Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Maximize F&B Sales at Your Waterpark

Now is the time to fine-tune your plans for maximizing revenue, guest satisfaction, and attendance. This month’s IAAPA webinar, set for Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. EST, focuses specifically on how waterparks can boost food and beverage sales, but any park with concessions can learn from our experts. Ken Whiting of Whiting’s Foods/Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk shares some insight into what participants can expect from the session.

What are the key areas of focus during this webinar?
We’ll address some current trends and strategies that work for all food and beverage operations in the attractions industry, as well as some waterpark-specific areas, including:
- cabana sales
- maximizing beverage revenue
- cashless payment systems
- healthier food options

Can you share a challenge waterparks face in refining and updating F&B offerings?
The spending patterns within waterparks are different than in a dry park. Being in bathing suits without constant access to money limits spending. Aligning their operation with services, menu items, and payment methods that enhance and encourage spending is key.

What types of information can participants in this webinar implement immediately?
There will be best practices and strategies shared that work in our industry. Menu item development, peak sales period management, and staff motivation ideas are typically low cost, easy to implement, and able to be acted on right away.

What is the most appropriate audience for this session?
Anyone with food service, retail, or general management responsibilities at a waterpark attraction will benefit from the information.

What can small/independent operators with tighter budgets glean from this session?
Many operators believe they have to spend big for large returns. Often that just isn’t the case. We’ll provide many proven tactics that are low cost, high return, and industry specific. Even with little or no budget, significant gains can be had. Everyone who participates in this webinar will leave with ideas that will work for them.

To learn more about IAAPA’s free member webinars and to register, click here.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

New CPSIA Resources

Product Safety Daily is a free daily e-mail publication that focuses on global consumer product safety news. Consumer product safety has been a hot topic in the U.S. for the past several years, with the passage and implementation of the Virginia Graeme Baker Act and the Consumer Product Safety Improvements Act, but there have also been major consumer product safety reforms in other parts of the world, such as Canada and Europe. If you’re not already receiving it, I recommend you sign up for Product Safety Daily.

Speaking of the CPSIA, its implementation has been a difficult-to-follow process. Provisions are stayed and stays are then extended, making it can be difficult to keep track of what parts of the law are in effect now. CPSC has created a chart of CPSIA requirements and their stays of enforcement—such as the recently extended Section 102 Testing and Certification requirements. IAAPA members can reference this chart to review the status of the many CPSIA provisions that impact the attractions industry.

You can find the chart and other CPSIA resources over at IAAPA’s Toy Safety webpage.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Start Planning: National Tourism and Travel Week Is Coming!


Every year the first full week of May is recognized as National Travel and Tourism Week in the U.S. During this week cities, states, and travel businesses nationwide sponsor rallies and other events to celebrate the power of travel.

The week began as National Tourism Week, and was established by Congress in 1983. In a 1984 White House ceremony, President Ronald Reagan signed a Presidential Proclamation urging citizens to observe the week with “the appropriate ceremonies and activities.” Since its establishment, the U.S. travel community has collectively marked the event in a number of creative ways, from staging local rallies and conducting media outreach to securing proclamations and resolutions from local legislative bodies.


This year, the event will be May 7-15, with the Travel Rally Day occuring May 10.


Travel Rally Day is a concerted effort to demonstrate travel's impact on local workers, businesses, and economies. Individual events are staged in cities nationwide during National Travel and Tourism Week. The goal of Rally Day is to unite a community's travel workers and supporters and publicly represent the industry to media, elected officials and residents with a message that travel matters to this nation and to local communities.


Now is the time to start planning for National Tourism and Travel Week and the Travel Rally Day. Our friends at the U.S. Travel Association have compiled a website of helpful tips and tools to help you plan. Your local visitors bureau or state tourism agency may already have something in the works, so you may want to combine forces with them, or start your own!


If you are planning to participate, tell us, so we can help promote your event.