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Making Hay While the Sun Shines
Seasonal businesses offer fun in the sun to patrons — and profits to their proprietors
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Business New Haven
5/14/2001
By: Fiona Phelan
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There's a miniature golf course nearby that has had its “Opening Soon” sign up for a while. Every time I drive by, I wonder when “soon” is and speculate about where the owner has been all winter.
You don't realize how much you miss the fun of miniature golf until you drive by the crazy courses with their life-size dinosaurs, gaily-painted windmills, frothy fountains and the hole where the ball drops down the cup to the lower level before proceeding to the final cup.
And hey, did you notice that Dairy Queen is open for the season? I've driven by several all winter and ponder why they close for several months - how do the businesses remain solvent with no cash flow? Don't people eat ice cream, or want to play mini golf in the winter?
The owners of local seasonal businesses like ice cream parlors, outdoor batting cages, go-kart tracks, miniature golf courses and driving ranges have found it's not economically sound to keep the place open year-round. Nutmeggers don't venture out to play mini golf in January and there are other, warmer ways of getting that ice cream fix.
Around greater New Haven and up the Shoreline, seasonal businesses are finished painting and making repairs and are open for business. The Velardi family opened “The Only Game in Town” in North Haven 14 years ago. Today, the complex includes nine-hole and 18-hole miniature golf courses, softball and baseball batting cages, a ten-acre lighted golf range, coin-operated kiddie rides, go-karts, bumper cars and bank-shot basketball.
“There's really no competition around here, so as long as the weather cooperates we do quite well,” says co-owner Lorraine Velardi. “I'm hoping to retire when my son comes back to run the business.”
The Velardis opened the 20-acre complex in 1987 after several years of co-ownership in a similar facility in Orange. Now in the off-season the senior Velardis travel to conventions, go on vacation and take care of any repairs or upgrades that need to be made before the following season.
Miniature golf is big business, it seems. Myrtle Beach, N.C. is known as the miniature golf capital of the world. According to the U.S. Professional Miniature Golf Association (yes, there is such a thing), miniature golf can be a serious game among some players. Some courses feature miniature replicas of regulation golf's “famous holes” complete with sand traps, water and contours on the “green.” There are even national and international mini-golf tournaments with thousands of dollars in cash prizes (perhaps it's time to polish up those putters).
“Every year seems to get better,” says Velardi. “We get a lot of parks-and-recreation department's trips through here all summer, birthday parties, corporate parties.”
While The Only Game in Town doesn't have it's own refreshment stand there are machines that sell soda, candy and ice cream. There are picnic tables so families or groups can bring their own food and a local pizzeria is known to deliver.
During peak season (the center opened April 1 this year and will operate until mid-October) the Velardis will employ about 20 part-timers, mostly high school and college students, and plenty of family members.
While the Velardis won't disclose the financial particulars of their operation, Amusement Products, LLC, a builder of go-kart tracks, batting cages, miniature golf courses and paintball arenas, note that a 15-kart operation ought to be able to net approximately $26,000 in before-tax profits operating at just 15 percent of capacity. If the site operates at 35 percent of capacity the business could net $130,000 over a seven-month season.
That's a nice little chunk of change for an individual or family-owned enterprise. The Velardis have leased their racetrack to Dusty and Darlene Daricek for the past three years. Operating under the name Race A- Way, the track is also a family-operated business. Both entities offer discounts to birthday parties and groups, but individual tickets are also available. A nine-hole round of mini golf is $2.50 per person on weekdays and $3.50 per person evenings and weekends - less than half the price of a first-run movie ticket.
“We enjoy being a family-oriented facility with something for all ages,” says Velardi
Family is what it's all about, too, for Joe Martin, owner of the Dairy Queen franchise in North Branford. For 20 years, Martin taught business courses to students at Branford High School as a way to supplementing his teaching salary. Now, three years into his retirement, Martin is still operating the ice cream store that helped him raise six children.
“I had to find something to add to my salary. We couldn't make it on my teaching salary,” says Martin. “The Dairy Queen franchise worked well for me because I could work around my teaching schedule. While I was still teaching I would open after school and on weekends. Then, when school got out for the summer I was here full-time.
“This is a pleasant industry,” he says. “No one comes in for ice cream in a bad mood. I like to see the families getting together - it reminds me of my family.”
Martin purchased the Dairy Queen franchise for $20,000 - the same it costs to purchase one today. In addition to the franchise fee, potential business owners need to be prepared to make a total investment of between $170,000 and $622,000 depending on size of the building and whether the land and building are purchased or rented. Today there are more than 5,700 Dairy Queens across the country. DQ was listed as the 32nd fastest-growing franchise in the country by Entrepreneur magazine.
“This was always a good supplement to what I made as a teacher, and now it's something for my retirement” Martin explains. He closes the store before Thanksgiving, travels a little, returns in February to make repairs and prepares for opening in March.
From March through November, Ron Sotere operates his Dairy Queen in Cheshire seven days a week. He's the third generation of Soteres to operate the South Main Street ice creamery. Prior to running the DQ himself, Sotere worked full-time at Stop & Shop supermarkets for many years.
“This business is profitable enough in eight months for me to make it for the rest of the year,” says Sotere. In his off-months he travels to California, Aruba - wherever the sun might be shining and they're still eating ice cream out of doors.
“This whole business is weather-related,” he explains. “If we have a rainy season obviously we don't do so well. Usually the money is good - and it's always fun.”
Martin Klein has run a family-owned business for 54 years. First, the business was a poultry farm located off Durham Road in Madison. With the decline of farming in Connecticut, Martin and his son David came up with the idea for a driving range on 15 acres of the farm.
The driving range has been in operation for the past seven years. This year, duffers started hitting balls the last week of February and will continue, weather permitting, until Thanksgiving.
“I'm not a golfer and I've never golfed in my life,” admits Martin Klein. “I don't know the first thing about golf.
“This is a top-notch facility and there's a lot to be done to keep it well maintained,” he says. Maintenance duties include keeping the grass cut, re-gripping clubs that are available for rent, washing golf balls, painting and repairing the building and picking up all those balls at the end of the day (thankfully there's a machine to do that).
According to the Golf Range Association, based in New Canaan, there are more than 50 independently operated driving ranges in the state (those that are not associated with a country club). Golf ranges have grown in popularity, says the association, as a way for landowners to preserve property and yet still make a living off the land.
Miniature golf and families eating ice cream together might provoke nostalgic reflections of your own childhood, but for these business owners, it means that their families can enjoy a brighter future.
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