Running Head: FINAL CASE ANALYSIS

Westlake Lanes: How can this business be saved?

Final Case Analysis

Devin Johnson

Biola University
FINAL CASE ANALYSIS

Abstract

This paper shows how Westlake Lanes, a bowling business in the gutter, can survive the

economic downturns and become a profitable business once again. Dane sugar, the owner of

Westlake Lanes dies and leaves the business in the red. He is succeeded by his granddaughter,

Shelby Givens, who takes over the business as a manager and faces problems such as bad

employee morale, high insurance premiums, outdated and ineffective advertising methods, and a

huge decline in league and recreational bowlers within the last few years. The solution to the

problem is creating a marketing plan that is inexpensive and will put Westlake Lanes on the map

again. The marketing will have to reach people in Raleigh, North Carolina between the ages of 7

and 44 years old. Advertising will begin through websites, YouTube, Facebook, and other

popular social media outlets. Westlake Lanes will redefine itself in the entertainment industry,

offering its services as recreation, family events, or league sports. Within 5 years, Westlake

Lanes will be a popular attraction for people of all ages. Givens, using this marketing approach,

will definitely put the business in the right lane once again.
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Westlake Lanes: How can this business be saved?

Final Case Analysis

Leadership Challenges

Westlake Lanes was once a thriving business with plenty of customers, enough even to

support an annual income of $156,000 in 2004. Recently, it had been failing because no one

came anymore. People didn’t know that bowling was still a thing because Westlake Lanes had

not been marketing itself as a great source of entertainment. In order to get into the black again,

Westlake needed to advertise. When owner Dane Sugar died in 2008 the board did not appoint a

new manager right away. They eventually promoted from within, but the new manager (Shirley

Smith) had little experience and was ineffective. She was unqualified to lead and change the

turnaround of Westlake Lanes. The employees were keeping the business running, but were

lacking guidance and direction. The result of this was poor employee morale, stagnant

advertising, increasing liabilities and payables that were months overdue, use of overpriced

services, and vastly increasing debt with no payments to reduce debt. When Shelby Givens came

in as the new business manager she quickly saw the managerial problems Westlake Lanes had

been having. There was no business mission, and no direction for the bowling alley. The

employees were ineffective in maintaining business and sales without leadership. Finances

needed to be taken into account and put in order. Insurance rates were increasing annually by 8%

and no one had thought to look at different competitive rates.

The finances were not in good shape for a variety of reasons, including the use of

overpriced services such as cleaning. Pizza and beverage sales were declining rapidly, probably

due to a few inexpensive eateries that had opened within walking distance of Westlake Lanes.
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The demographic they attracted was mostly people over 65 who were in the Leagues, and they

severely needed to target college age students and people approximately between the ages of 7

and 45. This was largely due to their outdated look and limiting their advertising primarily to

newspapers. They needed to reach this younger, tech-savvy target market. The bowling alley’s

machinery was becoming outdated, and though some had been replaced recently more was going

to need replacing within the next year totaling at least $57,000 in replacements. There was also

very little information on the number of weekly customers and what the average person would

spend on any given day/night. In order to most effectively run the business this information had

to be obtained.

Businesses suffer because people aren’t willing to use the business’s services. This

shouldn’t have been the case for Raleigh. Their population had increased by almost 50% in the

last decade and everything in the city was fairly close-knit. Many of the newer population were

young adults and the bowling alley was kind of the “old person’s” place to go have fun, due to its

popularity in the 70’s and 80’s. Givens knew that she had to find a way to make the bowling

alley more enticing to either children (so that families would come more often) or to adults

wanting to go out and party. After collecting data on the average weekly statistics of how many

bowlers came to Westlake Lanes and their demographics (including how much they earned and

spent on average) Givens was able to figure out her options. On one hand she considered putting

in an arcade and party room for kids, which would attract families, birthday parties, and in all

would not be very expensive to implement. On the other hand, Givens realized that a huge part

of the population in Raleigh was at the age of wanting a night out on the town. Revenues could

rapidly increase if Westlake offered a bar/restaurant, bowling lounge, and nightclub experience
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aside from bowling. This would be a major investment, but it could also turn a profit quickly. At

this point it was wise to build up Westlake’s reputation and customer base. A few key things that

Westlake Lanes was concerned with was cutting costs, advertising to new markets, and

implementing new ways of increasing league memberships.

Core Problem

Bowling alleys had been extremely popular in the 70’s and 80’s, but had started to lose

customers as other sources of having fun entered into the world of entertainment. Laser tag,

movie theaters, roller skating, and in-home entertainment were becoming much more popular

and newer places were popping up around the US. The buildings were newer than the bowling

alleys and probably looked nicer and more modern. Westlake was competing against

entertainment itself. Therefore, the core problem of Westlake Lanes was the lack of marketing

and insufficient advertising. When the board hired Shelby Givens in 2009, Westlake Lanes had a

poor method of strategic control. Strategic Control is defined as: “...how effectively the

organization’s strategies are in succeeding in helping the organization meet its goals” (Griffin,

2011). According to Griffin (2011), if the current strategic control is not helping the business

achieve its goals, then it needs to be changed. This is why Givens decided to change the strategy

of Westlake Lanes and implement new methods of strategic control for marketing.

