How to Build a Bowling Alley

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Bowling considerations for typical centers are outlined below. Most bowling company websites site cost for typical bowling only facilities (option 1). These centers typically turn a profit but do signifcally less volume than centers with multiple forms of entertainment (option 2). Family Entertainment Centers, (option 3) facilities with more than 3 revenue centers or more, require more space and investment but usually have a greater Return on Investment and can generate much higher revenues than bowling only facilities.

Steps

1. City, State, and equipment selection will all effect these choices. Avoid getting information for costs from people and companies that do not offer the product or service--they always seem to under quote components that they don't or can't provide. Words like "trusted sources" or "not intended for use in Business Plan" and "Not Responsible" are all tip offs to misinformation.
2. The options presented here are estimates for most areas of the country. They are based on actual recent openings. Some websites claim $200,000 a lane as a good number for FECs, but their most recent successful (ones with over $100,000 a week revenue) all cost over $250,000 a lane--one was even $315,000 per lane (16 lanes in Option 3 works out to $315,000). These are very close to the true costs of today's state of the art facility.
3. Population needed to support lane count: 1250 persons per lane
4. Total costs for ground up with Bowling, Food and Beverage, party rooms, furniture, and optional items (everything inside or on the building is included -- all equipment, kitchen, hvac, elecrical plumbing, flooring, ceilings, lights and fixtures. Also includes all design, layout, build out, feasibility studies, and even professional revenue projections) There are three options covering everything except for *Land, Land development costs, parking lot, and landscaping:
5. Option 1:
6. Buiding size of 1150 Square Feet per lane including all Bowling equipment, area for vending machines, 50 seating area for party rooms, Food and Beverage operation equipment with small kitchen servicing 2 seats per lane in bar area and 5 seats per lane in bowler's area, plus basic training on equipment:
7. Approximate costs $110 per Square Foot (land requirements .13 acres per lane). Approximate Revenues $32,000-50,000 per lane.
8. Option 2:
9. Building size of 1500 Square Feet per lane including Bowling equipment, Billiards room, 1000 square feet to fill with choice revenue generating equipment, Larger area for full Arcade, 100 seating area for party rooms, Food and Beverage operation equipment with Full Kitchen servicing 5 seats per lane in restaurant area and 8 seats per lane in bowler's area, 1/4 the lanes covered with choice of full video projection masking in 10 foot or 15 foot high screen systems, plus Consulting on Hiring, Training, and Marketing your center for 6 months:
10. Approximate costs $138 per Square Foot (land requirements .16 acres per lane). Approximate Revenues $65,000-90,000 per lane.
11. Option 3:
12. Building size of 2000 Square Feet per lane Including all Bowling equipment, Billiards room, 1800 square feet to fill with choice of revenue generating equipment, Huge arcade area, 200 seating area for party rooms, Large Full Kitchen servicing 7 seats per lane in resaurant area and 10 seats per per lane in bowler's area, plus 1/2 the lanes covered with choice of full video projection masking in 10 foot or 15 foot high screen systems, Plus Hiring, Training, and Grand Opening party costs covered before opening--and Marketing consulting for 1 year:
13. Approximate costs $159 per Square Foot (land requirements .20 acres per lane). Approximate Revenues $120,000-220,000 per lane.
14. Other costs which are variable costs on any project are Land costs, Land development costs (usually $50 to 100,000 per site but can vary depending on site layout), Parking Lot and Landscapping costs (usually $1500 per Parking lot required) every project is subject to local zoning restrictions and requirements and therefore is different for each project so check with local authorities, Utility hook up fees and preparation work costs also varie by site (normally, not a huge amount of money--but can become a nightmare in some site selections in rural or under developed markets).
15. All of the variable costs can be quoted and handled by the same FEC develpment group used for the building project, which means this group is offering a true turn key solution

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