Bowlero Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 4, 2024

There are 13 speakers on the call.

Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is John, and I'll be your conference operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Valvero First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer Thank you.

Operator

I would now like to turn the call over to Bobby Lavin, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good afternoon to everyone on the call. This is Bobby Lavin, Valero's Chief Financial Officer. Welcome to our conference call to discuss Valero's Q1 2025 earnings. Today, we issued a press release announcing our financial results for the period ended September 29, 2024. A copy of the press release is available in the Investor Relations section of our website.

Speaker 1

Joining me on the call today are Thomas Shannon, our Founder and Chief Executive Officer and Lev Exer, our President. I would like to remind you that during today's conference call, we may make certain forward looking statements about the company's performance. Such forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and therefore one should not place undue reliance on them. Forward looking statements are also subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in our forward looking statements, You should refer to the cautionary statements contained in our press release as well as the risk factors contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Speaker 1

Valero Corporation undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after today's call. Also during today's call, the company may discuss certain non GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. The GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to each non GAAP financial measure discussed and the reconciliation of the differences between each non GAAP financial measure and the comparable GAAP financial measure can be found on the company's website. I will now turn the call over to Tom.

Speaker 2

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today. I am Thomas Shannon, Founder and CEO of Valero Corp. Total location revenue grew 17.5% year over year in the quarter. Our company's share of customer wallets continues to increase.

Speaker 2

Our locations get better every day through operational excellence and investments. After our superb quarter with 20 plus percent EBITDA growth and strong cash flow conversion, let me elaborate on our secret sauce. Almost 28 years ago, I found this company focusing on superior returns. We underwrite all decisions for relative financial returns and steadily focus on the highest returns. Since inception, I have focused the team on what generates the most significant impact on the business.

Speaker 2

From M and A decisions to capital investments to using data to drive labor pricing and supplier decisions, the team is held accountable for results and cash flow. As we grow, the results speak for themselves and our ability to deploy capital and utilize data driven processes is accelerating. The current macro environment has provided increasing opportunities to deploy capital beyond Boeing. This spring, we acquired Raging Waves, the largest water park in Illinois for $49,000,000 which included 52 acres of land. Through our early efforts, the business had double digit revenue growth and will have $8,000,000 of EBITDAR in its 1st year under our ownership.

Speaker 2

At 6 times EBITDAR, this deal is already a home run and we have opportunities to expand the park and if we choose so, monetize the land. Last month, we acquired Boomers, an underappreciated business with 6 family entertainment locations and 2 water parks. Within the 1st few weeks, we had begun shuttering unprofitable parts of the portfolio and introducing our labor model. We bought that business with $9,000,000 of 4 wall EBITDA and expect meaningful upside in the short term from operations and longer term once we deploy capital. Today, we closed on the acquisition of Spectrum Entertainment Complex in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Speaker 2

This asset has revenue significantly above our center average and will be our 6th location in Michigan as we continue to drive scale.

Speaker 3

The market for M and

Speaker 2

A is the most opportunistic we have ever seen and we look forward to continuing to deploy capital accretively, bringing attractive locations with significant upside into our portfolio. In October, we opened 2 Lucky Strike locations in Denver. In the coming months, Lucky Strike Beverly Hills will open as the 1st bowling alley in Beverly Hills in nearly a century and it will be followed by Lucky Strike Ladera Ranch in Orange County, California, which will have 42 lanes in a very attractive demographic. Our new build pipeline is very robust for the next few years. Our focus is a balance of internal optimization and high return capital deployment.

Speaker 2

To discuss recent organic performance and our internal initiatives, let me hand it over to the company's President, Lev Exter.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Tom. Our food and beverage initiatives continue to bear fruit with F and B sales up 18% year over year in the quarter and our key KPI of retail F and B to bowling crossed $0.80 across the portfolio. Four new menu segments rolled out across all properties from traditional all the way up to our new experiential craft menu. Most notable is that in our top 50 Valero locations, which recently instituted the upgraded premium plus menu segment trended close to $1.10 FNB per bowl this recent month, the highest we have ever seen and up over $0.18 versus prior year. So, we are obviously highly encouraged by that.

