Stan Chilton got his start in this business operating jukeboxes and pinball games in bars many years ago. Finally, he got tired of the late night phone calls, abused employees, abused equipment, and he sold the entire business in 1970. After a few years of reflecting on why he left the business, it wasn't the amusement business he didn't like, it was the traditional bar business he didn't like dealing with. So he tried again a few years later and today the bars are a category that is a glaring omission from the Chilton Vending account list. Sure, we have over the years set some very nice bar and restaurant locations. If the owner is a professional businessman, as opposed to the well versed drinker, I'll set bars all day long. The truth in our industry is that really the bars are the background of our industry. My hat is off to those of you that work with these locations every day as most of you do. As the video game business continues it's roller coaster ride, many times I've wished we had those solid bars on our route.
Some in the industry have perfected the relationship. They must have. Good bar operators are some of the most successful amusement businesses I have seen in the country. It is all tied directly to the pool and dart league programs. It is the leagues that put the operator in a position of actually contributing to the success of the bar owners business. One of my operator friends who is very successful in taverns tells the story that he has bar owners that just hate the fact that without him and his league programs, the bars couldn't stay in business.
I understand that at the recent Night Club and Bar convention that a good deal of Operator bashing took place. "They won't do this, they won't do that," and so it went. It is probably a mistake that the AMOA was not there representing the Operator. That is a show where more and more bar and tavern location owners are attending. In years past the AMOA attended these shows, in some years in cooperations with the AAMA, and represented the Operators. I understand the only representatives from our industry were manufacturers. We have some great manufacturers, and we have some that would hand an operator his head on a platter if the opportunity arose. Maybe this is one of the areas that the AMOA and the AAMA should be working on together again. If we are to do our jobs for our customers, we need to be there representing ourselves and promoting the Operators to their industry, and others industries as well.
I would place a bet that the majority of complaints deal with the Operator not placing the equipment the bar owner wants. I have a bar location owner that came back from the convention requesting an Alpine Ski. Now this particular customer is a perfect gentleman and one of my favorite customers. However, I wonder just how many bars in the country do have an Alpine Ski installed? Whether it's a bar, or another location, customers will always request games without regard to the operators return on investment. It is their job to ask.
At Chilton Vending & Billiards, I try to say never say no to my customers if at all possible, no matter how ridiculous the request. Back to my customer who wants the Alpine Ski. I don't have one available at this time. Because we Operate some very large summer locations, I did have some very nice deluxe equipment available, but the last place I would have taken it is to a bar. I thought, let's see what happens. In a Sports Bar where, prior to this experiment, the best equipment I had placed was a 3-D golf that did just fair, I set an Indy 500 twin. I agreed to pay 25% commission to the location. It did very well. Today, in this same sports bar, I now have two Indy Twins linked together as a four player unit, a Manx TT twin motorcycle game, and a Deluxe Gunblades video game. That is a ton of equipment! The are all on $1 per play. The earnings are averaging $250-$400 per week per game. If you do the math, you can see that it is working out just fine for Chilton Vending, and for the bar owner. However, he still wants a Skiing game.
It get's even better. The customer is tieing in with a local radio station, and they are conducting weekly tournaments on the Indy 500's, and at the end of the tournament, they are sending the winner to the Indianapolis 500, all expenses paid.
Not many bar and tavern locations could support this equipment. I'll be taking all this equipment to my summer locations in a few months, but for now, this has been a successful experiment. We delivered to the customer the quality of the equipment he wanted, adjusted the commission structure, and everyone is a winner.
This case is extreme. I think. The bar wanted the equipment not as an added "game", but as an added "attraction," which is what these very high end games are. We end up with the same discussion that the equipment available to us today is very high quality, but also very popular. If there is some mathematical formula through commissions or other arrangement that makes placing some of the high dollar games in these type of locations feasible, the customers will play the games. The demand is there more than we think.