They were sending out newspaper advertisements and coupons three times per week to

potential recreational bowlers and to existing customers, which were not many (Hamermesh &

Zalosh, 2012). The league bowlers didn’t buy food, and though they provided a steady stream of

income for the bowling alley, recreational bowlers bought food and provided the larger portion

of the revenue (Hamermesh & Zalosh, 2012). Food was an important source of revenue, and
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more needed to be sold in order to make a profit. Raleigh was one of the top 10 fastest growing

cities in the US and the population had recently increased by almost 50% (Hamermesh & Zalosh,

2012). Over 47% of residents, ages 25 and up, had a college degree. The median age was 31.9,

and 30% of households earned $50k - $100k per year (Hamermesh & Zalosh, 2012). This was

not a town where old people lived and read newspapers. This was a town full of young people

and young families who wanted to go out and have fun on Friday nights and weekends, and had

the money to do it. Westlake’s marketing was outdated their brand was unknown to most of the

people in Raleigh (Hamermesh & Zalosh, 2012). Newspapers would have been great sources of

marketing during the 70’s, 80’s, and even the 90’s but with the invention and cumulative use of

computers, cell phones, and the internet, people just stopped reading newspapers. Thus,

Westlake Lanes needed a modern marketing strategy.

The immediate goal would be how to make the business look enticing to families, and to

young people at the universities or biotech firms nearby. This involved cold-calls and personal

visits to the biotech firms to set up league dates and change the commitment from 32 weeks to 8

weeks, which started to spark people’s interest in bowling, and was a good way to begin

branding Westlake Lanes as a great place to spend an evening (Hamermesh & Zalosh, 2012).

Furthermore, Givens decided to pursue the long-term business plan for either adding a family

center with an arcade and party rooms, or an upscale bowling lounge to attract more customers.

Westlake could easily thrive if the business was steady again and had a consistent amount of

customers attending. The problem was that Westlake’s advertising wasn’t reaching many people,

especially the people with money. A business can have an incredible product or service, but if

nobody knows about it then it won’t thrive. As long as Westlake could let people know it was
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there and promote itself as the best source of entertainment it would thrive. It all relates back to

marketing, and market research.

Solution

Raleigh is a fast-growing city with a large population of young, middle-class families.

These people can be easily marketed to, and the limited diversity in demographics makes
specific marketing less costly. 30% of the citizens of Raleigh earn between $50k and $100k per
year, which means they will have some money to spend. The following graph from White (2012)
shows that recreational and league bowling participation has severely declined in the last few
years.

