What began as a miniature golf course in the 1980s has morphed into Yakima Family Fun Center – a sprawling indoor and outdoor family entertainment center offering mini-golf, batting cages, bumper boats, go-karts, an arcade, an Omni Arena virtual reality attraction, and a café. 

Website: https://yakimafamilyfuncenter.com

Yakima Family Fun Center struggled with the systems running their business. As they worked with a variety of business systems for different indoor and outdoor attractions, their previous one was slow and lacked the necessary support when things went south. Even completing a basic sales transaction became a time-consuming event.

“When we first got this place, it had 1980 vibes,” giggles Kelsie Beath, General Manager. ”Now that we’re trying to reach out to more of the teenage crowd, our goal was to keep up with what people want and what they like to see – to make it quicker and more efficient for them,” she continues.

Manual processes at their venue was another hurdle for the business. For example, party bookings, explains Beath: “It’s difficult to gather all the birthday party information over the phone unless the customer is taking notes. We find ourselves repeating a lot of the details – it’s time-consuming.”

To help advance their business, Yakima Family Fun Center needed advanced business systems, so they decided to make the switch to Embed’s cashless system in 2013, implementing integrated hardware and software solutions such as smartTOUCH card readers, customizable game cards, kiosks, and applications under the TOOLKIT suite: SALES, PRIZES redemption POS, Mobile Wallet, and BOOKINGS.

“Now that we’ve done the upgrade, it’s just quick and easy - so easy that I feel like a Tech sometimes. I can now make some changes and modifications by myself, as well as downloading DPLs and getting barcodes for redemption counters.” says Beath. 

In their aim to reach the teenage market segment, implementing the next-gen Mobile Wallet was a big step forward. “The Mobile Wallet is cool because guests can skip the line. If we see a customer in line to top-up, we can basically just tap on their shoulder and say, ‘I see you’re reloading a card today. If you want, you can follow me, and I can make this really easy for you.” shares Beath. 

She continues to share how the Mobile Wallet dramatically elevated the guest experience, starting from the sign-up process: “We have these QR codes that guests can scan to encode their information, which is easier compared to other sign-ups where they ask for your whole credit history. For the Mobile Wallet, it’s just an email address and a password, and your game card goes straight to your digital wallet [in the mobile phone] – then go tap and play. It’s cool because everyone has a phone on their hand anyway.”

Addressing their party management challenge, upgrading to the BOOKINGS platform now enables Yakima Family Fun Center to make the process online and digitized, saving time for both customers and staff: “With BOOKINGS, customers have a visual of the packages, and with a click of a button they’re done. What’s also nice is if they want anything changed, they can just call and modifying the booking from our end is just a few clicks away. It’s flexible and easy to use,” lauds Beath. “For a mom like me, if I want to book a party at 11 o’clock at night when my kids are in bed, I don’t have to worry about it or try to call when I’m at work. It’s definitely convenient for the customers,” she adds.

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• Solution Highlights:

  • smartTOUCH card readers

  • TOOLKIT: SALES 

  • PRIZES Redemption POS

  • BOOKINGS

  • Game Cards

  • Mobile Wallet

  • Kiosks

Less Employees with More Efficient Operations

After partnering with Embed, Yakima Family Fun Center has experienced dramatic day-to-day operational efficiency. Going cashless resulted to payments being processed through the card-based and contactless system, allowing guests to have more time to pay and play on their own. 

Beath details: “When guests arrive at the venue, they don’t have to talk to somebody if they already know what to do, especially if they are reoccurring customers. For new customers, they want more one-on-one attention at a POS or at the café just to get an idea of how it works. But once they figure it out – like credits or dollar amount, or the average price per play, it becomes easier for customers to go up and get it done themselves.”

Aside from ensuring a seamless guest experience, going cashless is doing wonders for Yakima’s manpower cost management. Beath continues: “Kiosks also help with sales because people want to be in their own little bubble. It's easy for customers to go up and get things done themselves. The kiosks are so simple to use that it would be surprising if someone couldn't figure out how to buy a card. It saves us [the cost of] at least two or three employees!” 

With the tech involved with the upgrade, Yakima is guaranteed ongoing care and support when issues arise – an assurance compared to their previous system: “Embed is available 24-hours a day, so if ever we encounter an access point problem at 9 PM, there is someone we can talk to. That’s what makes it all reassuring because it can be intimidating with all the technology involved but being able to reach someone and get the issues squared away almost instantly is the best part.” notes Beath.

Yakima Family Fun Center aspires to “get the party started” with its wide choices of indoor and outdoor attractions. Thanks to their partnership with Embed, they can cover all the operational bases without compromising the guest experience. 

“Embed is great. They will not sell you anything that doesn’t make sense to your business – they will recommend what’s best for you,” Beath concludes.