Family Entertainment Center - Business Model

Business Model

FECs tend to serve "sub-regional markets", such as small cities, quadrants or boroughs of larger cities, and a large suburban area outside such a city. Their busiest times are weekend afternoons and Thursday through Saturday evenings.

Because most of the attractions are essentially the same from FEC to FEC, two of the most important factors in a particular center distinguishing itself to potential customers are a highly visible location (hard to obtain because other uses for the land are often more competitive), and a consistently developed and promoted theme that appeals to the target market segments, "the fun factor in the overall decor".

Parental concerns are also important. While children themselves rarely think of it, a major factor in the attractiveness of an FEC to parents is on-site safety and security, as adults may drop off older children at such an establishment to entertain themselves. An increasingly important factor for success is high-quality food and drink to attract parental spending as well as whole-family dining.

One common potential business problem is the need for more liability insurance (e.g. against patron injury) than the average business, which may be provided by specialty insurers via entertainment industry associations, This issue most affects FECs with water attractions, mechanical carnival rides, and active sports and games such as laser tag.