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From Sunscreen Condiments to the “Soup Nazi,” Pat Koch Delivers Amusing Lessons

by Keith Miller

The large audience that had lunch with Pat Koch of Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari on Monday were treated to humorous and heartfelt guidance from the long-time park matriarch.

She opened by making light of her park’s very rural setting and showed a photo of a road sign that read “Congested Area,” with a cornfield in the background. She joked that she had made many mistakes along the way, like promoting baked-potato pizza in the park, which she thought was delicious, but no one else did. But she said the secret was to just keep trying things and trying things and never give up.

She also reminisced about the time when the park began offering free sunscreen to guests. They put the sunscreen station near a place where they served hot dogs. Unfortunately, the hot dog condiments—like ketchup and mustard—were served out of plunger bottles that were very similar to the plunger bottles that the sunscreen was in. So, a few guests wound up squirting sunscreen on their hot dogs. Koch joked, “That wasn’t the best location for the sunscreen station!”

One of the risky ideas the park tried that did work out was offering guests unlimited free soft drinks. She said some people in the attractions industry asked her if she really knew what she was doing and suggested that she hadn’t “run the numbers.” But she said the strategy turned out to be a huge success and generated much good will from guests, as did offering free parking and free sunscreen.

Koch noted that her park operates under just a few sound principles—those that mean much more to park operators than money: Respect the individual, even if you think they don’t deserve it; play by the rules; value hard work and a healthy balance between work and family; and value team spirit.

Showing an excerpt from the famous Seinfeld TV episode on the “soup nazi,” she chuckled that parks can’t afford to have such short tempers with guests, or to even show impatience.

Koch stressed valuing guests’ time and money, which means not making them spend all day waiting in long lines and only getting to ride on three rides. She said this principle goes to one of her core values, what she terms TOSS—Totally Outrageous Sensational Service. She said if a park can’t be number one in roller coasters and keep up with the big parks in that way, it can certainly be number one in friendliness.

Even if a park is a family operation, she said it still has to be run as a business. Along those lines, she stressed having a set of guidelines that everyone in the family who wants to be a part of the business knows they must follow.

As for how park owners and managers should mentor their employees, Koch suggested, “Do what you want them to do, and be what you want them to be.”