Lucky Jack’s Receives Brunswick Center Of Excellence Award

Lucky Jack’s of Traverse City, Mich., has parlayed 50 years of success as a traditional bowling center into something much bigger and more lucrative by turning itself into a full-blown family entertainment center. This family-owned business, long known as Timber Lanes with 40 lanes of bowling, recently transformed itself into a first-class hybrid family entertainment center. One lane was removed to build a wall, creating an 8 lane VIP or boutique bowling room, while six lanes were removed to create a fun and exciting redemption arcade. Party rooms, bumper cars, laser tag and a laser maze were also added, and the lounge and billiard area were completely renovated.

Creating Lucky Jack’s was a bold move for owners Dave and Mike Mohrhardt, who are brothers and sons of the original proprietors, along with Mike’s son Chris, who is also a partner. The investment is paying off handsomely as Lucky Jack’s has become a major recreation hub that draws customers from across northern Michigan. Most recently, the center’s impressive transformation has earned it the prestigious Brunswick Center of Excellence Award for 2011.

Each year, Brunswick singles out the Center of Excellence award winner among bowling-based entertainment centers that demonstrate an exemplary blend of cutting-edge planning and design, business-critical general management and operations, effective marketing and sales strategies, and superior customer service. Lucky Jack’s was a clear winner of the award for 2011, thanks to its exceptional performance against all of the Center of Excellence criteria.

This isn’t the first time that Brunswick has held up Lucky Jack’s as an example of excellence, either. The center was recently featured at the Brunswick Showcase held in Portland, Ore. – a forum for proprietors that are considering modernizing their centers to keep up with the changing entertainment appetites of today’s consumers.

Recent years have seen a shift from traditional bowling centers to upscale boutique centers and family entertainment centers that offer a wider range of amusements in one place. Lucky Jack’s exemplifies the family entertainment concept and is reaping the rewards accordingly. With bragging rights to the region’s only bumper cars, largest arcade (including a walk-through redemption store), best laser tag (including the area’s only Laser Maze course), eight billiard tables and the 300 Club – an upscale lounge with private bar, eight bowling lanes and lane-side wait service – Lucky Jack’s truly offers something fun for everyone.

“We’ve had a great working relationship, partnership and friendship with Brunswick for many years,” said Mike Mohrhardt. “When we started planning our project, Brunswick furnished us contact names, pictures, plans and ideas from centers across the United States. Much of the information they furnished us had nothing to do with what they sell, but what was needed to make a successful FEC operation. They were there to help lend their expertise and knowledge of the industry. Their help saved us a lot of time and money in our project.”