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Giving back Allen is actively involved in a number of associations. He’s been on the AOMA board of directors and is a past recipient of the ‘Man or Woman of the Year’ award. He also does a lot of work with its charity – Sunrise Day Camps, which provides residential respite for children with cancer and their families. He is on the board of the AAMA which is based out of Chicago, and is very proud to be vice president of the association’s charity which, during his 7 year tenure has raised over 7 million dollars for children with disabilities. He has also been awarded with the association’s highest honour, the Joe Robbins award. Allen is an active member of the AAMS, a family


entertainment committee started two and a half years ago with the resurgence of arcade and game rooms. Commenting on how the industry has evolved, he


says ,“The industry has changed a lot in recent years in terms of where it makes its money and this affects manufacturers greatly. 20 years ago, street locations were king, now we have the new form of family entertainment centre, what I like to call ‘bowling centres on steroids - they’ve got good food, music, laser tag and a fantastic bar. So we’ve seen those things change. One of the things my dad always said was, ‘You will always making a living from this, because people will always want to be entertained - it’s just the format that will change.’” Another challenge is income in many parts of the


world, and the ability to ship machines to certain countries. “Some of our high end machines won’t work in certain territories and can’t be operated in others because of tariffs,” he says. “Labour is expensive and it’s only getting more


expensive. A company is only as good as its employees but it takes a lot to keep them happy, and when you are sending them out in cars and they are sitting in traffic, they are not getting to the operators, so it’s frustrating for both.” Allen says this is why Apple Industries has been


working on making its photo booths more intelligent – for example, they can now self-diagnose a problem and alert the owner or designated service technician if, for example, it has run out of film or there is a printing error. “Operators always say what a fantastic feature this is for the machine.” It’s all about reducing the need for manpower


says Allen, explaining that Print Budii has all the features that Face Place has, but with the added benefit of it being app based, there is no need for the operator to go out and get the money.


FEBRUARY 2019 “As a company we have added features to photo


booths that have never been used before. We’ve made them a form of entertainment for every age, gender and nationality. It’s become an industry of its own, a subset of the coin-op industry. “We were the first to offer second and third photos; to offer duplicates; the first to use green screens; to manufacture outdoor booths and interactive booths that offer a photoshoot experience, with photographers inside talking. The way we see it, is we are a photography company


first and a photo booth company second. Going forward, we have also become the first company to have created an app based printing kiosk.” With so many firsts to its name, it’s clear that Apple Industries has a lot of influence over what is, as Allen says, now an industry in its own right. So what does he love most about his job? “I don’t have a job,” he says. “I consider this fun. I love coming in every day. The creativity of what we do and the people we work with make it fun; it’s all about having new ideas and staying focused.”


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