Speaker 4

A brand new events menu launches in November, just in time for the start of the holiday season. We've also enabled mobile ordering across all properties to help with labor efficiencies and guest satisfaction. I'd also like to provide an update on the PBA. Last season, we achieved record results with cumulative reach up 46% year over year and linear viewership numbers that even rivaled Major League Baseball levels despite starting off the season by losing a headline sponsor. Going into the 2025 season, we've restructured the schedule and production strategy resulting in meaningful savings.

Speaker 4

That coupled with bringing on new sponsors and the utilization of our newly acquired Thunderbolt Lanes in Michigan, which features an arena, as a host center on the tour, we will ensure a successful season with thrilling televised experiences for our fans. I will now turn it over to Bobby Lavin.

Speaker 1

Thanks Lev. In the Q1 of 2025, we generated total revenue ex service fee of $260,000,000 and an adjusted EBITDA of $62,900,000 compared to the last year of $226,000,000 and adjusted EBITDA of $52,100,000 Our total location revenue growth in the quarter was positive 17.5 percent and same store comp was positive 0.4%. Adjusted EBITDA was 62,900,000 dollars up 21% year over year with a margin of 24.2 percent expanding 130 basis points. We have found a good balance of investing in payroll, managing costs, their same store comp payroll better by $1,000,000 year over year. Food costs are a headwind in the quarter, but have turned recently.

Speaker 1

The end of September was severely impacted by weather, including 2 hurricane across the country. In our press release today, we updated our FY 2025 guidance. Our confidence in the business continues and we are increasing the bottom end of our revenue range by $10,000,000 Boomers, which we have acquired on September 30, will add revenue, but as negative EBITDA until peak season, which starts in June. We spent $41,000,000 in capital expenditures in the Q1. Growth CapEx was $16,000,000 We build CapEx was $17,000,000 Maintenance was $8,000,000 We continue to optimize capital spend and recently hired a Chief Procurement Officer to drive efficiencies.

Speaker 1

Our liquidity at the end of the quarter was $355,000,000 nothing drawn on our revolver $38,000,000 of cash. Net debt was $1,100,000,000 and the bank credit facility net leverage ratio was 2.6 times. Thank you for your time today and we look forward to seeing you on the road in the coming months.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin our question and answer session. Our first question comes from the line of Matthew Boss with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Great, thanks. So Tom, maybe to start off, could you elaborate on the cadence of same center comps in the Q1 and trends you've seen in October, maybe between walk in and events?

Speaker 1

Hey, Matt, it's Fadi. So end of September, we got hit with 2 hurricanes and that cost us about $2,000,000 on the comp in the Q1. We'll see the equivalent of that into October. October, the weather has not been great, but right now, events is tracking plus 10% for P6, which is really where we make a bulk of our revenue and EBITDA for the quarter. So we're more focused on that right now.

Speaker 4

Great. And then maybe just a follow-up on the EBITDA margin expansion. So maybe just drivers of Q1 and then any notable callouts in terms of cadence for margin expansion as we think about the Q2 relative to the back half?

Speaker 1

Yes, I mean, we're going to have the greatest margin expansion in the Q3, right. This Q3 has sort of 2 benefits. One is New Year's has shifted from Q2 to Q3 and that's a $5,000,000 to $7,000,000 swing in the comp between Q2 Q3, which is also going to have sort of the highest incrementals. You also remember last year January really started off rough with minus double digits sort of the 1st 3 weeks. So you'll see the greatest margin expansion in the Q3, but you'll see margin expansion in the 2nd quarter as well other than boomers and raising waves will run through the income statement as negative EBITDA.

Speaker 4

Great. Best of luck.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Steven Bzezinski with Stifel. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. So Bobby, just to kind of think about the rest of the fiscal year. You obviously took up your top line here a little bit in terms of guidance. But as we do think about that low to mid single digit same store sales comparison that you called out, I guess that was back in September when you gave your initial guidance for 25.

Speaker 5

Does that same store sales outlook still hold true? And if so, maybe how we should be thinking about the cadence of same store sales over the next 3 quarters or so?

