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Watch This Before Opening A Pickleball Facility
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welcome to the first episode of a new series where we deep dive into the business of pickleball facilities. The objective is to uncover the stories behind these thriving businesses, explore each facility’s ingredients for success, and what makes them unique. In July I made my first stop to San Diego to visit Pat Rolfes, co-founder of The HUB https://thehubpickleball.com/the-hub-san-diego/
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#pickleball #pickleballcourts
Chapters 00:00 intro 00:39 first time we met 01:04 location, background 04:55 gathering experience before opening a facility 06:08 location location location 07:35 knowing a good deal vs a bad one 10:17 analyzing debt, deals 13:11 mall vs club 13:56 large scale & court vs club 14:43 competing w free (parks) 16:16 overhead costs 18:18 opinion on franchises 21:12 what to look for in a franchise deal 24:40 leave emotion out of it 25:35 key critical first hire 28:25 virtual pro shop, pickleball superstore 33:59 closing
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Transcript
Introduction to the Pickleball Business Series
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the first episode of a new series where we deep dive into the business of pickleball facilities. The objective is to uncover the stories behind these thriving businesses, explore each facility's ingredients for success, and what makes them unique.
Meeting with Pat Rolfes in San Diego
00:00:16
Speaker
In July, I made my first stop to San Diego to visit Pat Rolfes, co-founder of The Hub. This is Spaces, and I'm your host, Brian Lin.
00:00:28
Speaker
Dude, this is our second time together. Stoked. Yeah. First of all, thanks for coming to San Diego versus me, you know, huffing it all the way to Austin. that' This is much nicer. Didn't you drive from like Nationals? I did. Yeah, we were in Dallas for that MLP Nationals com combo gig and we met with with Steve Kuhn, which was fun. And then you were my first ever podcast, Brian. so You're the man. Thanks for thanks for doing that. Yeah, I'm loving it. Yeah, I appreciate it Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. Thank you for the tour of the hub.
Expansion and Locations of The Hub
00:01:00
Speaker
We're right now in San Diego um Can you tell us more about like where we are and a little bit more about the hub? Yeah for sure. So this was our first um
00:01:09
Speaker
You know, hu basically, we now have three building our fourth, um three in California, all large scale clubs. The fourth is in Jacksonville, Florida, where my partner Ted Angelo moved to and is now building it there. So so we are you know on both sides of the of the country, which is kind of fun for us. But this particular one is super special. But real quick, before we go any further into this episode, I do need to make a quick shout out to my sponsors because without them and of course you guys, none of this would be possible.
Sponsorships and Offers for Listeners
00:01:40
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:02:15
Speaker
Now, the second sponsor is a sponsor I'm really excited about because I didn't really know much about them when I first heard about them. And then when I received the product, it was a very pleasant surprise. The company is called Peak. This is the Nantica.
00:02:30
Speaker
So, so far I'm trying out three products. This is the green tea and this is the electrolyte powder. They make teas and coffee alternatives. I'm not always in the mood for coffee, but I still like a little bit of kick, a little bit of punch in my mornings. I need something to light a fire under my ass in the morning sometimes.
00:02:49
Speaker
and that's what I feel like Peak is really good at. ah The Nandica is the coffee tea alternative. It has the adaptogens and the mushrooms in it as well. The ElectroLite's great for anytime I'm playing pickleball and I just need a little pick me up or if I know that I'm gonna play a session later on in the day, then I definitely want this ElectroLite so I can feel 100% in that next session. So Peak provided me a special link that I can provide to you and that gets you 15% off your order plus free gifts like this frother and this beaker.
Design and Community Features of The Hub
00:03:20
Speaker
the link is peaklife dot.com slash be pickleball like building but just a be pickleball enjoy the show this was kind of before the craze we bought the land almost almost three years ago now and so we own the land we built it out um and it's just a really special place on how we did it as you saw as you're walking through the facility it's not all the courts row at the row at the row, it's in actually this is how we got the name of the hub, it's actually spokes out like a hub of a wheel. And so in the center is our clubhouse and our you know pro shop and then we have a restaurant bar and our fire pit and center court and we elevated all that. So that nut center court where the hub area is elevated for the gathering spot
00:04:11
Speaker
and it looks over like a hub of a wheel, it looks over all the 26 courts and so it creates a really neat effect in all these gathering areas and cool vibe and lots of shade and we cover center court with the sale and we love this place. This is a really special place to us, obviously.
