WadeLanham
Well-known member
It's one of many around here. WV... it's like a time machine. We just got Ms. Pac-man here. And Retrojunky is surfing from a internet cafe with wired terminals, $5/hr...
Wade
Suggestions for opening a local arcade
- Thread starter RetroJunky
- Start date
It's one of many around here. WV... it's like a time machine. We just got Ms. Pac-man here. And Retrojunky is surfing from a internet cafe with wired terminals, $5/hr...
Wade
WadeLanham
Well-known member
Zud
Well-known member
It was Jefferson, IN by the way.
fuck papa johns. the one i worked at shouldve had a sign that said "expired ingredients, full price pizza. papa johns." sometimes when things would expire we would have specials just to get rid of as much of it as we could, of course they never told the customers they were eating expired product. then they dropped the wage for all drivers down to subminimum, even though we were expected to do cooking and cleaning as well as taking orders and delivering. eventually they stopped cleaning the windows, they wouldnt even wash rags for us anymore, we never had any cleaners, and by the end they were even shutting off the lights in the daytime trying to save a few cents. then one morning they told us they were closing down permanently, and we all lost our jobs. within a few hours the whole place was empty and all the signage was down. you cant even tell there was a papa johns there anymore. alot of it was corporate fault, in my opinion. they started skimping on toppings, getting cheaper toppings, thinner boxes, and at the same time, raising prices. they made us carry a million specials noone ever ordered, so we had to have all those extra ingredients on hand, raising food costs. we were open hours too late every night when there would only be one or two orders and they wouldnt let us close early to save labor costs. oftentimes we would get vegetables or other toppings straight off the semi and they would be rotten or nearly expired. i wasnt even in management, but i finally got fed up when i was being forced to prepare and serve a product i wouldnt have eaten myself for free. i went in the walk in cooler and started throwing away piles of expired food. i made enough noise about it for long enough that they finally got in a manager from out of the area who threw away several hundred dollars worth of expired product we had in our store. no surprise we were shut down two weeks later.
LyonsArcade
Well-known member
I used to love Papa John's, ordered pizza from there all the time, they were the best in town. The past 3 or 4 years though the pizza has turned to crap, they used to have a claim to quality pizza, now it's the same as all the other places.
In my opinion Dominos is untouchable right now, they've changed their crust around a bit and it's great.
In my opinion Dominos is untouchable right now, they've changed their crust around a bit and it's great.
find a local pizza place that has been in business more than 20 years and i can pretty much guarantee they will have a better product than any of the big 3. if they didnt, they wouldnt still be in business.
i agree about papa johns going way down hill. i worked there a dozen or so years ago when they were really serious about the concept that people would be willing to pay more for a better quality product. it made watching them run the place into the ground just that much more poignant.
they dont want to pay minimum wage, so they understaff and use drivers instead of in store workers for cooking and cleaning. when you are topping and cutting pies instead of driving, service suffers, and thats tough when you are depending on tips to make a living. then corporate does stuff like the stupid "delivery charge" which isnt a delivery charge at all. yes, drivers are provided with a minimal (75 cents to a dollar) per delivery for gas and vehicle maintenance and the expensive insurance the driver has to pay for themselves. it doesnt even come close to covering the actual expenses, and when tips drop below a certain point, people quit and the only ones stupid enough to take the job are high school kids too stupid to do simple math. lots of people drive for a year not figuring in vehicle expenses and then it all catches up at once, new set of tires, brakes, starter, etc and they cant pay for it. so corporate charges this 2-$2.50 delivery charge, which has nothing to do with mileage reimbursement they are required by law to pay the drivers. the customer thinks the tip is included, so half the time drivers end up driving on a bad night for less than minimum wage after expenses are included.
papa johns also has the largest delivery areas of anywhere ive seen. a round trip to the far end of our area was 28 miles. the fastest it could be taken is about 40 minutes if there wasnt heavy traffic. gas was $4 a gallon when i was driving, and it took a gallon of gas to deliver to the far end of our area! so, unless the customer tipped a minimum of $3 i was having my sub minimum wage $$$ literally stolen out of my wallet to pay for gas for the privilege of keeping a job. and, of course they would understaff so they could save a couple bucks of not having to pay our subminimum wages. of course that is going to affect customer service./
the way i see it, they are sacrificing quality and service for short term profits. they need to stop going for the bargain shopper, stop with all the ridiculous specialty pizzas, and go back to making great pizza with fresh ingredients and good customer service by paying their employees a living wage and adequately staffing their stores. if they dont, they are doomed. toppers is already doing what papa johns used to do, and filling the niche quite nicely.
i agree about papa johns going way down hill. i worked there a dozen or so years ago when they were really serious about the concept that people would be willing to pay more for a better quality product. it made watching them run the place into the ground just that much more poignant.
they dont want to pay minimum wage, so they understaff and use drivers instead of in store workers for cooking and cleaning. when you are topping and cutting pies instead of driving, service suffers, and thats tough when you are depending on tips to make a living. then corporate does stuff like the stupid "delivery charge" which isnt a delivery charge at all. yes, drivers are provided with a minimal (75 cents to a dollar) per delivery for gas and vehicle maintenance and the expensive insurance the driver has to pay for themselves. it doesnt even come close to covering the actual expenses, and when tips drop below a certain point, people quit and the only ones stupid enough to take the job are high school kids too stupid to do simple math. lots of people drive for a year not figuring in vehicle expenses and then it all catches up at once, new set of tires, brakes, starter, etc and they cant pay for it. so corporate charges this 2-$2.50 delivery charge, which has nothing to do with mileage reimbursement they are required by law to pay the drivers. the customer thinks the tip is included, so half the time drivers end up driving on a bad night for less than minimum wage after expenses are included.
