OH I dont doubt that at all.  I was just speaking about the lines.  Lines would be up more than last year since last yr that restaurant was not on the meal plan and this year it is.  

 

 

My dad used to tell me (who ran restaurants) that your profit margin on food is subtle, but its the profit from soft-drinks that are large.  A case of pop (5 gallon of the syrup) ran for 20-30 dollars (whole sale for the restaurants a few years back) and would make about 300 soft drinks.  If you only sold the drinks for a dollar then you made a 60-70 dollar profit just on drinks... I would expect KI to pay today probably in the $50-60 range, and a drink is $5.... So if you got 1500 on a 60 dollar case, thats huge... dont know if its enough to off-set the price of the food, but I dont know...

And I'd speculate that this was one of the large reasons that they introduced dining plans in the way that they did. By not including a soda, they can offer you a dining plan while still having a potential upsell - a high-profit upsell at that.

 

Basically, sell the guests a dining plan, knowing that food will be less profitable, and hope that enough of them will buy a soda with their meal to offset that difference in profit - all under the guise of offering a deal to the frequent visitors.

 

I know that I myself have purchased a soda with my dining plan meal a few times. The park went from getting no revenue out of me on food and drinks to getting a few bucks here and there for drinks. My in-park SPENDING has gone up considerably with the introduction of dining plans. But the question for the park to consider is how much my having a dining plan is COSTING them and whether there has been a net gain in profit. Doubling your revenues is futile if at the same time you triple your expenses.

People have talked a lot about food service troubles this year, but I've had very few notable ones after the first couple weeks when they were getting employees up to speed. All year, after almost forty visits, I have never encountered as poor of service in the park as I did last night at the Popeyes near the park.

First we were ignored for a few minutes- an employee walked past us several times assembling a prior order (the only other customer at the time), looking at us but saying nothing. After he finally said something it was another couple minutes before he did take the order, but said it would be fifteen minutes to cook it to order (if he actually paid attention to us when we came in, maybe we could have gotten a jump start on that fry time, huh?). I don't know precisely how long it actually took until we were served but it was longer than 15 minutes. All in all it took a half hour to get four pieces of chicken. There were no other customers after we walked in, except people who walked out when they were told it would take 15 minutes to cook their order.

I rarely eat at Kings Island anyways as I am more of a fan for other local fanfares like Potbelly's and Blue Ash Chili. But as for other guests, I see that the KI Rush has died down. I usually go to places like Taco Bell, Skyline (RARELY will I go here), Chipotle, Jimmy John's after the park is closed and I can notice that it has died down some what except with this new 8 PM Close that occurred to which there was an influx of patrons.

Then let's add into the mix of other restaurants and venues at hotels like GWL to where people flock to after a day at the park and it is visible that the people would be more dispersed making the rush even less discernible.

I can most certainly agree that the food administered with the ASFP works and it is a great deal after you do the math; and will probably become more of a perennial favorite as more guests upgrade for 2016.

People have talked a lot about food service troubles this year, but I've had very few notable ones after the first couple weeks when they were getting employees up to speed. All year, after almost forty visits, I have never encountered as poor of service in the park as I did last night at the Popeyes near the park.

First we were ignored for a few minutes- an employee walked past us several times assembling a prior order (the only other customer at the time), looking at us but saying nothing. After he finally said something it was another couple minutes before he did take the order, but said it would be fifteen minutes to cook it to order (if he actually paid attention to us when we came in, maybe we could have gotten a jump start on that fry time, huh?). I don't know precisely how long it actually took until we were served but it was longer than 15 minutes. All in all it took a half hour to get four pieces of chicken. There were no other customers after we walked in, except people who walked out when they were told it would take 15 minutes to cook their order.

Chicken takes 3.5 minutes to deep fry if frozen and precooked... If fresh and raw you are looking at about 5 mins....

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And dining plans could go the way of FUN Perks.

Or the price could escalate.

Time will tell.

If dining plans went away, it could be a tall order to convince participating customers to pay ~$11+tax each time for what had been "free".

Especially since it's advertised as with a drink so it reads $14....

The meal plan has caused me from spending $0 in the park on food and drinks (one refillable water bottle each year that turns into free water) into spending cash on drinks snacks, an extra meal for mrs shark... If it were to go away I would pack my meals or leave the park.

The meal plan mixes cost effective with ease... If one or both goes away so does my buying it

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If it goes away, you can't buy it.

Terp, here all week.

I expect the prices go increase...maybe dramatically, or possibly the route of boiling frog syndrome

if some use their meal plan with the fluency as our family has- I can see a healthcare-sized increase next year.  We "cash-flowed" ours to attain a positive ROI months ago.

It's a game of averages. I'm sure some paid and never ate a single meal...others only 1 or 2.

True story. I think I have used mine about 10-12 times this year. So I'm now at Positive ROi

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I have also used mine around 10-12 times

I'm pretty sure I've got a positive ROI on mine as well. I've used it at least 8-10 times at KI plus three times at CP.

Just a countdown now to see what the meal plan offering is or isn't for next year.  If the price goes up or it disappears, the park suffered or didn't get what they wanted out of it this year.  If the price goes down or stays the same...it's working for them.  Simple as that.  The lines?  That could be a sign of the big-time dollars they have raked in on meal plans and regular customers.  Build more food stands, shorter lines, happier people, more sales...make more money.  (We've all played Roller Coaster Tycoon, right?  lol)  Or...maybe not.

 

They also make substantial interest $ I'm sure on all of the meal plan money paid up-front.  A lot of the food they probably get dirt-cheap.  Nothing would surprise me too much, but a small part of me would be shocked if the meal plans are not making the park good money.

Not substantial interest money in today's environment...

^Yeah, I have no idea what they do with the money when they get it anyway...lol.  But they might get interest or pay off debt early or something.

Look at the balance sheet.

If anything, they are paying out distributions to unitholders. Debt reduction doesn't seem to be a priority for this management. See also Six Flags.

Hmm.  Learn something new everyday.  Never even bothered to realize Cedar Fair is publicly traded.  You're all over this stuff, Terp.  :-)  Analyst expectation is "outperform".  That's...usually not a bad sign.  5-year trend looking pretty good/stable.  Now we can all make some of our money back...lol.  Right?

It's also a Limited Partnership.

As a guy who more or less only goes to Kings Island, my big concern would be Cedar Fair making decisions across the board, without acknowledging local park factors.  If a dining plan works here or there, it doesn't mean it has to be offered everywhere.  And stuff like that can only be sorted out by good management.  Real people, making good decisions.

Matt Ouimet is there. And they have some of the best GMs in the business. Particularly at Carowinds. Now.