00:04:33
Speaker
It really embodies like the epitome of like California and just like the beauty of California, point you too. like The backdrop is just hills and mountains and like all the houses, really nice at California-type houses along the hills. like It's a super nice backdrop, but everything you're saying about how it's not just an like a place that was maybe previously a tennis court center in just rows of courts. It has like little break areas, little like patches of grass, but also, like you said, like you got the full kitchen going on, like you have the pro shop.
Founding Challenges and Decisions
00:05:00
Speaker
um What were you doing before you opened this place up three years ago?
00:05:05
Speaker
So I was running the events in Newport Beach, right? So right now, the APP is happening, um which is the third largest tournament of the year. I think they're pushing 1,800. So I worked with USA Pickleball to create the Golden Ticket series. And we helped develop Newport Beach. And for that, we were running all the events and have the rights to the events. so tons of tournaments, tons of different things, um charity events to organize play, the whole thing. It was really a community-based club, and we were we grew it to a gigantic club. I don't own the club. And so since then, and Ted and I built the restaurant. We we basically sold that and got out of that to buy this land, to basically start our own brand and our own clubs.
00:05:55
Speaker
And then it's just blown up from there. So when we had the vision, um it was finding the land was really, really difficult. um San Diego, the real estate is extremely expensive, as you can well imagine. We don't rent it, we own it. um We wanted a really substantial size club. We believe in large clubs. And so we are the largest club in San Diego County.
00:06:21
Speaker
And so it gives us the ability to do a lot more stuff. So yeah, that was our goal. It took us a little over a year, a year and a half to build, and then been operating just about not quite two years now down here. and and it's People love it. The vibe is great. Members are cool. San Diego is the number one vacation destination city in the United States. Fun fact. And so we get a lot of um drop in. We call them member for the day because they get complete member privileges. So we get a lot of that. We do a lot of tournaments and charity events and all sorts of cool stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Back to like location. Whenever people talk about real estate, they always say location, location, location, and like,
00:07:03
Speaker
This is unique because you're in like the hills and in the heart of California and in San Diego. And then I've been to other facilities where I'm not knocking it, but other facilities might be in like a shopping mall plaza and you're just kind of looking at maybe just so regular stores and you're in just a giant parking lot, right? There doesn't have this like unique appeal to it like you have here with the beautiful weather. Of course, we're in California too. right but Everyone always wants to know how much does it take to open a location? like When do you know whether or not this is a good deal or a bad deal?
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah, well, they're hard first of all, I caution everyone, there are really hard deals to do. um Capital investment is substantial. um The thought process that goes into it to build them, build it right, because if you don't build them right, it's not the whole matter. It's like build it, they will come.
00:08:01
Speaker
you know if the courts aren't correct like you now play quite a bit I know in and at a high level in the very beginning you may have been fine to play anywhere but the better you get and the more dedicated you are to it which really you know who our members are substantially, they you know
Economic Insights of Running a Pickleball Facility
00:08:20
Speaker
need good courts, right? They need good spacing. They need to make sure that the surface is correct, that we use Acritic Surface. And you know they need all the right things. So one, you got to build it correctly, which is difficult. Make sure the space is there. Are you building courts? Are you building a club? We build clubs. And then the size is important. It's hard to run an eight-court club. i mean it's
00:08:42
Speaker
you know it's that We think it's difficult. you know we We run larger scale clubs so we can handle more massive people. um But the real estate is key so and how you design it is key. So being in an impacted area um is more important. It's like we can go inland from here a half an hour and there's tons of land and tons of things that you can do, but no one's going to drive out there to go play pickleball.
