as long as they can while resisting change or major purchases of new equipment. This may be a good time to buy one of those companies. My friend may not get the best equipment, but if the price is right he will get a business that is established and that can probably be built up with newer equipment. There are a lot of ways to get new locations.

My friend has many advantages in 2006 that he did not have in 1986. He knows that it will not be easy, but he is willing to put his money, time and experience to the test and build a route.

Talking with him made me remember so many memories of operating. Walking into my locations from time to time and having the owner show me a business card from another operator who came in and promised the moon. I had to make a decision. Either give them something more if I could or take my games out. Most of the time the owner just wanted to remind me that he had a choice too. Heck, I gave them the usual 50/50 split and working, clean, late-model games along with the keys to the games! I gave my locations the keys so they always had change, (there were no bill acceptors) and it also prevented break-ins. It showed trust. OK, I had two sets of meters in the games, but it showed faith anyway. I even taught every location how to change joysticks and buttons and un-jam coin mechs. It turned out that those were the little things that helped me keep my locations.

Honestly, when a location owner would ask that soliciting operator to give him the keys to the games, the operator ran for the hills. What idiot would give a location the keys to the games? I never had a location contract, and a handshake was the best seal to the deal. We were partners with our locations in many ways, and I had some locations for so many years that the kids who grew up there were now owners of other neighborhood stores that I had games in!

There are many ways to build a business to compete and to be profitable. The best ways come from honest hard work and a plan. It is never a bad time to make a good investment. Today, with opportunities in abundance, you still need to be creative and do things that your competition does not do, will not do, does not know how to do or does not know even exists. Go for it!

Jack Guarnieri started fixing electro-mechanical pinball machines in 1975 and has been involved in every phase of the coin-op game business since then. He operated a substantial game route in Brooklyn, N.Y., developed amusement centers and was called in as a consultant to manage Mondial Distributing and State Sales in New Jersey. In 1999, he founded PinballSales.com to sell coin-op to the home market. In 2002, he founded ShuffleAlley.com and released the Parker Bohn III Pro Bowler game, reviving the shuffle alley. His positive attitude, honest insights and opinions have made him a popular figure in the trade. While managing and growing his businesses, he still consults inside and outside the industry, and his marketing, promotional and business management expertise are widely sought. He's very active in his church, community and charitable causes as well. You can learn more at his websites (http://www.pinballsales.com/ and http://www.shufflealley.com/) or by phoning him at 866/323-JACK. Email is Jack@Pinballsales.com.

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