Speaker 1

Yes. I mean, we haven't changed anything as it relates to our expectation on the comp. As we sort of went through last earnings call, 1Q and 2Q are going to be low comps versus 3Q and 4Q will be much stronger comps. You have 2 major things happening in the Q3. So you've got New Year's, which is a very big night for us, does move from last year being in Q2 to this year being in Q3.

Speaker 1

That's I can't emphasize enough how important that is to sort of comp cadence. I mean, that's a $5,000,000 to $7,000,000 move in comp on a $300 plus 1,000,000 sales base from 2Q to 3Q. On top of that, you're going to have this catch up that happened last year where the weather was atrocious in January and we had down double digit weeks on the comp. So you'll catch all that up in the Q3 versus this quarter. The weather has been great in October, really December events will continue to be strong, but we'll miss that retail element of New Year's in the Q2 and that will push the Q3.

Speaker 5

Okay, got you. Makes sense. And then maybe one for Tom or even you Bobby, But you guys kind of talked about how the acquisition environment just remains seems extremely robust. And just maybe wondering from a high level perspective, I mean, how you guys are spending your time today in terms of looking at potential assets, meaning how much time is spent on your kind of core Boeing assets versus some of the other assets that you've started to take a look at? Thanks.

Speaker 6

Well, it's a division of labor. This is Tom speaking. Lev spends 100% of his time on our existing operations. Bobby spends most of his time on our existing operations and I spend most of my time on M and A.

Speaker 5

Okay, fair enough. Thanks guys. Appreciate it.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Randy Konik with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Hey, guys. How are you? I guess I want to ask about the you mentioned the increased utilization of data and you talked about some of the things you're doing there. And I think you mentioned that you hired a Chief Procurement Officer. So it sounds like there's obviously you have a well run organization and it sounds like you see some opportunities to continue to further make more efficiencies or drive more efficiencies through the portfolio.

Speaker 7

So can you guys basically unpack that a little bit more and give us some perspective on how you're utilizing data a little bit differently now versus maybe 6, 12 months ago? And then your hopes from that Chief Procurement Officer, what he or she will be focused on in terms of driving more efficiency through and cost reduction through the business? Thanks guys.

Speaker 1

Yes, we're becoming a data driven organization. So at the end of the day, we're holding, we started off with 3 Power BI subscriptions. So Tom, Lev and myself, we're using Power BI to just kind of look at daily sales. We just pushed out 350 Power BI subscription. So now we have GMs, we have every department leader holding themselves accountable to day to day data.

Speaker 1

As it relates to the Chief Procurement Officer, there is managing inflation is kind of a core responsibility of the organization. Last year, chicken prices alone was a $6,000,000 headwind. And having a Chief Procurement Officer who sole focus is to not necessarily reduce costs, but to at least keep costs flat is sort of core. And then Lev and I will focus on how do we drive efficiencies in the organization on payroll, on things like supplies, things like that. And ultimately when we go back into a normal inflationary environment, we can use our scale to drive procurement synergies.

Speaker 1

I will say boomers, we've owned a month, we already put sort of their purchasing organization into our purchasing organization. So there's just there's scale that comes in these acquisitions that we can underwrite EBITDA up without even a revenue growth just because of cost savings on the acquisitions.

Speaker 7

Super helpful. And then I guess just to round out and lastly, maybe give us some perspective on Fall Pass, what's kind of different about it versus Summer Pass? Any kind of metrics you want to kind of share with us in terms of that program? And then just backing out a little bit more and thinking a little bit more strategic and long term, how do you guys think about different pass programs as we think through the going forward throughout the next few years? Are you going to look to maybe do a little bit more of an annual pass?

Speaker 7

Just how should we think about the pass program and the benefits it's driving towards your business in terms of increased utilization, etcetera?

Speaker 4

Yes. This is Les. How are you? Just to connect this question to your prior question on data. When we see revenue softness ahead, it gives us an opportunity to quickly deploy a pass.

