Wakeboarding is an awesome sport, but visiting a wakepark is also an experience beyond enjoying a pleasant ride on the cable. Depending on the commodities, attractions and accommodation, guests might spend up to multiple days in your wakepark. In this blog post, we want to showcase some of the possibilities that wakepark owners have to enhance the experience of their guests and generate vital revenue, starting with food and drinks.

Hunger and thirst are big business and an expected commodity

Providing your guests with something to eat and drink as well as a place to hang out and relax is something you should think about long before your wakepark is actually open to the public. There is a wide variety of options available when it comes to catering to your guests. What services you offer very much depends on your situation and projected visitor numbers for your wakepark.

Of course you can simply put up some vending machines – which actually works quite well in some countries – but to maximize profits and customer satisfaction, it’s recommended to have a service with actual staff members. Bars with adjacent chill-out areas that offer beverages and snacks are the minimum you should provide to your guests, from our experience. Customers very much enjoy taking in the scenery and watching riders on the cable to the point that some additional guests are going to visit your wakepark purely to relax, eat and drink.

Depending on the size of your operation, you can open the bar full-time or just at certain intervals, allowing you to cover multiple roles with a single staff member. You can also rent your bars and kiosks to contractors to avoid additional costs, but you will miss out on the full revenue potential as well in that case.

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Restaurants, partnerships and food events

Mid to large-scale wakeparks usually require more than just a bar. The higher number of daily visitors opens up the possibility for restaurants and food courts that are able to accommodate many guests at the same time. The view over the park and its attractions is a great background to an awesome lunch or dinner and guests very much expect to be catered to when visiting multi-attraction parks of any kind.

But it is also an important financial cornerstone to your business. The additional revenue from restaurants, food courts and bars can make the difference between a barely profitable endeavor and decent profit margins.

Same as with bars, it’s always a possibility to partner with somebody to run additional commodities, such as restaurants and ice cream stands, but since there’s so much potential for profit, we recommend that it is run by the park business itself.

There are nevertheless multiple options for partnerships. Temporary events, such as food truck festivals, concerts and tournaments, pull additional customers on top of your regulars and create a buzz around your wakepark.

In essence, you should always offer food and drinks to your guests. Always! Think of it as a very critical part of the customer experience and business plan.

Want to learn more about additional commodities in your wakepark to increase profits and customer satisfaction? Make use of our experience in planning and designing wakeparks and cable systems and get in touch with our team!

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