00:09:10
Speaker
um So that's where the location is key, but but the location comes with the price, right? And part of that challenge comes into the economics of it all. So when you're looking at it is, you know, Pickleball grew up from the streets, right? And so you were used to playing for free.
00:09:28
Speaker
And that's still a lot of people's mindset. I can buy a paddle. I can go you know play for free in the street or get a temporary net set at my street. I don't understand. you know Why am I paying for a club? so So that needs to create a whole different experience. And it's a whole different business model. And that's what we really specialize here at the Hub. you know the And it's intense, the the policies, the programs, the staffing that we have, what we offer here, from the fire pit to the shade, to the bar, to the courts, to the ladders, to the leagues. We are now affiliated with the Heart Eights and with the Bay Area Breakers the and the MLP team. So all of these things create of what we're doing. And so I just caution people, it's a lot harder than
00:10:15
Speaker
build courts and they'll come. So long winded answer, but there you go. What you're saying towards the end of that with the amenities, but also kind of the brand deals, is that how you know whether or not the debt is worth it?
00:10:30
Speaker
Right, so you look at debt in a number of different ways. right So there's there's debt when like we bought land. right So then you have that debt to say, OK, what's the risk on buying the land? So that's it's an expensive play. And most people don't buy the land. They go and they rent a building or whatever. So the the land is a little bit different. And you can say, OK, well, I can sell that land off into the future. right But now we took it and we invested millions of dollars into improving the land to build the business that we want to build. So if the business doesn't succeed, then the improvements that you did on the land doesn't necessarily make sense unless and another operator can come in and do a better job. But you're kind of confining what the the application is versus, hey, we're going to tear it all down and build apartment buildings here, which
00:11:23
Speaker
you know, which would work here. um so So you got to look at the investment of the land, or if it's a building that you're leasing, the risk of that lease, right? Because, you know, landlords, they're making you put your name on it. Like, you know, you're guaranteeing that lease for some point in time. And so, and they don't necessarily, industrial buildings, they don't necessarily want to do ah to your lease to see how it goes, you're going to put a personal guarantee and you're going to do a long-term lease to kind of you know put that out there. So there's all that risk that gets associated with it. Then your capital investment that you put into it. OK, now I got to build all this stuff out. That's not cheap.
00:12:02
Speaker
Now, what's the model and who's going to come in and who's going to pay for it? How else can we get the ancillary revenue to make sure these things you know justify? um So again, they're really hard deals. The economics are challenging. When they work, they can work very well.
00:12:20
Speaker
I believe in larger scale deals, but we've been fortunate where we're self-funding these deals and we're not going out and trying to raise a bunch of money.
Franchise Concerns and Profitability
00:12:29
Speaker
And so it's the amount that it takes to run an 8 to 10 court facility, labor wise and policy wise policywise and you know the IT and programming and all that stuff is basically the same that it takes to run a 26 court facility.
00:12:45
Speaker
So you start getting economies of scale as as you go, as you grow, but the risk is higher from a lease or the land or investments that go into it. So you really need to make all these good decisions and make sure that you're putting them in the right place. So a lot of people go to malls, right? and They're looking to the mall model because at the mall they think, oh, there's open space and they can work and there's parking.
00:13:14
Speaker
That's truly only part of it. um You really, in my mind, you've got to create this club atmosphere so they want to be part of it. And when you do that, which is hard to do, then people take ownership, they pick up their trash, they they start engaging, they tell their friends, and and by nature it's a community thing and the community helps grow your business.
00:13:36
Speaker
um Again, long-winded answer, but there you go. No, that was super fascinating. Wow, yeah, I need to marinate on that like after this. But that is interesting when you talked about two things. was with like One was that you don't really, you kept, you used the word big and large like a couple times, like large scale and just larger deals. And then you also talked about the court versus the club atmosphere. and If you were to choose both those words, court and club, and see which one is more synonymous with community, which is really like the heart of pickleball, I feel like club is the one that's more closer closely related to the word communion. That makes sense. Like if you're building a community, then
00:14:26
Speaker
like you said, people will treat this place like it's their own rather than we're just out of public court. And if you look at public courts or just like court areas, it's it just seems like people are just there to use it rather than, hey, we kind of we have a piece of this in a way. You're exactly right. And remember, we're competing with free.
