How Bowlski's Turned a Historic Dallas Theater Into a Bowling Bar and Took a $100K Deal

We are here in Dallas at the historic Lakewood Movie Theater. Now all across the country, these historic landmarks are sort of going out of fashion, but a local entrepreneur has changed this theater into a bowling alley plus jello shots plus a bar. He does it all. Can you share revenue your best month? You know $102,100

grand a month, right?

So good. I mean, it's a great business. He has big expansion plans, but the question is where is he going to get the cash to grow? That's where I come in.

I would add additional games and I get more revenue from the guys down there that are buying the beers. With with additional capital, it would really help us be able to expand our revenue areas up here.

And to execute your vision, how much cash would you need?

$202,150,000.

Yep. If I love his vision, I'll offer to invest on the spot.

Hey, how are you? I'm Nathan.

Nathan Craig Spivey. Hey, nice to meet you.

Craig, really good to meet you, man.

Good to meet too. Welcome to Bowlski's.

Yes. I was gonna say, what's the name of the place? Where are we standing? What have you built here?

Bowlski's is actually our concept. So it's a bowling fun environment. We found this cool theater built in '19... Originally opened in 1938. It was shut down since 2015. We decided to put a bowling alley in here.

And when did you come in?

Came in in 2018, like right before COVID. It was awful.

Great time.

Bad time, obviously. Right? So we went and bought a whole bowling alley in Mineola that had been closed. So the machines are actually from the fifties and sixties. So we took that bowling apart... Bowling alley apart and brought it back here and put it all back together. Then

Most founders, like hate dealing with historic buildings because you can't do anything. The city goes crazy if you touch anything. Did you buy the building outright? What's protected? What's not?

Okay. So yeah, I do have a lease. I have a lease here on the building. Artwork up here is protected, so I was kind of limited on what I could do. The outside, actually, the facade, is is protected as well. So everything in here is actually renovated or restored, or taken out of the existing theater or we brought in another closed venue.

So how much did you have to invest when you came in in 2018 just to get it open and operational?

So we were under a million bucks. We were a live music venue, so we were able to get a really good, nice grant, which kept us open during COVID.

So you were open and operational basically from 2018 right up until March of COVID?

Right, absolutely. March 15.

Okay.

Good $1,200 in April. I'll never forget it. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Think I drank everything on the wall.

Yourself? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How was it doing though before COVID? Like what was your best Great.

I'm still not there yet, right? I'm still probably at 60, 75% of where I was before COVID. So now I can run this place on five employees. So before COVID, I would have two people working here. I'd have three in the bar. I'd have a bar right here in the lobby. I had a bar on the mezzanine, had a bar upstairs, had servers in here. So it was a whole different ballgame.

Can you share revenue your best month before COVID?

You know, between 100 and, you know, 100 and $200 a month.

Great. So good. I mean, that's great business. It was a great business. So COVID shuts you down. How many months are you closed for?

I think for like eight months. So what's great is because we were bowling out. We were able to open a little bit earlier than the bars or, you know, but we were still limited on our capacity to, 50% for a long time.

And fast forward mid twenty twenty one up through today, we're filming this in early twenty twenty six. What is... Has anything changed about the business? Have you added or subtracted anything?

So I added Double Dave's Pizza Works, which is a really popular franchise here in Texas. I think they have like 39, 40 locations. It operates actually really well by itself.

Sum up all the revenue streams today.

We have actually the bar, the food and the bowl. Friday and Saturday night, we'll be on a three, four hour wait. You know, we do have spillover opportunity in bar and other areas, but people ultimately come here to bowl. Yeah. This used to be the actual arcade of the theater. All the games were in here. It's kind of an old Ivy bar, but I used to come and hang out all the time when I was in

my mid-20s and stuff. You have this whole environment that's going on out in the bowling alley, and then you can have this whole other environment that's going on this side in bar. So I started selling these Jell O Shots and these syringes.

