Theories differ as to why America’s fastest-growing sport is called pickleball. There’s far more agreement on why the craze has snagged the attention of growth-minded restaurant entrepreneurs.
Concepts like Chicken N Pickle and Smash Park have sprung up in recent years to provide the racket sport’s diverse army of fans with a place to play, eat and drink. The facilities are typically enormous, with multiple food stations and bars hosting up to thousands of patrons at a time on plots of 2 to 3.5 acres.
The indoor space typically measures in the tens of thousands of square feet, and rooftop bars or lounges are common enough to seem like a requirement.
A look at Chicken N Pickle
The cost is offset by having multiple revenue streams and traffic sources. Just the fee for renting a pickleball court can run in the $35 range, though that covers up to four people. Food and beverage sales should add about $30 to $35 a head at Electric Pickle, a brand slated to open next year in Arizona, and $20 to $25 at Smash Park.
For Electric Pickle, a venture from the parent of the Eureka casual-dining brand, those drivers should add up to per-location annual revenues of $12 million, compared with the $4 million average unit volume of a Eureka, according to chief development officer Paul Fredericks.
The traffic picture is even better. The smaller of Chicken N Pickle’s prototypes averages 10,400 to 14,500 visits per week, according to Chief Experience Officer Bill Crooks.
“Our capacity is 2,000 people,” he says. “Even at 25%, that’s 500 people for us. You wouldn’t even know 500 people were on property.”
Pickleball leagues “are one of the biggest benefits” of Smash Park’s model, guaranteeing a strong turnout on even a Monday night, and group events like corporate meetings generate more than a third of revenues, according to CEO Monty Lockyear.
During a routine day at Chicken N Pickle, “we’ll have anywhere from 10 to 30 catered events, groups of 10 to 40,” says Crooks.
The reliance on pickleball also keeps the operations busy throughout the day, starting with guests who’ve booked morning court times, and well into the night. Chicken N Pickle invites the a.m. players to refuel after a game with a bunch of savory waffles.
Many of the facilities sport additional games such as bocce, duckpin bowling and dodgeball. Those activities are also a hedge against pickleball losing its fanatical current following, which grew by 21.3% last year despite the pandemic, according to USA Pickleball, an association of players.
“Pickleball is our hook, it’s our carrot,” says Smash Park’s Lockyear. “But we’ve not gone all in with pickleball. It’s not a lot of profit per square foot.”
The bigger money comes from the food and beverage operations, particularly catering, according to the niche’s entrants.
“Without the F&B, this wouldn’t exist,” says Chicken N Pickle’s Crooks. “You get some income from retail, you get some income from pickleball. But it’s not near enough to pay the freight for something of this size.”
Technology is extensively integrated into the young concepts. Pickleball courts, which can range anywhere from two to 10 in number, are usually reserved digitally. Smash Park’s leagues are managed completely online, without any involvement by an employee, says Lockyear.
At Chicken N Pickle, “you come in, you order food at the counter, and we give you this microchip so we can see where you are anywhere on the property,” says Crooks. “Once you open a check, it stays open.” Guests can drift from activity to activity with food delivered along the way.
Because of the pickleball complexes’ size, none are talking about shot-gunning hundreds or even dozens of units into the market.
“That’s been the challenge—finding locations has been an eye-opening experience,” says Smash Park’s Lockyear.
The single-location brand has three units in various stages of development.
Electric Pickle has a total of four locations under development.
Chicken N Pickle has four facilities in operation, two more slated to open during the remainder of 2021, two slated for 2022 debuts, and “another two or three sites that we haven’t announced yet,” said Crooks.
Meanwhile, the concepts continue to evolve. Smash Park is offering pizza at its new locations, and the operation looked at the possibility of providing off-premise pizza delivery.
Chicken N Pickle is developing a concept-within-a-concept called The Shack. “It has the ability to do espressos and health items for breakfast,” said Crooks. It will also feature a beer cooler.
The niche pioneers said they expect an onslaught of competition as the popularity of pickleball continues to grow and the benefits of serving that market become more widely known.
The sport has been popular in part because it’s easy to learn and play. The games pit one or two-person teams against one another on a hard surface the size of a badminton court. The players use rackets to volley a Whiffleball-like ball back and forth over a net the height of the one used in tennis.
Stories differ about how the game got its name. One school says Pickle was the name of the dog owned by one of the three inventors, who were looking for a way to keep their kids occupied during the summer of 1965.
A rival theory holds that one of the founders took the name from a crew pickle, the term for a rowing team made up of individuals from a variety of squads. “Pickle” was intended to acknowledge that the game took elements from a variety of other games, from tennis to ping-pong.
Pickleball has proven particularly popular among seniors, but is equally as prevalent among youngsters aged 6 to 17, according to the pickleball association.
Some of the pickleball-concept entrepreneurs admit they were skeptical of using the sport as the hook for a new concept. The principals behind Smash Park were originally leaning toward a beach volleyball concept rather than a pickleball emporium.
Chicken N Pickle’s Crooks recalls telling his partners, “Guys, there’s a 50/50 chance this thing’ll work.”
Now the converts are waiting for the word to spread, to restaurateurs and consumers alike.