Speaker 4

And seeing September, October gave us the push to launch the 1st ever fall season pass, much shorter cycle for first of all sales, but also utilization of the pass for our customers. So that's actually coming to an end in about 2 weeks. But we've been encouraged by the results and we were super successful with the summer season pass, not just in the sales, but also the number of redemptions we saw by the consumer and the NPS score and how favorable it was perceived by the consumer. In terms of future passes, I think we're going to probably lean in more into that summer season pass launch a little earlier in the calendar year to have a larger window of sales. But it's really resonated with the consumer.

Speaker 4

I don't know that we really need to change too much. We might want to focus on the price and making sure we get maximum revenue, but still give a really good value to our consumer. I think the fall pass is going to relaunch again next year. Aside from that, I think the bigger opportunity is we have boomers now. We have the water parks now.

Speaker 4

Can we make it a bigger pass to connect all of these businesses and give an even more desirable product to consumer? And that's something we're focused on right now.

Speaker 7

Super helpful. Thanks guys.

Speaker 1

Thanks Randy.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Ian Zaffino with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Hi, great. Thank you very much. Question on price versus volume. What are you kind of thinking going forward, ability to continue to push price or versus volumes and just kind of overall what you really saw in the last quarter that kind of gives you confidence in going forward? Thanks.

Speaker 1

Yes. We've been able to take price on food. So that has been a positive surprise as we kind of lean into the core second and third quarter. Ultimately that is a good opportunity for us where we can augment the price that's been taken on bowling the past few years and augment it with food.

Speaker 8

Okay. And then on capital allocation, I guess, buybacks kind of slowed a little bit, but how are we thinking about buybacks versus acquisitions? And on the acquisition front, I guess you also mentioned scale as a component. Are you talking about maybe adding additional kind of like minded concepts, meaning like the more water parks you build, the more scale you're going to get? Is that kind of like what you meant there?

Speaker 8

And is that a factor in

Speaker 1

kind of any of your M and A? Thanks. Yes. I mean, we the acquisitions we closed on Spectrum today. Spectrum is a sizable entertainment bowling complex in Michigan.

Speaker 1

We closed on Boomers September 30, which came with 5 FECs and 1 water park. We're going to continue deploying capital where we can get superior returns. And it's we like this slow and steady approach, but there's a lot out there and we'll look at everything and that's how we kind of move forward.

Speaker 8

Okay. And then just on buybacks quickly?

Speaker 1

Yes. I mean on buybacks, we'll continue to be dynamic with how we buy back our stock. We're very price sensitive and we look at our relative performance and we'll continue using buybacks and dividends to return to drive shareholder returns.

Speaker 8

All right, great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Jeremy Hamblin with Craig Hallum. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Thanks and congrats on the strong results. I wanted to ask about mobile ordering and what you're seeing in terms of how that's impacting operations, how you're seeing customer respond to mobile ordering at your centers?

Speaker 4

Hi, Les here. So as of last month, we've rolled mobile ordering across the entire organization and we're seeing the utilization pick up. I think that coupled with the data driven approach we have right now on labor and being staffed as efficiently as possible. I think mobile ordering is really helping that cause. And I think you're seeing that in the results of our efficiencies.

Speaker 4

We're taking a step beyond that. So we're currently piloting tablets at a number of our locations right now. We think we'll have that rolled across the organization in early 2025. And I think that's going to improve efficiencies as well, but also customer satisfaction because we can take more orders faster, get them into the kitchen faster, get fresh hot food to the lanes faster, get more turns with the lanes as a result of that, but also get more items to the consumer during the recession. So we have this holistic approach on expanding attachment of food and beverage sales right now.

Speaker 4

And I think mobile ordering, tablets, the revamped menus that we've rolled across the organization, enhanced training for our associates for sales, improving the hiring practices of our kitchen, all of this goes hand in hand. And I think you're starting to see that in the results.

Speaker 9

And you

Speaker 4

saw in our press release, the SMB to bowl KPI is growing significantly across the organization. All of this is correlated.

Speaker 3

Got it. And just a follow-up on that part. I think you had said that there was $0.80 of spend per dollar bowl spend on bowling. How did that compare to last year? And then also just understanding that in context of what you got in the quarter at Lucky Strike versus the Bolero banner?

