For Dave & Buster’s CEO Steve King, providing a unique customer experience is always top of mind. Dave & Buster’s distinctive customer value proposition is known as Eat Drink Play and Watch.
“Our guests continue to recognize the unique experience that Dave & Buster’s provides, especially when compared with conventional casual dining,” King explained during the company’s fiscal third-quarter conference call last month, according to Seeking Alpha. “We remained the only national competitor in our space and provide an experience that’s highly customizable and cannot be replicated at home.”
Dave & Buster’s has 72 stores in 30 states and Canada.
Overall, same-store sales jumped 8.8% during the quarter.
“And once again, we exhibited strength across day parts, days of the week, weekend, and most geographies, demonstrating the power of our Eat Drink Play and Watch branding,” King said. “On the marketing front, we wrapped up our popular Summer of Games promotion during the third quarter with the focus on Angry Birds game, which was an exclusive launch for us in August before transitioning to football-related messaging tied to our D&B Sports branding in September and October. Still, we thought the investment in kicking off the first three weeks of the NFL football season with a compelling offer with a great way to build awareness for Dave & Buster’s as a destination for one-of-a-kind sports viewing and it could have a positive implication for building this brand.”
What’s more, King noted that the company’s media strategy consisted of an additional week of cable advertising focused on D&B Sports, “while in August we also had greater focus on kids-related channel such as Nickelodeon than in the prior year. And while we targeted messages to our younger guests, only a small subsection of our national cable advertising buy, we did experience a lift in kid entrées and sales growth in off-peak day parts when normally we see more families. Our electronic ticket conversion initiative was also completed early in the third quarter and was the primary driver of the 170 basis point improvement in amusement cost of sales. Our guests have clearly embraced a change with an opt-in rate of approximately 90% and our guest satisfaction scores in the amusement area continue to remain strong even after the conversion.”