The Place in Cincinnati has been creating memories for their guests since the Liette family bought it in 1983. In this interview, Brian Liette shares how he increased revenue by expanding from a skating venue to a family entertainment center with laser tag and several other attractions.

“When we went from just roller skating to a fully family entertainment center, it boosted the numbers.”

Brian Liette

The Expansion

The Place was a stand-alone roller rink for decades. As Brian was analyzing the business, he saw that families and kids were looking for more options beyond skating. So in 2017, they made the decision to expand and add laser tag, bumper cars, climbing walls, ropes course, and an improved arcade.

Brian has been able to maintain roller skating as their primary attraction. After more than 40 years in business, the community came to expect skating from his venue, and he didn’t want to abandon that identity. After adding these new attractions and becoming a full family entertainment center a few years ago, he’s also been able to attract new customers that wouldn’t have come for the roller rink.

Plus, the expansion increased per capita spending for every guest that walked in the door.

Laser Tag Revenue

Laser tag is the second most popular attraction at The Place behind roller skating. And laser tag is part of just about every birthday party and bundle package that guests can buy. This is common at a lot of venues because this is a high capacity attraction that creates a fully immersive, story-driven experience. This is a recipe for a lot of revenue.

Brian did something extremely unique with his laser tag arena during their expansion. He opened up one of the walls and designed the high ropes course to travel through the arena. This means players in the laser tag can look up and see guests on the high ropes course, and vice versa. The fusion of these attractions proves to be great cross-marketing: when a guest does one, they then want to do the other.

Last year, Brian wanted to give his laser tag another boost, so we added a Launch Room to his attraction. This launch room transforms the staging rooms into a story-driven show with giant TVs, lights, sound, and fog to create a Disney-like experience.

“The kids get excited. At the end of the video, the fog machine shoots off and the kids run into the laser tag.”

Brian Liette

The improved experience from the launch room allowed Brian to raise the price for laser tag. And this helped once again boost overall revenue at The Place.

Increase Your Revenue

Are you ready to increase revenue at your family entertainment center or location-based entertainment venue? Laser tag might be the perfect solution! Start your research now with our interactive revenue calculator, or click below to request a quote.