Speaker 4

Well, I think the purchase of Lucky Strike and seeing what they were doing in food and beverage sales relative to bowling revenue really gave us the push to really put a strong effort behind our food and beverage program across all of our properties. That $0.80 compares to about $0.60 prior year. But what I think is most encouraging is at our top 50 Valero locations that recently received our premium plus menu tier. So we have 4 menu tiers, traditional premium, premium plus and then this craft menu which we refer to internally as our luxury menu at our top properties. But the 50 top Valero locations that got that Premium Plus menu in October, their F and B to bowl was around $1.10 or $0.18 more than prior year.

Speaker 4

So we're starting to see with these revamped menus and this focus on food and beverage sales, we can really drive the needle on attachments. The Lucky's are much higher. If you just look at those on their own, those are over $2 at the Beautiful. So we're at $0.80 in the organization. We're starting to see us get over $1 at those top 50 boleros.

Speaker 4

And I think we're going to continue to increase. I'd love to see us get closer to $1 from the $0.80 mark. And based on the year over year jump, I think it's very doable.

Speaker 3

Are those premium plus locations candidates to be re bannered to Lucky Strike?

Speaker 1

Yes.

Speaker 3

Okay. Last one for me. I just wanted to clarify also you noted, Bobby, with Boomers that there would be drag on EBITDA until we get into the summer the seasonal months. Can you just quantify what you expect that drag to be for the December quarter and then the March quarter?

Speaker 1

Yes. Boomers plus raging waves is a few $1,000,000 drag on the EBITDA in 2Q and 3Q. Each quarter or Each quarter. Each quarter.

Speaker 3

Awesome. Thanks for taking the questions. Best wishes.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Jason Pilchurn with Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

Speaker 9

Great. Thanks for taking my question. I'm wondering if you could share the relative growth rates you saw between walk in and groups during the quarter and just higher level how you're feeling about the health of the consumer and expectations for consumer spending in the holiday season and also obviously the corporate booking pipeline as

Speaker 1

we head into the holiday season? Thanks. Yes. So walk in in the quarter was higher than events and mainly because of the season pass. So we were getting we disclosed it last quarter, but for every season pass holder, they visited 8 times in the quarter.

Speaker 1

Recently, we've seen more strength and walk in versus events, but we expect that to kind of flip as we go into P6 for December quarter or December month.

Speaker 9

Okay, great. That's helpful. And then just one follow-up. In terms of the Boomers acquisition, I wanted to be careful a little bit more about if there's anything in particular that attracted you guys to that asset outside as sort of the valuation of the deal and sort of how you're viewing other opportunities in Family Entertainment beyond just water parks?

Speaker 1

Yes. I mean, the valuation was extremely attractive, but it also it's been sort of the price of capital for at least 5 years. And so our ability to go put our events platform in our procurement organization, our above market ability on arcade, and really look at these assets that are irreplaceable assets in flagship locations and what kind of capital we put into them. Really at the end of the day, the underwriting there was what we could do, not just what we were buying.

Speaker 9

Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Eric Wold with B. Riley. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Thanks. Good afternoon. A couple of questions, a couple of follow-up questions to ones that have been asked. I guess on the food and beverage ratio, I guess, one, that $0.18 increase for the top 50 locations, how much of that was price? And then what would be your goal over the next 12 months in terms of the total network getting above that moving above that $0.80 level?

Speaker 1

Yes. So none of it was price because we didn't take price until really the past month on F and B. So it was purely good old elbow grease. The ability to get the whole network up to $1 is really going to be a multi factor equation. So 1, we just rolled out mobile ordering into all of our centers that helps.

Speaker 1

But 2, we are rolling out tablets or server tablets that should be company wide by January, February. And the reason that those server tablets are so important is they prompt the server to upsell a double, do you want fries with your burger, things like that. And so it really is we're leaning into sort of technology and process to drive that upside. I don't know, Lev, if you'd add, what's the

Speaker 4

Yes, I think this question alone, we could probably keep you on the line for an hour with this alone, but it really starts at the bottom, which is hiring all of our managers now. We require food and beverage and hospitality experience on their resume. We have a brand new assessment for our kitchen manager and chef hires to get better talent there. We added some roles focused on food and beverage sales training, which we've never had before. So like I mentioned at the top of the call, it's really a holistic effort.