papa johns also has the largest delivery areas of anywhere ive seen. a round trip to the far end of our area was 28 miles. the fastest it could be taken is about 40 minutes if there wasnt heavy traffic. gas was $4 a gallon when i was driving, and it took a gallon of gas to deliver to the far end of our area! so, unless the customer tipped a minimum of $3 i was having my sub minimum wage $$$ literally stolen out of my wallet to pay for gas for the privilege of keeping a job. and, of course they would understaff so they could save a couple bucks of not having to pay our subminimum wages. of course that is going to affect customer service./
the way i see it, they are sacrificing quality and service for short term profits. they need to stop going for the bargain shopper, stop with all the ridiculous specialty pizzas, and go back to making great pizza with fresh ingredients and good customer service by paying their employees a living wage and adequately staffing their stores. if they dont, they are doomed. toppers is already doing what papa johns used to do, and filling the niche quite nicely.
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We've long since passed the time when operating a public arcade space of any size can be considered a profitable venture. There are those, however, that still do it just because they have a love for the games and want to perpetuate the archetype. Being a Gen Xer myself, I can tell you that I don't hesitate to plunk a few bits into the Ms Pac cab at the local pizza joint when I'm out to pick up our Friday night gourmet meal. But that's $.50. I gotta know that guy paid upwards of $1000 for that cab used, and he's gotta maintain it. He's not making money.
One thing I can say would be a consideration -- less traffic means less potential for vandalism.
If you make a go of this, I would NOT approach it as a money making opportunity, rather your contribution for nostalgia's sake. Think about it this way -- if you place a 60 in 1 there, and some Saturday some guy who hasn't seen a game in years walks by and gets to relive his glory days for a few minutes on that cab, is it worth it? Being able to offer that guy a little slice of happiness is worth it IMHO.
Think of it as a contribution, not an investment, and you'll probably feel better about it.
One thing I can say would be a consideration -- less traffic means less potential for vandalism.
If you make a go of this, I would NOT approach it as a money making opportunity, rather your contribution for nostalgia's sake. Think about it this way -- if you place a 60 in 1 there, and some Saturday some guy who hasn't seen a game in years walks by and gets to relive his glory days for a few minutes on that cab, is it worth it? Being able to offer that guy a little slice of happiness is worth it IMHO.
Think of it as a contribution, not an investment, and you'll probably feel better about it.
Difference is, a majority of Americans still want to eat pizza and sandwiches. A majority of Americans don't want to pay 25 cents to play games from 1982.
WadeLanham
Well-known member
Wow, is this the "Pizza" sub-forum?
Most people I know consider Papa Johns one of the better or best pizzas around, and around here they are always busy. If your store couldn't manage to stay in business, I'd say the location must have been horrible. Some businesses just can't survive in certain areas. Both of our local PJ's won't even deliver to our house, which are less than 5 miles away from eithe rlocation, so obviously yours going 28 miles is not a company policy.
Or maybe they are falling apart trying to compete with the cheaper pizzas... I don't know...
We occasionally buy Hot-N-Ready pizzas, and let me tell you, the worst Papa Johns pizza I've ever had was FAR better than those. Even when the HNR's are totally fresh (which they usually are), they don't taste as good.
Wade
LyonsArcade
Well-known member
They must do things differently at your store, around here there's a noticeable, completely obvious change in the ingredients and the quality of the pizza. Little Caesar's from back in the day was much better than the current papa john's, it's literally as bad as any frozen pizza you get. They used to be great, nobody had a pizza like them.
gozer5454
Volunteer: Google SketchUp Guru
Mmmmm....pizzaaaaaa......
I used to drive for PJ's in my college days. Hated it yet loved it at the same time. Bradd, your shitty location was probably just be run by an idiot of a Franchise owner. I worked for two different Owners (or are they called District managers? Ah who the hell cares) in two different cities of Oregon.
The one in Eugene, OR would let employees buy any pizza/ product for it's cost. The driver's driving range was still roughly about 5 mile radius from store, leaving some pockets of dead space between the cities stores. The labor was always staffed correctly, and the instore manager/ daytime driver would make judgement calls on delivering any pizza beyond the zone.
The one is Salem, OR charged employees half price of any product (roughly double the price for Eugene store). The Driver's range was just slightly further, taking us nearly 10 miles down some back roads to some wealthy neighborhoods (who, ironically, would always tip the least). The labor was always half-assed. Usually one manager and one driver thru all day thru 5 oclock (sometimes are driver wait time at 12 and 4 was roughly 1hr30 minutes). Never enough people staffed to get the job done right. Tips suffered. Eventually that location in South Salem closed. No wonder there.
Oh, and on a side note, don't open a 12x12 arcade in a flea market.
Sad but true
On the contrary though, they'll pay a buck to play it on their phone!
Sure, a one time cost for unlimited plays > 25 cents a pop.
SgtSmackaho
Well-known member
Im hungry.....
