Park People
parkworld-online.com Q Lines Joel Manby HERSCHEND FA
Joel Manby is the president and CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment (HFE), operator of 26 family-oriented theme parks and attractions across North America. During his tenure, two of HFE’s parks – Dollywood and the flagship Silver Dollar City – have earned the industry’s highest honour, the Applause Award. An expert on leadership and customer relations, he is the author of the book Love Works and in 2010 featured in a memorable episode of the TV series Undercover Boss. Prior to his appointment at HFE in 2003, Joel spent 20 years in the car industry, including a spell as CEO of Saab Automobile USA. He and his family reside in suburban Atlanta. Here Joel talks to Park World about HFE’s parks and attractions and its recent surprise (even to some in the company) move into the sports industry.
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It’s now several years since you appeared on Undercover Boss. How important is it to you to retain this “grass roots” experience of your attractions?
It is critical that I stay close to our hosts and close to the customer. One thing my senior leaders sometimes ask of me is to spend more time with our vice- presidents and directors at the attraction level when I visit our properties. Yet I only have so many hours during a location visit and I tend to prefer wandering; talking to guests, the front line hosts and “experiencing” the attraction as a customer would. I find that is how I get the best pulse of what is going on. Having said that, I need to spend equal time with the VP and director level to assure they are getting the support they need from me and the corporate office.
Our vision as a company is to “bring families closer together.” Our mission is to “create memories worth repeating.” Anything we do has to be 100% wholesome, a product that moms can trust their kids to go see. The Harlem Globetrotters fit all three of those high level screens to perfection. Actually, I did not have my eye on them but when we got the call that they were on the market, we moved very quickly. They are an iconic brand with strong cash flow and they have an overseas presence which we currently do not have. They also make their money in the winter which helps even out our cash flow. As a private family-owned company, it is important that we diversify our cash flow streams so we don’t have all our eggs in one basket. We already successfully diversified into the aquarium business, they are a weather hedge and being in metropolitan markets they are also a gas price hedge, and we are already in the fixed arena dinner theatre business with Dixie Stampede and Pirates Voyage. Although I admit the travelling arena business is new, we have an outstanding leadership team running the Globetrotters and we feel the brand and their potential to be “ambassadors of goodwill and reconciliation” is powerful.
Will we see any attractions built on the Harlem Globetrotters land or sporting facilities built in the parks, or is the deal more about cross fertilisation of existing skills and experience?
The acquisition of the Harlem Globetrotters was a surpise move for HFE but one in line with the company’s vision, says Manby
HFE already operates a number of different tourism and hospitality businesses, but the acquisition of the Harlem Globetrotters is nevertheless a radical departure. How long had you been considering such a move and why does it make sense for the company?
Our specific plans for integrating the Globetrotters into our current attractions are still being developed. The acquisition was more about an iconic brand that has upside in the US and internationally in its own right than any specific integration with existing HFE properties. However, we obviously will market the Globetrotters at all our existing attractions and market our existing attractions at all the Globetrotter games.
Do you expect to see other
parks and attractions operators broadening their portfolios in such “360°” fashion? I cannot speak for other attractions operators, but I do think we have great leaders in this industry and I am sure they will continue to expand. However, we do not look at ourselves as strictly a theme park or
JANUARY 2014
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