Play Meter
Issue: 1984 September 01 - Vol 10 Num 16 - Page 78
COMMENTARY
'HIGH TOUCH' HASN'T WORKED
FOR THIS OPERATOR
I read Charles Ross' article titled " High Tech vs.
High Touch" in the July 1 issue of Play Meter (p. 31) .
My business is named Zanadau Inc. Zanadau
consists of indoor miniature golf, video games, and a
snack bar serving hot and cold beverages, hot dogs,
French fries, pizza, egg rolls, candy, popcorn , ice
cream, and lemon ice. We also have tables and chairs
to accommodate 75 customers for seating. We allow
smo king at the machines and at the tables.
I believe we have had high touch since we
opened in 1982. I have been in business two years.
Our first year , 1982, we did a tremendous busi-
ness, averaging $4,000 per week. We closed the first
year showing a $10,000 profit, after all expenses were
paid.
Since the fall of 1983, we have been on a steady
decline . We have tried bringing in a disc jockey and
al lowi ng dancing . The patrons loved it, but it didn 't
bring in any new revenue. We stayed the same as far
as cas h coming in .
We converted our old games to the new conver-
sions on th e market, and we bought the latest laser
disc games . Our business is still on a decline .
After reading the article on high touch , I have to
disagree with Ross that this is one of the answers to
the decline in the video game industry.
Zanadau is housed in 8,400 square feet of space ,
and th e outside is all brick, with parking for 100 cars. It
is heated and air conditioned. We have piped in
music with speakers in the ceiling.
We also do birthday parties and, believe me, if it
weren't for the birthday parties , I could close my
doors.
We are just about keeping our heads above water
in this business. To make our bills every month, I got
rid of all outside help. My wife and my three children
all work here to help out with no pay so we can con-
tinue in business.
We allow no loitering in our parking lot. We have
a police officer on duty weekends. Our reputation in
the town is impeccable .
We also do fund raisers and have done them for
the following charities: The Arthritis Foundation , The
Heart Fund, The March of Dimes, and The Cancer
Society of New Haven .
On Christmas we have a Santa Claus on the
premises for one weekend passing out candy canes to
the young children . For the past two years, we have
had a Christmas party for the Arthritis Foundation .
We have group rates on our golf course for any
organization such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts,
church groups, little league baseball and soccer, The
North Haven Recreation League , and also the Bran-
ford and New Haven leagues.
Believe me, we are trying everything to make it in
this business, but as the months go by, it gets tougher
and tougher.
As it is now, we are in debt to our distributor to
the tune of $8 ,000. We are lucky he is carrying us for
this amount. But this also puts us in a bind because we
can't purchase anything new that comes on the
market.
Everyone who comes into our place for the first
time, especially the mothers, comes up to us to
compliment us on how clean our place is. They also
compliment us on how mannerly the teenagers are.
The teenagers love us, especially my wife . They
will tell us all their problems that they wouldn ' t dare
discuss with their parents.
We have a microphone and page the teenagers
when they get phone calls. We announce their birth-
days on the page and they love it. We let them use our
phone although there is a pay phone on the premises.
We have taken children home when they missed their
ride at closing time . We have never closed our busi-
ness and left a child stranded here .
Last year and this year at this time the steady teen-
agers that frequent our place cam e in with their
gowns and tuxedoes on prom night to show them to
me and my wife.
We have a two foot by three foot display board
on the wall , and we take pictures of the teenagers
playing video games and golf or just sitting at a table.
We also take pictures of the birthday parties and hang
them up. They don't stay up very long because every-
one takes them. The mothers say how cute their
children came out and ask for them. The teenagers
say they came out ugly and take them. So we are
forever taking new pictures!
We are on Route 5, a very busy roadway, in North
Haven. About a half mile down the road from us,
there are many fast food chains on this route,
including McDonald 's, Burger King, Ro y Rogers,
Pizza Hut, Wendy's, Arthur Treachers , and Friendlys .
There's also a Ramada Inn.
These are my comments. If you have any sugges-
tions to stimulate my business, I am open to them.
I just don't believe high touch is the answer.
