The owner of a family entertainment center with go-karts, mini golf and an arcade described the gap in his week plainly. Without a corporate event, a group or a birthday party on the books, Monday through Thursday are slow.
His idea for fixing it came up on a demo call. He wanted a membership with a recurring monthly charge, maybe $12 or $17, matched with the same amount of play credit every month. His reasoning: "it costs so much money to get somebody through that door." And "once you get them through that door, they spend more."
That's the case for an FEC membership. It isn't mainly about the fee. It's a reason for a local family to come back on a Tuesday, when the venue has plenty of room and nothing else to fill it. For the general case for memberships, see the benefits of memberships for family fun centers. This post covers how to design and price a monthly one that fills the weekdays.
Why Are Monday To Thursday So Hard To Fill At An FEC?
Because most FEC revenue is booked around weekends and events.
- Parties and groups cluster on weekends. Birthday parties, corporate events and school groups fill Friday through Sunday. Midweek, the calendar is often empty.
- Walk-in families have no reason to pick a weekday. A family that comes a few times a year will choose a Saturday, even if it's busier.
- The costs don't drop with the crowd. The mini golf course, the lanes and the attractions are already paid for. An empty Wednesday still needs staff and utilities.
- Getting a guest through the door is the expensive part. As the go-kart owner put it, once guests are inside, they spend on food, drinks and play.
A GoTab specialist on the same call, who previously ran FECs, made the related point about cost: free bowling never cost him anything, because "the lanes are paid for." Unused weekday capacity works the same way. A membership turns some of it into a reason to visit.
What Should An FEC Membership Include?
Value the guest can see, tied to the things that cost you least to give away.
- Monthly play credit. The simplest version is the owner's own: charge a monthly fee and give the same amount back as game credit. The guest feels no loss, and you get a visit.
- Attraction benefits. Free go-kart rides, rounds of mini golf or bowling games use capacity you already have. The specialist sketched a $50 monthly membership that included a $20 game card, two go-kart rides and a few rounds of mini golf. That bundle reads as $75 to $80 of value to the guest.
- Discounts on food and drinks. A standing percentage off snack bar or café items rewards members on every visit.
- Weekday-only extras. The owner suggested texting members offers like triple credit on Wednesday nights. Extras that apply Monday through Thursday push visits to the days you need to fill.
Keep the benefits easy to explain at the counter. If staff can't describe the membership in one sentence, it won't sell.
How Do You Price A Membership That Pays Off?
Start from what you can give away cheaply, then set a price below what the guest would otherwise pay.
The specialist's example worked like this: a member pays $50 a month and gets benefits worth about $80, so the guest saves roughly $30. The venue gives away rides and rounds on attractions that are already paid for, and gets $50 of recurring revenue plus whatever the family spends on food and extra play.
At 1,000 members, $50 a month is $50,000 in recurring revenue each month, before a single member walks in. A small venue may sell a $15 play-credit membership to a few hundred local families.
A few rules help the math hold:
- Price the benefits at your cost, not your menu price. A free go-kart ride costs you far less than it costs the guest.
- Cap the high-cost benefits. Food and drinks have real costs. Keep those as a discount rather than free items.
- Make cancelling easy. A membership families feel good about keeping does more for you than one they forget to cancel.
How Do You Run Memberships On The POS?
The membership has to work at the counter, on the guest's phone and in your reports, without a separate system to reconcile.
With GoTab Memberships & Subscriptions, a membership can be one-time or recurring, with the monthly charge billed to the payment method on the guest's account. Staff can sell a membership by adding it to a guest's tab at the counter, and guests can also buy one online from a membership menu.
When a member visits, staff check them in on the POS with their phone number. The member's status and any coupons that came with the membership show on the tab. Members can also see their membership and coupons in their GoTab account, and guests using QR ordering and payment get their member pricing when they check out.
In the manager dashboard, each member of a recurring membership shows whether they're set to renew or not, for example because they cancelled or have no payment method on file. That gives you a list to follow up on before the next billing date.
To bring members back on weekdays, pair the membership with follow-up messages. GoTab's integration with Patch Retention lets FECs send SMS and email offers to recent guests to fill weekday afternoons.
How Do You Know If The Membership Is Working?
Watch weekday visits, not just signups.
- Member visits by day of the week. If members still only come on Saturdays, move more benefits to Monday through Thursday.
- Spend per member visit. Members should spend beyond their included benefits on food, drinks and extra play.
- Renewals. Track how many members renew each month and who is set to lapse.
- Discount cost. Review member discounts in your sales reports so the benefits stay within budget.
You can't improve a revenue stream you can't see on its own, so set up these reports before you launch.
Who Does This Operational Approach Fit Best?
A membership pays off most for FECs with capacity that sits idle midweek: mini golf, go-karts, bowling centers, arcades and indoor play venues whose weekdays depend on parties and groups.
It fits especially well for venues with a local repeat audience, such as families within a short drive, and for operators with attractions that cost little to give away, like rides, rounds and lanes that are already paid for.
It matters less for destination or tourist venues where most guests visit once, and for seasonal venues that close for part of the year, where a season pass may fit better than a monthly charge. And it's premature if you can't yet see weekday visits and spend in your reports. Fix that first, then design benefits around the days you need to fill.
Want to see how a membership could work at your venue? Request a demo, see what a family entertainment center POS should handle for repeat guests, or start with the complete FEC technology stack.
FAQ
Should an FEC offer a monthly membership or a season pass?
It depends on how your venue operates. A monthly membership fits year-round venues with a local audience that visits often, because the recurring charge keeps members coming back each month. A season pass fits seasonal venues that close for part of the year. Some venues offer both.
How much should an FEC charge for a monthly membership?
It depends on your benefits and your market. One approach is to charge a monthly fee and return the same amount as play credit. Another is to bundle benefits worth more than the fee, using attractions that cost little to give away. Price the benefits at your cost, not your menu price.
How do memberships help fill weekdays at an FEC?
Members have already paid, so they look for times to use their benefits. Offers that only apply Monday through Thursday, like extra play credit on a weeknight, shift some of those visits to the days that need them.
Can a POS manage recurring memberships?
Some can. With GoTab, an FEC can sell memberships at the counter or online, bill them monthly to the guest's saved payment method, check members in on the POS by phone number and see who is set to renew.
