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The Calling
Booming call center business helped launch Steve Bigari’s FEC career
by Mike Bederka
STEVE BIGARI DIDN’T ENTER THE FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT CENTER (FEC) WORLD in the traditional way. Via the Army, Happy Meals, and telecommunications, he became CEO of Mr. Biggs in 2004, which has grown to three Colorado locations.
 His career began after he graduated from West Point with a degree in engineering. Following five years of active military service, he moved into the fast food industry.
For nearly two decades he operated a dozen successful McDonald’s franchises. Business grew from $1.5 million to $20 million in 12 years, and he earned a spot as chairman of the company’s innovation team.
Improving efficiency and customer service became Bigari’s goal, and he developed a central call center for his restaurants and other McDonald’s franchisees. This part of the business exploded as food wait times and mistakes on orders plunged. “Anywhere somebody answers a phone or a speaker in a restaurant, it’s a good place to apply a call center,” he says. “The market is huge.”
He soon sold his McDonald’s franchises and searched for a 20,000-square-foot building to launch his new call center company, Stellar Restaurant Solutions.
After Bigari looked at several disappointing smaller buildings, his real estate agent turned him onto a 152,000-squarefoot structure. “All I had to do is figure out what to do with the remaining 132,000 square feet,” says the 50-year-old father of five with a laugh. “That’s where Mr. Biggs was born.”
The two parts of the building aren’t mutually exclusive. He applies call center technology inside his FEC. For instance, while bowling, guests can use their cell phones to order food straight to their lane. FUNWORLD catches up with Bigari to discuss how he balances his two careers.
What made you decide to go the entertainment route?
I had all kinds of connections in the business. I thought it would be interesting to do something a little bit different— the fusion of family entertainment center, adult entertainment center, corporate entertainment center, edutainment, bowling, and food. I wanted to create something that was a little more expansive since I had the room. Something that was good for people ages 3 to 93.
What improvements did you make when you expanded?
It’s the innovator’s paradigm. When you do something, you learn from it. In our first store in Colorado Springs, there’s 15,000 square feet of dedicated event space in one room. It works really well when you have an event, but otherwise, it’s dead space. We took about 26,000 square feet in the new Denver location and turned it into a Grand Prix track. But we made the track removable. You can take everything out and run an event. We just made it smarter.
What do you use the event space for?
Concerts, fund-raisers, parties, and corporate gatherings. Also, weddings and quinceañeras have become pretty big business. With the economy, people have had to cut expenses, and some have turned away from hotels. I think that they’re a good use of an FEC if you have the space.
Are these types of events profitable?
The way I look at it is you have a building space that’s available 24/7. You want to fill in all the parts of the day. For example, lots of businesses hold breakfast meetings. We do those at a discounted rate because we would be closed otherwise. Also, after-prom events are huge business for us. Again, those are times when we would be closed. We have the infrastructure to pull these events off nicely.
However, it’s a different discipline and you have to stretch a little bit and learn what people are looking for and how to market it. It brings out its own set of challenges, but they’re generally lucrative business models.
How are you handling the recession?
All of us in the business are working harder. We are all doing more to make less. The key there is to provide incredible value, so we keep the transaction counts up. We reacted to that with a variety of pricing mechanisms. We bundle arcade play and attractions, offer timed play, and have high-quality food at reasonable prices. Then, we get both the food and entertainment transactions out of the same guest.
Where do you see the FEC industry heading?
I see FECs becoming anchors in places where people gather, like a shopping mall. That would be a great trend. I see a plethora of big-box space that’s available.
How do you use social networking and technology in your marketing campaign?
It’s very important. We’re just scratching the surface with text campaigns and Facebook. In today’s environment, kids think differently. You find them in different places than you did 10 years ago. You have to react to that.
Is there anything you learned from your military background that you carry over to the FEC industry?
In any business, it’s about discipline and hard work. The military is a great teaching ground for that.
What do you like most about your job?
I think it’s about bringing families together. This is a time when there’s a lot of stress and a lot of frustration. To see families just relaxing and laughing, that’s the best part.
Contact Contributing Editor Mike Bederka at mbederka@IAAPA.org.
Learn more about F.I.R.S.T. For details about the IAAPA-sponsored FEC insurance program, visit www.amerspec.com, or call +1 800/245-2744.
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