00:14:48
Speaker
Right. So there are those public courts out there and people are like why am I paying you to play pick a ball when I can just go down the street and play on these public courts. And so we have to bring all this additional value in when they.
00:15:04
Speaker
So they say, well, these quotes are better, and I really like the vibe here better. And they do this organized play, and they're structured, and they have the social event, or whatever it is. It's not whatever. It's all these things. You can't shortcut on any of it to basically create the value of the club. And that's where you know they're paying for, basically. right That's when they can justify, yes, I will play for a membership.
00:15:28
Speaker
and and do that. i California, so I equate a lot to the the surfing, right? So surfing's free, right? You buy a surfboard and go in the ocean and and just go surf. So selling into the surf industry is really... quite interesting because they there's not um a lot of opportunity because it's the mindset is everything's free. Even like parking passes, a lot of surfers don't even want to be able to parking pass because it breaks the theory of um everything's free. So Pickleball has a little bit of that into it. As it grows, as it develops, um the value of the clubs, if done right,
00:16:09
Speaker
make a lot of sense and people are trying to appreciate the the differences for sure. yeah Yeah, that's awesome. What do overhead costs look like for a place like this? Because you mentioned all the amenities, you mentioned the ladders leagues, you also have the employees, you have the pro shop, um you also have different events that you hold. yeah Well, it's substantial. it's ah It's a business. I think with all of our clubs combined, we're over 100 and something employees. So the labor is our second most cost expense. And that's tricky, right? And again, California would.
00:16:43
Speaker
I won't get into the California labor laws, but it's not as favorable as you would think for the employer. but So you know having the right person and people that help run your club is truly important. So um you know the interaction with the members, you know all those types of things are important. And they they all work hard. right So it's technical um with our computer systems. and and making sure they're checked in and the billing and, you know, again, like you mentioned, pro shopping bar and all that kind of stuff. And so we're a service-based business. You know, we have to address the needs of the customer, right? Running these leagues, running these ladders. We do a lot of duper events and so tying all that together. So it's complicated. um And
00:17:33
Speaker
And from the expense, to ask your question, labor is our number one expense to it, besides the real estate, which is that. And then and then you have your insurance, and and then you have you know your IT, and your web, and your marketing, and you know all the things that go along with that. But um even our policies, and you know we'll see if we franchise and in the future or not, or just partner with people. But we our policies are buttoned up, and it's important to have that structured. and and in place because there's liabilities that get associated with that. and And people need and want structure. And so putting all that together, it's it's not as easy as it sounds for sure. Something that you mentioned in that was franchises.
Considerations for Potential Franchisees
00:18:20
Speaker
So you have three locations in the state of California. You mentioned that you're opening one in Jacksonville. How do you feel about franchises as far as the pick pickleball facility space?
00:18:33
Speaker
Well, I have mixed feelings, quite frankly. um you know I i feel that and feel there's a big rush to market. There's a big demand for courts, and some people are trying to fulfill those demands. um My feeling is there's a lot of franchisors that haven't been in business long enough to prove out their financial models, to basically say, do what we do because we're profitable and we're doing a great job. That's really not existing out there. I mean, there's franchisors out there that don't have facilities. ah To me, that's
00:19:08
Speaker
And again, I'm an old man that had run businesses all my life. So it's it's shocking to me that someone said, well, great, I'll invest into this franchise and this brand and expecting to get all these things of a company that's never actually done it. So there's that's a concern of mine. ah That would be a concern of mine for people out there.
00:19:28
Speaker
So we're focused on profitability you know from a business side of it. right the business has to be It matters to be profitable, by the way. The business has to be profitable. It has to be run correctly. It has to be run smooth. And it's got to be repeatable.