Speaker 4

It's not just taking price with the same product. It's a revamped menu, all new items, new taco selection, craft pizzas, more trending items. So we're giving a better product to the consumer and we're getting better at selling it through our people and through technology. That's how we're getting it to a dollar.

Speaker 10

Got it. And then follow-up last question. Maybe in this macro, kind of talk about the average customer you're seeing. Obviously, you're working on getting higher food and beverage, the new venues. But in terms of just the customer coming in the door, any shift in terms of general spending levels, number of games played, anything that can give you another kind of look into what that customer demographic looks like versus maybe what you would have had a year or so ago?

Speaker 1

Yes, I think generally it's steady as you go on the regular way customer. We're seeing an uptake on the F and B. The only place that we're seeing a little softness would be on sort of corporate in front of this uncertainty of the election. But generally things are moving forward.

Speaker 9

Perfect. Thanks guys.

Operator

Question comes from the line of Eric Handler with Roth Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker 11

Yes. Thank you for the question. You've now lapped your 1 year anniversary for Lucky Strike. Can you maybe talk about what's happened to the Lucky Strike assets over the last year and what maybe what kind of returns you're getting and just some of your overall findings there?

Speaker 1

Yes. So 11 of the 14 assets are outperforming. We're pretty excited about the when we got in there, their California assets were falling down and now we pick that up with sort of new initiatives we've invested in sort of putting our caves in, revamped sort of the CapEx. So overall, like the returns there are exactly what we underwrote, which is we said we bought it for $90,000,000 day 1 and had 4 wall of $17,000,000 that's up significantly from then really targeting sort of getting them to $30,000,000 of EBITDA in the first sort of 2 years of owning it.

Speaker 12

Great.

Speaker 11

And then secondly, can you talk about how your recent new build openings are doing and are they all profitable at this point?

Speaker 6

Well, every one of our centers is profitable. We don't have a single center in the fleet that is unprofitable. Every cohort of new builds is better and better than the last. So Miami, which opened about 7 months ago, was on pace to do $10,000,000 in its 1st year, far ahead of where we underwrote that deal. Let's see, what did we open after Miami?

Speaker 4

Southlands, Northfield.

Speaker 6

Yes. So we just opened 2 in Denver. I mean, they just opened, but the early indication is very positive. But our new builds are consistently doing $8 plus 1,000,000 on average versus a portfolio average of about $3,300,000 to $3,500,000 So the beauty of Newbuilds is you get to cherry pick your location. We only go into A locations.

Speaker 6

So this latest cohort, the 2 in Denver, which are 1 in Northfield, 1 in Southlands, Beverly Hills, which will open soon, the 1st bowling alley in Beverly Hills really in anyone's memory, maybe ever. We haven't found a bowling alley in Beverly Hills before, but I don't want to say never, but it's been a really, really long time if there was one. And then in Ladera Ranch in Orange County, California, which is likely to open this calendar year as well. And then we have 15 plus in the pipeline behind that. They're in various stages.

Speaker 6

Some are at lease, some have signed LOIs, some are close to LOI and those are all in exceptional locations as well. So I think that one thing the company does very, very well is site selection. I think it's always done site selection well. We've only closed one location that we chose, and that was in, I don't know, 2,002, 2003. So, yes, the latest ones that we built have been wildly outperformed expectations, vastly outperformed the fleet average and there's no reason to think that the next cohort will do any worse.

Speaker 11

That's helpful, Tom. And just one last thing. You guys did a very good new income statement presentation to give a better view of where costs are trending. Are you going to be giving sort of like restated quarters for historicals for the last year or so?

Speaker 1

Yes, it's filed with the 8 ks. It's filed with the 8 ks on the press release.

Speaker 11

Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Kupinski with Noble Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Speaker 12

Thank you. Congratulations on your quarter. A couple of questions. You were optimistic about the revamped event catering menu and I know we kind of danced around some of the commentary about the impact of that. But can you give us some color on how event bookings are pacing for the holidays and maybe some color on the average event revenue at this point?