Ronald Vestuti
Zanadau
North Haven, Connecticut
80
PLAY METER. September 1, 1984
'HIGH TOUCH' HASN'T WORKED
FOR THIS OPERATOR
I read Charles Ross' article titled " High Tech vs.
High Touch" in the July 1 issue of Play Meter (p. 31) .
My business is named Zanadau Inc. Zanadau
consists of indoor miniature golf, video games, and a
snack bar serving hot and cold beverages, hot dogs,
French fries, pizza, egg rolls, candy, popcorn , ice
cream, and lemon ice. We also have tables and chairs
to accommodate 75 customers for seating. We allow
smo king at the machines and at the tables.
I believe we have had high touch since we
opened in 1982. I have been in business two years.
Our first year , 1982, we did a tremendous busi-
ness, averaging $4,000 per week. We closed the first
year showing a $10,000 profit, after all expenses were
paid.
Since the fall of 1983, we have been on a steady
decline . We have tried bringing in a disc jockey and
al lowi ng dancing . The patrons loved it, but it didn 't
bring in any new revenue. We stayed the same as far
as cas h coming in .
We converted our old games to the new conver-
sions on th e market, and we bought the latest laser
disc games . Our business is still on a decline .
After reading the article on high touch , I have to
disagree with Ross that this is one of the answers to
the decline in the video game industry.
Zanadau is housed in 8,400 square feet of space ,
and th e outside is all brick, with parking for 100 cars. It
is heated and air conditioned. We have piped in
music with speakers in the ceiling.
We also do birthday parties and, believe me, if it
weren't for the birthday parties , I could close my
doors.
We are just about keeping our heads above water
in this business. To make our bills every month, I got
rid of all outside help. My wife and my three children
all work here to help out with no pay so we can con-
tinue in business.
We allow no loitering in our parking lot. We have
a police officer on duty weekends. Our reputation in
the town is impeccable .
We also do fund raisers and have done them for
the following charities: The Arthritis Foundation , The
Heart Fund, The March of Dimes, and The Cancer
Society of New Haven .
On Christmas we have a Santa Claus on the
premises for one weekend passing out candy canes to
the young children . For the past two years, we have
had a Christmas party for the Arthritis Foundation .
We have group rates on our golf course for any
organization such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts,
church groups, little league baseball and soccer, The
North Haven Recreation League , and also the Bran-
ford and New Haven leagues.
Believe me, we are trying everything to make it in
this business, but as the months go by, it gets tougher
and tougher.
As it is now, we are in debt to our distributor to
the tune of $8 ,000. We are lucky he is carrying us for
this amount. But this also puts us in a bind because we
can't purchase anything new that comes on the
market.
Everyone who comes into our place for the first
time, especially the mothers, comes up to us to
compliment us on how clean our place is. They also
compliment us on how mannerly the teenagers are.
The teenagers love us, especially my wife . They
will tell us all their problems that they wouldn ' t dare
discuss with their parents.
We have a microphone and page the teenagers
when they get phone calls. We announce their birth-
days on the page and they love it. We let them use our
phone although there is a pay phone on the premises.
We have taken children home when they missed their
ride at closing time . We have never closed our busi-
ness and left a child stranded here .
Last year and this year at this time the steady teen-
agers that frequent our place cam e in with their
gowns and tuxedoes on prom night to show them to
me and my wife.
We have a two foot by three foot display board
on the wall , and we take pictures of the teenagers
playing video games and golf or just sitting at a table.
We also take pictures of the birthday parties and hang
them up. They don't stay up very long because every-
one takes them. The mothers say how cute their
children came out and ask for them. The teenagers
say they came out ugly and take them. So we are
forever taking new pictures!
We are on Route 5, a very busy roadway, in North
Haven. About a half mile down the road from us,
there are many fast food chains on this route,
including McDonald 's, Burger King, Ro y Rogers,
Pizza Hut, Wendy's, Arthur Treachers , and Friendlys .
There's also a Ramada Inn.
These are my comments. If you have any sugges-
tions to stimulate my business, I am open to them.
I just don't believe high touch is the answer.
Ronald Vestuti
Zanadau
North Haven, Connecticut
80
PLAY METER. September 1, 1984
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