00:19:44
Speaker
and so having three clubs now in place and they're all slightly different. are one and This is all outdoors in San Diego. One in Silicon Valley is all indoors. It was the largest in the country for a while at 20 courts indoors. I remember potentially I can do expanded but and then we do have one that's a fitness center as well as um Pickle and it has eight indoors and seven outdoors um but that's a special facility because it's Fitness is amazing, and what we do there. And then the one we're building in Jacksonville is kind of like the Pictonian. You've seen it. They're covered courts with fitness as well. And I think we're doing 32 courts there. So so you know we're trying to make it where everything makes sense, and there's a reason for it, and be profitability and cash flow positive you know right out of the gator as soon as possible.
00:20:40
Speaker
um I'm just nervous of a lot of people jumping into it they don't you know that are going into franchises and the franchise source haven't necessarily proven their models out yet. So those would be my cautions and concern. So we're more taking what's our money, we're doing it, and we're going down the the path of doing it right. And then we'll decide if we just partner with people, if we franchise, if we just keep with what we have,
00:21:05
Speaker
you know The future is still kind of up in the air with with myself and my three partners. We have three partners in the company. Yeah. Within that, you mentioned there should be some caution for people that may be looking at these franchises a bit. Oh, I would want to be a part of that. Are there things that these people, these individuals could look for when they're being approached or when they're approaching a franchisor? And I don't know if that's the correct term, but if they're approaching one of those facilities and they're like, hey, we want to be a part of this, like what questions might they want to ask? Well, I mean, first of all, you know how do you pick a marketplace?
00:21:47
Speaker
right Like you mentioned, location, location, location. right So that's top on the list. How do you find that? How do you pick it? What justifies that? Is it economics? Is it location? Is it both? is it you know What is it? You notice as we came up here in San Diego, we came down here to San Diego and we drove into the facility, it's right off the freeway. i You don't have to go find it. It's easy to get to access. We have 1.1 million people within a 10 mile radius from us.
00:22:19
Speaker
So we're like, I think in San Diego, we're like, well, we were like 26% of the courts that now we're like, you know, less and i call it temper. So I don't even know what it is. But the point is we're a big facility, the largest facility in San Diego, and we're easy access to it. And so as you saw here, as you're walking the facility, there's a lot of people here. Yeah. The draw is big. I mean, ah most of these people were here by 9 a.m.
00:22:47
Speaker
yeah For sure. yeah right And you miss the people that left because they're here at 7. But anyway but but you know the point is is that the location is key. So that would be the first thing. How do I find the location? How do I do the economics to have that make sense? Because a location in downtown Austin, which would be, I'm assuming, impossible to get, um that's got to be more expensive than 30 miles outside of Austin.
00:23:15
Speaker
right So you can't charge the same in downtown Austin. So how does that financial model work um when you're looking at at these things? How much more is it to to do a larger facility? And then how do I justify the risk? And how do I market out to the community to make sure that this is actually going to pencil? Because as soon as you ink that lease,
00:23:39
Speaker
They're making you put a personal guarantee on it. I mean not always but 99% of the time so These are big risky deals for a lot of people and people go into it with a lot of passion a lot of color I'd love to be in this industry. It's really fun and and it is you you can change a lot of lives and you can impact a lot of people meet a lot of cool people and But it's hard. And I also caution people on if you love pickleball and you play it and you love it and you want it back, don't get into working in pickleball because you won't be playing pickleball much anymore. So it's all consuming to to do yeah facilities for sure like this, especially. Yeah. Don't make emotional decisions, especially when it comes to something of this magnitude, which I just kind of gathered from you. it It feels like you always said,
00:24:28
Speaker
business yeah you you In the first time we talked, you said something about business. You had this quote, it's like a phrase. like You you like always make like this basic business. Oh, yeah yeah, basic business rules apply. Yeah, yeah, that's it. yeah but and And don't forget that, basic business rules apply. like Try to take your emotions out of it a little bit. I know everybody loves it and there's a lot of opportunity, I get all that.
