What’s Powering the New Guest Experience at FECs and Bowling Centers?

What’s Powering the New Guest Experience at FECs and Bowling Centers?

Key Takeaways for FEC Operators Looking to Level Up Their F&B Programs

At this year’s Bowl Expo, one question kept surfacing across the trade floor, breakout sessions, and one-on-one conversations: What should the systems of the future really look like? More and more operators are rethinking the “all-in-one” promise—not rejecting it outright, but recognizing its limits. Instead, they’re looking ahead to a model that prioritizes robust, flexible systems that truly excel in their domain and seamlessly connect with best-in-class tools across the rest of the operation.

At GoTab, we sit at the intersection of entertainment and food & beverage—purpose-built to handle the complexity of high-volume, multi-experience venues. Rather than trying to do it all, we focus on being the most capable, connected F&B platform, making it easy for entertainment operators to link ordering, payments, and guest experiences across their entire tech stack.

Here are five big takeaways from our first Bowl Expo:

1. Legacy Systems Are Struggling to Keep Up with Modern F&B

For many high-volume bowling centers, arcades, and family entertainment venues, existing systems are showing their age—especially when it comes to food and beverage. While these platforms often do a solid job handling gaming integrations and ticketing, the F&B experience is frequently an afterthought, limited to basic snack bar workflows or fixed terminals that don’t support today’s mobile-first guests.

As one operator put it: “We’ve made it work so far, but our current setup isn’t built for what we want F&B to become.”

That’s where GoTab comes in. We’re not trying to replace your entire stack—we’re focused on elevating the part of your business that drives the most revenue and shapes the guest experience: food and beverage. By integrating seamlessly with your existing tools, GoTab adds a powerful, flexible layer designed to grow alongside your venue.

Explore POS Solutions for Eatertainment Venues.

2. One Tab, Many Zones = Frictionless Guest Experiences

One of the features that resonated most at Bowl Expo was GoTab’s ability to carry a single guest tab across all service areas, from the bar to the snack zone, arcade, and beyond.

With RFID wristbands and phone-based tab access, guests can start a tab at the bar, then grab food, reload at the arcade, and order more from their lane—all under one payment experience. No duplicate checks. No reorders. No chasing down receipts.

For operators, this means fewer abandoned orders and higher average check sizes.

“Being able to open and manage one tab across lanes, games, and bars is huge,” said one multi-location GM. “It’s the kind of thing guests just expect now.”

Learn how GoTab helps simplify ordering with RFID Wristbands + Mobile Tabs. 

3. Connectivity > Cost

Contrary to what you might expect, price wasn’t the biggest hurdle for operators exploring new systems. Most were willing to spend—as long as the systems actually connected.

The biggest priority? Seamless communication across F&B, gaming, bowling, and reporting dashboards.

What operators don’t want is to keep stitching together systems that don’t talk to each other, or relying on outdated software that doesn’t support real-time updates or mobile functionality.

“If I can have a system that works across the entire venue and gives me clean reporting, I’ll pay for it. But I won’t pay for something that only works halfway.”

GoTab plays well with existing systems—whether it's Intercard, Tripleseat, or R365. And we make it easy to connect your existing systems with GoTab’s open API.

4. F&B Is the New Revenue Frontier

Many operators we spoke with said the same thing: their food and beverage program has room to grow—but they’re not sure how to scale it.

They see the potential. Guests want more than pizza and fries. But turning that demand into actual revenue requires a smarter system—and a more efficient kitchen operation.

“If guests can order more easily, they will order more. But that’s scary if we’re not ready,” said one owner-operator. “Our kitchen can’t handle a rush we didn’t see coming.”

That’s where GoTab’s Smart Kitchen Display System (KDS), real-time fulfillment, and item throttling features shine. Operators can prepare for surges, optimize back-of-house flow, and ensure high-volume doesn’t mean high-stress.

Check out how you can boost food service speed with GoTab’s KDS. 

5. Tech Adds Functionality—Not Headcount

Labor was another hot-button topic. Operators aren’t just looking to cut labor—they’re looking to use tech to do more with the team they already have.

The takeaway? They’re not anti-tech. They just want the right tech. Something that’s easy to roll out, easy to train, and helps their team serve more guests—not get bogged down with more hardware or complicated workflows.

“We’re not tech averse—we’re averse to tech that doesn’t work,” one ops lead told us. “We want something staff can pick up and guests can use without needing a ton of training.”

With features like Easy Tab (text-to-tab ordering), QR ordering, and phone-only POS, GoTab meets operators and guests where they are—on their phones, in the lanes, and on the go.

FECs Are Ready for Better F&B

If Bowl Expo made one thing clear, it’s that FEC operators are ready to take their F&B seriously. They’re looking for solutions that work—without overhauling their entire tech stack.

GoTab helps FECs unlock new revenue, empower staff, and improve the guest experience. We don’t replace your entire system—we simply make it better.

Ready to upgrade your food & beverage operations?  Let’s talk.