You want to grab one, bring it over real quick?

Oh, yeah. Probably make like 300 of these a week. This is my top seller every single month. Here are these items.

So you make the most revenue off this?

Absolutely, 100%.

Not bowling? Well, bowling is my top seller. Got it. In bit and over here.

What's great about bowling is it's pretty much cash business, right? So once you buy the equipment and you pay for it, it doesn't have anything tied to it like, you know, the alcohol or the food.

So what percent of your total monthly revenue comes from bowling?

I'd say probably 40 to 45%. My bar overall, my bar is probably like 30%.

And of the 30% from the bar, how much is just these Jell O shots you get if you had to get?

Oh shoot, 20%.

Okay. That's meaningful.

Right.

So what do one of these sell for?

These are $7 a piece.

And what does one cost you to make? Under a dollar.

Well the syringes are about 50¢ a piece.

You can reuse them right?

Yeah no I don't.

You can't reuse them? Is that gross? Pretty gross. Sorry. My bad. I don't know. You guys tell me in the comments below.

Is that gross? I reuse

Profit margins over everything. Reuse the syringes. Okay.

So what's great in Texas is with TABC law, these are sealed caps. So you can take these to go.

I am a slightly confused because when we were outside, you said that you... I I... It sounded like you sort of leased this to somebody like a pizza shop, but I don't see pizza in here. Did I miss... Misunderstand that?

Oh, We got a full pizza restaurant back here. We have Double Dave's Pizza Works franchise here.

Like, that's your... You run it. You bought the franchise. Franchise. But We bought the is there franchise model similar all their franchises? You just pay them up to 5 percent of revenue or something like that?

It's a percentage to buy and then a percentage of last day's everybody.

Okay. That's great. You must have the highest score here. Are you good at bowling?

No. I... Well, I mean, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't bet against me in that. I love the game. I mean, it's so much fun. My son actually has the highest score here. How's your game?

I have no... I haven't bowled in ten years. Should we throw a couple of balls?

Yeah. Let's

let's You you go first.

Looks like there's still like almost a stage up top there. Do you still use that?

We have DJs that come in Friday and Saturday night. My name is DJ Pinjans. Nice. If I can't find one, I'll step up there Nice. And do it, but it's a lot of fun.

What are the kinds of clientele that you have coming in here? And is it more like a midday thing or like late at night after the bars?

Yeah. Mean, it's a late night. If I had to pinpoint a certain age group that hits us the most, probably 28 to 32, Late night changes, and it turns into, like, a big time party zone, and you're 09:00 on late night.

Are you open?

We're open till two. We're open till two. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

See, I imagine you do most of your revenue between between, like, 11PM and 2AM.

Well, yeah. I mean, actually, 09:00 is sort of my busiest time frame.

Okay.

That's when I go on the largest wave, and then I do get another hit around 11:00.

You told me there were three parts of the business. Right? The bar with the pizza, including all your cool branded stuff. Right. The bowling alley, obviously. Those you said make about 80% of your business. Right? Sure. Where's the last 20% come from?

Upstairs.

Should we head up there?

Yeah. Let's go. So we're in the balcony of the original theater. This is sort of our overflow area when people are waiting to bowl.

Yep.

So up here, we have our arcade pool tables. We have two dark suites, and then we have a really cool speakeasy bar up on top.

So you you make money off of, just the games, quarters, things like that?

I mean, not really. Okay. Not not part of my really business model. Right?

And do people

It's keeping them here so that I can get them on the

lanes I after see. Do you do event rentals?

Okay. So I just opened up the two dart suites up here. I've tried everything up here. Yeah. So I had video game, party suite. I had a golf simulator. Yeah. So I'm looking at all sorts of different options to be able to monetize this area Better. Yeah. So, yeah, failed here, but I can't just get enough up here.

What do you think max revenue is for this location?

$4.04 5,000,000.