00:24:57
Speaker
It's really hard and it's capital intensive. And and um again, basic business rules apply. Look at the whole thing as a and objectively as possible from a business perspective, not just, oh, I want to do it so bad. It'd just be great. It's like buying that house. You still have it and you want to do it so bad. And then you get in, it's like, oh my god, there's termites and leaky damage. I had no idea this has cost me another $100,000. And i got I shouldn't have been so emotional about it, basically. yeah i didn't make that mistake at all. yeah They peaked twice. That definitely not me. yeah I hear you. One question I did have, actually someone had asked this in the comments section um when I mentioned that I was going to be out here and talking about facilities, so someone asked
00:25:47
Speaker
about key responsibilities for
Roles in Creating a Club Atmosphere
00:25:50
Speaker
employees. And then I'm gonna ask a kind of change that question a little bit. If you were to hire, make your first hire, what would be the first role that you would hire for?
00:26:02
Speaker
So we have a role. I'm going to try to remember the title um because I let um one of my employees create the title herself. And she's an amazing person. named is teresa And it's called Community Engagement Director. And basically, she does a ton of programming. She does socials. She makes.
00:26:26
Speaker
the hub a club um because she's it's so engaging with the community and the community of our members and does all of our programming and make it so it's fun to be, you know, a member of the hub. Right. And so and she's happy and she's here. My my partner Ted used to call her um aging myself. Julie McCoy from the Love Boat. Right. the The cruise director, basically. And so that's a really key person um that's here a lot and she's engaging with the members and everything. out the Now that could be the owner, um like it could be the manager, it could be a a lot of different people, but um for us that's really important to have that person. You know, on the back end, the accounting, you know, the policies writing, the legal staff, I mean that's
00:27:18
Speaker
That's not nearly, it's super important, but the face of the club would be the first you know person I hire that's gonna represent your club you know the way you want it represented, basically. Yeah, interesting. And not just the owner. I said it could be the owner. It certainly needs to be the owner. Yeah.
00:27:37
Speaker
But it needs to be someone that's not the owner that sometimes is also more approachable or they would tell someone else that's not the owner or something that would then get back to the owner, which is really helpful. you know I mean, criticism isn't all you know bad. It's good to take... you know hear things from other people, through other people, for that matter. Yeah. It's kind of why people... I feel like it's a premise of that show, like, Undercover Bosses, right? Right. Like, you'll hear a lot more from people that have, like, their boots on the floor and not someone who's, like, a little bit higher up. So, like, people are, yeah, like you said, approachable. You learn a ton from that. I love that show, actually. Yeah, yeah. I should do that. Goatee or something. Hey, I'll start the content series. yeah
Virtual Pro Shop Introduction
00:28:21
Speaker
The Virtual Pro Shop, let's talk about that because you do have um your hands in co-founding Pickleball Superstore. And of course that's very, very relevant in this whole thing because we went to the Pro Shop there and physical Pro Shop is great, right? it It definitely looks very appealing, but then not every business can afford that. And sounds like you and Steve Rack have come up with a solution called the Virtual Pro Shop. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
00:28:47
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So, so in Ted Angelo, my partner here in the hub, so we had talked about it, you know, a while ago, and then Steve Rack, who's the CEO and co-founder of the three of us co-founded Pickleball Superstore in So he brought technology to the table with his gig affiliate program, which is, as you know, ah an affiliate program, but it's linked into the code. So as soon as you connect us with a customer, you are forever linked to that customer. It's not cookie based. So it becomes very sustainable for people.
00:29:23
Speaker
So with that concept, or or with that technology, we can do other things. And one of the things that we've created is this virtual pro shop. So the problem with pro shops, pro shops essentially, and again, we're a large scale club, so it's it's a little different. We can support it financially, but it's a big investment. You get a lot of churn of product. of The paddle that's hot six months ago isn't hot today. And God forbid, Yola comes out with something that's in it.
