Do lessees help or hurt?
by Brian Szaks & Eric Sandigo
Lessees can be found in almost any park throughout the country. From large corporate owned theme parks to smaller family run parks, lessees are a common fixture in the industry. While some parks are thrilled to invite lessees onto their property, there are others who avoid them.
Enjoying Less Lessees
Having a lessee in your park comes with its own set of flaws. Outside companies may not exactly agree with your methods of management and can create discrepancies between company employees and those of the lessee. However, by requiring a lessee to adhere to the same values and expectations set by your own employees, these discrepancies can be minimized.
Time and again, parks have attempted to “set the bar” with the standards created within the company, and when a third party operator decides to not reach these levels, it affects guest service. It is important to ensure that all employees working within the park are indistinguishable when it comes to which company they work for.
Lessee employee incentives could also overshadow those created for your own employees. It is important to maintain a level of appreciation and to value your company’s own employees. Pay should be competitive along with comparable benefits.
Having restaurants from outside companies within your park only reminds guests of what is outside the park gates, even though they came to the park to leave that “real” world behind. With fast food chains like Panda Express, McDonalds or Subway in a park, it limits the unique opportunities that could have been presented from a one-of-a-kind restaurant that a park could have offered.
Finally, you want to ensure that the lessee chosen is appropriate for your park. Sometimes a lessee restaurant chain adds to the thematic realness of an area if placed appropriately. A park with a New York themed area could complement the theme with a Starbucks. Conversely, a Dunkin Donuts would not embellish upon the theme of a medieval fair.
Two Sides to Every Coin
If you need your watch repaired, then you take it to a repair shop, not the grocery store. Those are the ideals behind employing lessees in your park. Who better to do the job than someone who specializes solely in that business?
“They know what they are doing,” states Kent Buescher, founder and president of Adventure Parks Group, LLC that owns Wild Adventures and the newly acquired Cypress Gardens. “We have Kodak in our park doing photos for just that simple reason,” says Kent.
The parks also contract out their maintenance team. They are solely responsible for the upkeep on all attractions within the properties. “Again,” states Buescher, “who better to do the job than the experts?” Trying to do the job on your own that a lessee specializes in only adds headaches, therefore increasing the stress of managing a park or property. Leave it to the professionals.
Having that third party also relieves your administration of added hiring, budgeting, supply ordering and any other tasks that are associated with that location. The lessees are independent when it comes to operations.
Lessees or not, your property must succeed. Having a third party may help you reach your goals, but without clear standards and expectations, they may also hurt you along the way. Research and understanding are two of the best ways to ensure productive synergy in creating a win-win situation for everyone.
