I worked for AMF for 25 years as a head mechanic and in the good ole days we maintained from the foul to the pit, we followed a pretty darn good pm program and machines were taken care of correctly, and the amount of labor hours was enough to keep the machines decent.
The company changed hands several times and soon it was nothing more than squeezing everything out of the centers and no reinvest or upkeep, this is when most centers became run down and mechanical operations became awful.
then came along bowlmor, I watched my paid holidays go away, no reviews or raises for 5 years, vacation denials because you had no mechanics to cover, heathcare become a joke, no budget for parts, buildings falling apart, I could go on for hours.
I had to make the choice to get out of the bowling business and do what was best for me and my family.
I have never met Colie and maybe things are better now, but the tv show was a 180 to what I witnessed as an employee
A friend of mine was head lane mechanic at a Bowlero up until recently and his issues were a lot of what you described. His biggest gripe was with the vacation denials and being called into work on nights that he was bowling league at a different house (the GM knew this when she hired him). Then when the center re-opened after covid they only gave him part time hours. He finally got fed up and quit to go work at an independent house.
From what I have seen, Bowlmor saved Manteca Family Bowl. The original owners were great while the "old man" was still alive, but once "mama" was in charge, she nickled-and-dimed the place util it was run down.
Then the son took over for a while and the situation improved greatly, until mama had enough of him spending money, then it started sliding again.
So they finally sold it to another local operator, who made a big show in the beginning, then either ran out of money or discovered it was beyond their ability to operate. It became a dirty, poorly maintained dump. One example as a hole in the exterior wall that stayed for about 2 years.
Bowlmor(bowlero) bought it and everyone assumed the worst, but they have constantly poured money into the place and today, at least before covid, it's very nice! The maintenance is better, the lanes were replaced and it seems to have a lot more business.
It must depend on the local management for how well a Bowlmor house runs or they evaluate a house and decide that it doesn't have a decent future and milk it for what profit they can get or that it's worth a capital investment to make a decent profit in the future.