00:29:51
Speaker
I'll cut that and not joking. so But the point being is that you know it's hard for these operators to basically you know invest $50,000 plus thousand dollars into a per shop. And really what you are is a convenience store. you know We sell a ton of water and Gatorade. and Protein bars and weights and grips and glasses and balls and you know, that's really a ton of it We do sell paddles as well for sure We do a lot of rental paddles and things like that So when you're trying to carry all these brands, it's just really difficult and somebody comes in with a new brand thing I really like that. So we created what we call a virtual pro shop where
00:30:32
Speaker
We demo a bunch of paddles. Like here in San Diego, I think we demo like 80 paddles, too many. um and then But we don't carry 80 paddles. That would be insane. But if someone really wanted to try something, and we have it for them to try, which is part of the club experience, right? I want to try this new paddle and everything else, right? So that's, again, part of this experience that we do. And we and we rent that and we demo it. Members, I think it's $5. For non-member, it's $10. And they can change them out midday. They can do it all day. it It's fun. If they want to buy it and we don't carry it, then they scan the code. It goes right to Pickleball Superstore, embeds the code, embeds the hub with them. And so they ah get a discount. Superstore sells it and ships it to them directly. And the hub makes the commission on that, on that paddle. And then we're forever connected. So again, I mentioned San Diego being the number one vacation destination.
00:31:27
Speaker
So imagine someone coming in from Austin, right? And now you demo something like, oh, I've never seen it anywhere. I'm going to buy that. You buy that through. And then you leave and you never come back to San Diego. It's a sad day for us. But we are forever connected. And so if you ever go back and buy balls or glasses or weights, you know we're making revenue on the fact that you came into the hub for one day to come visit.
00:31:52
Speaker
So it's really impactful um and it helps manage the clubs, pro shops, especially for smaller, you know, courts like, you know, 10, 12 court facilities and the investments that they're making already. It's hard. And then I'm not dealing with, you know, 40 different vendors either. I'm dealing with one vendor. So it's it's really a neat program for sure. Yeah.
00:32:18
Speaker
Yeah, very interesting. I can see that solving... I think it's a a solution. I think physical inventories, with the advent of technology and leveraging technology, I don't think having physical inventories is something that's like super super necessary at this point for like brick and mortar. So the virtual pro shop is such a unique and good solution.
00:32:42
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you still want to have product there, so we still carry the fast movers, because people are still impulse by people, like, ah, I've got to have a paddle now. And again, back to the club. It's part of the club atmosphere. It's part of having that ability to do it. And we have sponsors, Carbon, for example, and other brands. And so they support us. We support them. And we want to carry their products.
00:33:08
Speaker
So there's a balancing act to all of it, but the pro shops can be tricky in a cash stock. So you got to be careful with it. Yeah, I would name them brands, but there are some brands on the walls where you're just like, well, these are going to be sold at a loss. Just because paddle technology moves so fast, like, oh, well, this paddle is no longer relevant.
00:33:29
Speaker
Right, we have some on our walls still from you know two years and we'll fire some of the stuff off and it still doesn't move. It's just a pattern. It's just, what do you do with it, right? yeah so um And a lot of times we donate them or give them away to you know kids that are coming in or whatever. But anyway, you get it. yeah it's it's It's tricky for sure. And a lot of time spent on it. Yeah. Well, this concludes the session, man. I mean, you answered a lot of the questions with such great detail and I really appreciate it. I'd certainly learned a lot. I'm not opening a this facility up anytime soon, but people, these are things that people were asking about in the comments section in previous videos I had made and I just didn't have a, I didn't have the proper follow up for it, but now I do. yeah Thanks to you. So I appreciate that. Do you have any other announcements, future projects that you guys are working on, anything else you want to talk about before we end this?
00:34:23
Speaker
Well, we're always working on something, right? So you know I appreciate that. Like I said in our other podcast, you know it's an entrepreneur's playground right now. so So there's a lot of opportunities, not just with the club space, but with you know paddles, with lots of different things. so But you know I think the next step is let's get you up to Silicon Valley, and then let's get you to Alameda at the hub there, and then you know I'll have to trek over to Florida, and we'll we'll do one there too, right? Let's make the circuit. Yeah. But we'll start with your, with your San Diego. There you go. Your, your San Diego hub stop. And thanks for, and thanks for coming, bro. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Um, remember general business rules still apply. why There you go. That always sticks in my head. Yeah. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks bro.