Speaker 12

What that's looking like?

Speaker 1

Yes. I mean, December right now is pacing and December is sort of the our Super Bowl is pacing up 10% year over year for a combination of corporates and adult alacarte. So really we're getting both more events and higher dollar pickups. So ultimately, we expect the average event to be up, but we're pretty happy about that plus 10% so far.

Speaker 12

That sounds terrific. And then in terms of raging waves, you indicated that additional space might be developed to expand the park to take advantage of the peaks and maybe even for events. And as you consider adding more water parks, are there opportunities to take advantage of off season opportunities? And I was thinking maybe like, I don't know, ice skating, Christmas lights or other events? Or is the park just shuttered during winter?

Speaker 12

I guess my question is, I was wondering, are there opportunities to shave off some of the drag in off season?

Speaker 6

Well, there are and some companies out there do those things. And I think some of them actually do it successfully. But the drag is mostly fixed. So it's a handful of full time employees. And then it's things like insurance and property taxes and things of that nature.

Speaker 6

So the challenge is that you're not carrying a lot of labor. So let's take raging waves in Chicago, right? Your season's over by Labor Day because typically it's cold, although this year it got warm again in October, but that's not typical. So you let everyone go. Everyone goes back to school or wherever.

Speaker 6

And then to staff up again is really a challenge. So you have to be really confident you're going to do an outsized revenue number to do it. Now the second waterpark that we bought as part of the Boomers acquisition is in Destin. And so unlike Raging Waves, which has a 85 to 90 day season, Destin can have 120 to 140 day season. So it gives you a lot more optionality and it also makes you less dependent on having a cold summer or a rainy summer as we actually did in raging waves.

Speaker 6

That was a surprising thing. We were up almost 10% in revenue, but we lost a lot of days to rain. We lost the last weekend because it was cold. And despite that, we did really well. So there are those opportunities, but I don't think those are the needle movers and I wouldn't be so cognizant of the drag.

Speaker 6

The EBITDA drag is relatively minor. It only looks big compared to when we're making money because in season these assets are ridiculously profitable. We give a little bit of that back in the off season, but we're not giving back. It's not big amounts.

Speaker 12

Got you. And in terms of acquisitions, would you then look it really wouldn't matter where the parks were located in terms of location, weather patterns and so forth just because of that, right?

Speaker 6

Yes. I mean, one of the advantages of Raging Waves is it's a weather hedge. We have 20 centers in Chicago. So the 1st weekend we were supposed to open, actually the park didn't open because it was raining. And our 20 centers in Chicago comped up in aggregate 100% year over year.

Speaker 6

So that's pretty good, right? We've looked at hedging weather by buying contracts. The insurance has sort of proven to be prohibitively expensive thus far. But then we found we had this natural hedge. So, yes, if you could have water parks where you have Boeing centers, you've got that built in.

Speaker 6

And I think that's a good thing for us. It's not driving the decision, but we look on these things on a case by case basis. I mean you would be surprised, we are constantly surprised at assets that are seemingly in the middle of nowhere and I'm not talking about water parks specifically, just talking about all sorts of assets that do really, really well. So we cast a wide net. But as Bobby said earlier, we're driven by return.

Speaker 6

We have a very tight deal screen as we always have. And thus far over almost 28 years and we've generated wildly outsized returns. If you look at the investor presentation, you can see some of these returns, 10x invested capital in very short periods of time. So don't think the market gives us credit for how good we are as investors. The market I think has some understanding of how good we are as operators, but we may be better investors than we are operators.

Speaker 6

Certainly when you combine the 2, it's very powerful. And if you take the time to go through and you look at the returns we've had on AMF, Brunswick, Bull of America, Lucky Strike, Raging Waves, etcetera, we've generated really outsized returns in companies that most people gave up for debt.

Speaker 12

Totally agree with that. Thanks for the color. Appreciate it.

Operator

As there are no further questions at this time, that concludes our Q and A session and today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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Earnings Conference Call
Bowlero Q1 2025
00:00 / 00:00