Dave & Buster's Entertainment Stock

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (D&B Entertainment) owns and operates venues in North America that offer premier entertainment and dining experiences to its guests. The company offers guests the opportunity to Eat Drink Play and Watch, all in one location. Each store offers a full menu of entrees and appetizers, a complete selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and an extensive assortment of entertainment attractions centered around playing games and watching live sports and other televised events.

On June 29, 2022, the company completed its acquisition (the Main Event Acquisition or the Acquisition) including family entertainment centers under the Main Event brand and family entertainment centers under the name The Summit (collectively referred to as Main Event), operating in 17 states. Main Event offers food, drinks and amusements, including state-of-the-art bowling, laser tag, hundreds of arcade games and virtual reality, making it the perfect place for families to connect and make memories.

Food and Beverage

The company strives to differentiate its food with quality, flavorful offerings guided by an Inspired American Kitchen identity at its Dave & Buster’s locations and a Family Kitchen at its Main Event locations. These offerings are rooted in enhanced flavors and quality ingredients across a condensed number of menu items that enables the company’s customers to explore new flavors while offering a balanced selection of familiar dishes. The company’s menus simplify execution and, along with recent kitchen enhancements, allow it to deliver dishes to customers hotter and faster to drive an improved customer experience. While its menus appeal to a broad spectrum of customers, the company continues to evolve it to reflect the changing tastes of its customers, with options for full meals, as well as grabbing an appetizer to share with friends. The company delivers high-quality offerings, including a wide variety of starters, one-of-a-kind burgers and handhelds, choice-grade steaks, pasta, and low calorie, vegetarian, and gluten friendly options. The company’s broad menus offer something for everyone and are appropriate for many different occasions.

Each of the company’s locations also offers full bar service, including a variety of beers, hand-crafted cocktails, and premium spirits. The company focuses on maintaining a streamlined beverage menu for ease of execution, while using quality ingredients including fresh juices, purees and house-made mixers. Beverage service is typically available throughout the entire store, allowing for multiple point of sale opportunities.

Amusement and Entertainment

The Midway in each of the company’s stores is an area where it offers a wide array of amusement and entertainment options, some of which are exclusive to its Dave & Buster's and Main Event brands on a permanent or temporary basis. Each of the company’s Dave & Buster’s stores typically has approximately 145 redemption and simulation games, as well its proprietary virtual reality platform. The company’s Main Event locations feature redemption and simulation games, as well as bowling, laser tag, billiards and gravity ropes. Some of the company’s Main Event locations also feature mini escape rooms, mini golf and gravity ropes. Most of the company’s games are activated by game play credits on cards or other RFID devices. A customer purchases a card with game play credits or chips at an automated kiosk, through its mobile application, or from one of its team members. The company’s amusement and other revenues accounted for approximately 65% of its total revenues during fiscal 2022. Many of the company’s non-redemption games, which include its virtual reality, video, and simulation offerings, can be played by multiple customers simultaneously and include some of the latest high-tech games that are commercially available. Other amusements, including billiards and bowling, represented the remainder of the company’s amusement and other revenues in fiscal 2022.

Most of the company’s Dave & Buster's stores have an enhanced viewing experience with huge cutting-edge LED Wow Walls that differentiates Dave & Buster’s by delivering an elevated viewing experience and providing a platform for broader programming and marketing opportunities. The company’s Sports Watching areas offer an immersive viewing environment that provides customers with large, high-definition televisions, to watch community-focused sports programming and enjoy its full bar and food menu. The company has created an energetic environment that includes a differentiated and interactive viewing experience for customers, and its goal is to build awareness of D&B as the best place to watch sports and the only place to watch the games and play the games.

Strategy

The key elements of the company’s strategy are to offer novel food and drink to bring people together; offer the latest entertainment to enjoy together; align team and integrated experience; drive customer engagement; invest domestically in its brands; and invest in foreign operations.

Advertising and Marketing

The company uses advertising and marketing to build awareness and strengthen its brands' relevance. The company utilizes several forms of media, including investments in linear TV, connected TV, social and digital video, and test new types of programmatic display and digital audio, and have several digital marketing initiatives, including search engine marketing and optimization, mobile campaigns, and website improvements. The company executes periodic promotions, create in-store point-of-purchase materials and execute local marketing plans to address specific objectives in individual stores or markets. The company works with external advertising, digital, media and design agencies in the development and execution of these programs.

The company also invests in developing and implementing new technology platforms that will allow it to digitally engage with its customers and team members and strengthen its marketing and analytics capabilities in an increasingly connected society. Central to this effort is continued investment in the company’s mobile application and web platforms, which are used to enhance existing customer satisfaction and attract new customers by providing periodic exclusive offers and discounts and providing a convenient way to purchase gaming cards.

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, the company launched an enhanced loyalty program for its Dave & Buster's brand that has millions of members and continues to grow. The Dave & Buster’s Rewards Program is a customer recognition program that rewards members primarily for their game chips played. Eligible members have the ability to level-up by playing game chips, and members are rewarded with free game play or food offers based on their level. As its loyalty program continues to grow, it provides an important method for maintaining customers’ connection with the D&B brand and further driving customer satisfaction.

The company utilizes a number of other initiatives to continually improve its market effectiveness, including refining its marketing strategy to better reach both young adults and families, creating new advertising campaigns, investing in menu research and development to differentiate its food offerings from its competition and improve key product attributes (quality, consistency, value and overall customer satisfaction) and execution, developing product/promotional strategies to attract new customers and increase spending/length of stay, and reflecting a consistent brand identity that represents its positioning and commitment to quality.

Special Event marketing programs are run in support of the company’s pecial events team initiatives. Dedicated, target-specific marketing programs are executed primarily utilizing digital, customer relationship management (CRM), and print marketing collateral. The company has online booking for social parties to provide additional convenience in booking events for its customers.

Foreign Operations

The company owns and operates two stores outside of the United States in the Canadian province of Ontario.

Seasonality

The company’s revenues are influenced by seasonal shifts in consumer spending. Typically, the company has higher revenues associated with the spring and year-end holidays, which will continue to be susceptible to the impact of severe or unseasonably mild weather on customer traffic and sales during that period. The company’s third quarter (January 29, 2023, which encompasses the back-to-school fall season, has historically had lower revenues as compared to other quarters. During the first half of fiscal 2021, results also fluctuated due to the timing and frequency of temporary closures and operating restrictions as a result of state and local guidelines imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Intellectual Property

The company has registered the trademarks Dave & Buster’s, Power Card, Eat & Play Combo, Eat Drink Play, Eat Drink Play Watch, Main Event, Main Event Entertainment, and Eat.Bowl.Play and has registered or applied to register certain additional trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in various foreign countries.

Government Regulation

In California, the company is subject to the Private Attorneys General Act, which authorizes employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the state of California for labor code violations.

History

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. was founded in 1982.