The number of league bowlers has rapidly declined, causing huge losses in revenue. If new
marketing is not taken into place Westlake Lanes will lose much of this consistent income.
Westlake Lanes is first and foremost concerned with increasing the annual revenue and
promoting a net income of over $100,000 per year within 3 years. This will be done by
increasing marketing and advertising through different media than what has been used in the
past. Weekly customers will increase from 1,215 to 3000. Westlake will potentially partner with
a major fast-food chain to have brand-name food inside the bowling alley.
After net income has increased to over $50k per year, $30k will be set aside per year to
use for renovation, building additions, and machine replacement/repair. A new venue will be
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added (Kids Fun Area or Bowling Lounge Mentioned Above). New employees will be hired to
operate the venue. Another goal is to eventually host regional tournaments, and potentially being
sponsored by a large sports corporation.
According to an estimated census done by the government in 2015, the population of
Raleigh, North Carolina is 451,066 people. The estimated number of households in 2000 was
112,608. 25.5% of these included families (Staff, Wikipedia, 2016). With well over 28,000
families in the city, there is a lot of potential to market family activities. The median income in
households was $46,612 per year in 2000, and the median​ income​ in families was $60,003 per
year. Westlake’s target market will be of people ages 7-44, and their families, because they add
up to about 78% of the prime bowling population (White, 2012). This will include the late
high-school students, college students, young working class, young families with children up to
14, and parents who want a night out. In this way we will be able to specifically market to 73.3%
of the population of Raleigh, which is approximately 260,000 people (White, 2012).
Westlake offers recreational bowling for people of all ages at good prices, and offers
league bowling. They have a kitchen and sell pizza, soda, and beer. Givens updated the menu to
taste better for a better price, so early on there won’t be any large changes to the food. League
bowling was traditionally 32 weeks long, but Westlake has begun to offer 8-week bowling
leagues (​Hamermesh & Zalosh, 2012​). In order to take on more customers they will also
implement 5-week summer bowling leagues, and 4-week year-round bowling leagues to offer
bowling services to children in school who play seasonal sports, and to people in any age group
that don’t want to make an 8-week commitment right away.
Within 5 years (or less if revenues allow) Westlake Lanes will open a Kids Fun Area with
(potentially) a party room, laser-tag, mini-golf, and an arcade. This will increase the amount of
kids ages 7-14 who come, and will increase family bowling nights because they will have the
option of bowling, eating out, and enjoying other fun events all at one venue. This investment
will cost $200k - $400k (​Hamermesh & Zalosh, 2012​).
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Within 7 years the goal is to open the upscale Bowling Lounge, to attract the college
students looking for a night on the town, and tired parents who want to get away for an evening
of fun. This Investment will cost $700k - $1M (​Hamermesh & Zalosh, 2012​).
Westlake Lanes is located in downtown Raleigh. This location is fairly ideal. There are a
great many restaurants nearby and multiple 20-story corporate buildings. People heading out
with friends after work will most likely walk by Westlake at some point. This is a highly
populated and highly visited area. Westlake will invest $5,000 as soon as possible to paint,
decorate, and modernize the front of the building to make it look more inviting.
Westlake Lanes will use a multi-stream marketing approach. The target market consists
mostly of people ages 7 - 44. These people watch TV, surf the web, watch youtube videos, listen
to the radio on the way to work, and are on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. These are some
inexpensive to more expensive ways to market Westlake Lanes.
1. Givens will create a website for Westlake Lanes (Likely through an inexpensive
third-party website builder). This will include all services, time-slots, tournaments,
leagues, menu, etc.
2. Givens will create a Facebook page and an Instagram account for Westlake Lanes and
post 2-5 times per week on each, to keep up internet presence.
3. Advertisements will be posted on local corporation’s announcement and media
boards/TV’s. (This can probably be done for free if a discount to company members is
given.)
4. Westlake can save money to eventually have an advertising billboard set up along/above
a populated street in Raleigh.
5. Radio Advertising at local Radio Stations.
6. Long Term: (Requires a higher marketing budget) Video Advertising over youtube in
Raleigh.
7. Long Term: (Requires a higher marketing budget) Internet Music Advertising over
Spotify and Pandora.
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The prices will stay mostly the same as they currently are. If the amount of weekly
customers increases to over 2,000 people per week, food will be offered at a lower price.
Bowling memberships and Pizza Passes will be introduced in May of 2017. This will give
Westlake time to build a customer base again and then introduce the new product. Bowling
Memberships will be $30 per month, and Pizza Passes will be $45 per month, and will offer one
free pizza every time you visit.
Implementation
Shelby Givens has limited ability to increase expensive marketing for Westlake Lanes,
but she is able to start working on some less costly advertising projects. To step into the 21st
century Shelby Givens will have to create a website and can use an inexpensive 3rd party
website developer, such as DesignCrowd or GoDaddy. Design Crowd will probably be more
effective, because it uses competitive examples created by people who know what you need for
your website (DesignCrowd). Once this website is established, it will contain an information
section about Westlake Lanes history, a biography of Dane Sugar, and information about the
staff. There will be a section on all of Westlake’s features and attractions, including the bowling
alley, party events and booking options, leagues, and the restaurant area. Givens will set up a
Groupon for bowling to encourage groups to come at a lower price, and there will be seasonal
coupons and deals featured on the website, along with events such as monthly tournaments open
to the public (with registration). Finally, there will be links to other future media pages for
Westlake Lanes such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. After the website is completed,
Givens will need a way to attract people’s attention. She will do this by putting out radio ads
every month on 2 or 3 popular Raleigh Radio Stations through ​ROI. ASAP​: a Direct Response
Radio Advertising source (Architects, Marketing). This will make it possible to advertise to
commuters and attract customers of the right age group.

Shelby Givens will be hard-pressed to grow Westlake Lanes to its former glory, but by a

few simple marketing steps she is capable of pulling the business back together. Dane Sugar left

a great business behind, and Shelby Givens will make a great business out of it again. The people
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just need to know it exists, and that it will be a fun place to go bowling. After people have made

memories and enjoyed the atmosphere that Westlake Lanes can offer, it will be a lot easier to

bring people through those doors. All it takes is creating a marketing plan, and “putting a good

spin on it.”
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References

Architects, Marketing. (2016, ). Direct Response Marketing Agency | Marketing Architects.

Direct Response Radio Advertising | Marketing Architects. Retrieved December 2, 2016.

DesignCrowd. (2016, ). Freelance Logo Design, Web Design & Graphic Design. ​Web Design

North Dakota - Webs & Web Design Contests by DesignCrowd. Retrieved December 2,

2016.

Drucker, P. F. (2006). ​The effective executive. New York, NY: Harper Business.

Griffin, R. W. (2011). ​Fundamentals of management: Core concepts and applications(8th ed.).

Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Hamermesh, R. G., & Zalosh, A. (2012). ​Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be

Saved? Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.

Staff, Wikipedia (2016, November 13). ​Raleigh, North Carolina. Retrieved November 18, 2016,

from Wikipedia.

White, R. (2012, July). ​Bowling Trends. Retrieved November 18, 2016, from White Hutchinson.