And what do you think that revenue mix would look like? Same 40% bowling?

Oh, I think it's the same. Yeah.

And do you need extra capital to get that growth or is it just a matter of time and, you know, survive getting past COVID?

With with additional capital, it would really help us be able to expand our revenue areas up here, get, add more features here that are complement what we've already got going on down there. Capital would help us do improvements that would make the business a little better.

And do you have any other do you have any debt on the books today?

COVID. The COVID loan. But

those are usually like thirty year 3% super cheap.

Right.

Right?

Right. Okay. Absolutely.

Yeah. So that's good. Right. Where so where specifically would you spend the money?

I would add additional activities for my guests that are already here that are already coming here. I would add additional games. I would activate this area, more than than it is right now.

And to execute your vision, how much cash would you need?

$202,100, 250,000.

Yep. Do you sort of have a preference on how you raise that money, debt, equity?

If I did bring in outside revenue, I would probably go a 100% of the payback on that revenue based on the investment that was put in. So, you know, if we were able to monetize this, I could take a 100% of the revenue up here, put it back towards that investment, and then, of course, I would get the residual revenue from the beers, the bowling, or whatever I get afterwards to be able to take care of my investors and my business expenses here.

See, I do the show because I wanna find founders with a super unique vision. They're ambitious. They're in the company with a with a clear path to grow. That being said, I have no idea. You know, if you sink a $100 up here, is it gonna generate a $100 revenue? I mean, I have no idea. Right? It's an experiment. Right. So if I made you an offer that was debt, not equity, the payback schedule, I'd I'd be loaning against the whole business, like this location. Would you be open to that or no?

If it was just this business, my Yeah.

Just this one here.

Yeah. I'd interested zone, though.

Okay. And so what would the right amount of time be in or in terms of structuring the payback schedule? Would you need a year to pay it back? Two years?

Between two and five years on the investment back here.

Okay. Okay.

Depending on what what we did. And I mean, like, certain things would generate a lot more revenue. Games and stuff, quarter games, I mean, that's a that's a longer term. But if I put in something like a better investment in min... Mini bowling, so I could activate that with kids parties, I get a lot more hourly out of that. But I could add the mini bowling. It also takes my kids from down there, puts my kids up here, and I get more revenue from the guys down there that are buying the beers.

So do you think you could activate this space for those kid rentals with just maybe a 100 k, or do you really need a full 200 k to to activate?

Well, I mean, I think I could obviously start with it on the 100 k. So, you know, I could add some down here on just this one level. If it's successful, I could obviously grow up into... Further up.

So what if I made you an that was a $100,000 check today and then you pay me back over time. If you pay it back within a year, I get back a 1.15 x multiple. So it costs you $15,000 on a 100. Sure. If you need more time though, obviously my money's at risk longer. I would increase that to like a 1.3 x. Okay. Or if you needed three years, we do something like a 1.5 x. Would you be open to that sort of Okay. Can you see any reason why that wouldn't work or put a strain on your cash flows or timing?

No. No. Wouldn't at all. Craig, look. Here's my offer then.

I'll give you a $100,000 cash today. The company will pay it back over three years until I'm paid back 1.5 x my investment. Do we have a deal?

So what if I need a little bit more? What if I get to the 150 and 100 is not enough for me to completely get what we need to be able to pay you back?

Well, I don't wanna write necessarily endless checks. Are we gonna get $1.50? If you needed an extra 50 k, I could basically do another tranche at the same cost of capital if and when you need it. So another 50 k paid back over three years and time paid back 1.5 x.

I'm interested in that deal.

Alright. You wanna get to work? Got a deal?

Let's get it going.

Alright, Craig. Good to meet you, man. Congratulations on your business, man. It's a super exciting spot. Let's do it. If you guys like that deal, remember, new episodes drop every Wednesday. Click here to subscribe so you don't miss out. Also, wanna see more deals like this one? Click here to see the next deal immediately.