Bringing back the basics seems to be bringing back the park

[GAcoaster]

From the Asbury Park Press:

 

Bringing back the basics seems to be bringing back the park

 

By MICHAEL L. DIAMOND

BUSINESS WRITER

 

Mark Kane, president of Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, was walking through the park on Monday when he spotted a napkin on the ground, picked it up and threw it in the trash can.

 

The simple act could have gone unnoticed as roller coasters carrying screaming riders swooped overhead. But it might have been the most important decision he made that day.

 

"Our mission has been to restore the fundamentals," he said.

 

It's a mission that has come naturally to Kane, a 1972 Freehold High School graduate who has led the park for two years. He works long hours. He celebrates employees' victories and holds them responsible for their mistakes. And he doesn't seem to miss a stray piece of trash.

 

His efforts to turn the theme park around might be paying off. Attendance is up this summer, executives said, despite concerns that the slow economy would keep visitors away.

 

"Mark is just a natural leader," said Mark Quenzel, executive vice president of New York-based Six Flags Inc., which owns Great Adventure. "I don't know if he was born into it or picked it up along the way. But he's equal parts drill sergeant and cheerleader."

 

By all accounts, turning around Six Flags Great Adventure required elements of both. Six Flags hasn't posted an annual profit since 1998, and its largest property wasn't helping matters.

 

The Jackson park sprawls out over 2,200 acres. It has 4,100 full- and part-time employees during the peak summer season, an amusement park featuring 13 roller coasters, a wildlife preserve with 1,200 animals and a water park.

 

It was in dire straits when Daniel Snyder, better known as owner of the Washington Redskins football team, bought the parent company in 2005 and turned it over to former ESPN executive Mark Shapiro to stage a turnaround.

 

The park was dirty. Lines were long. Customers were rowdy. Employees didn't enforce the rules. "It was a mess," Quenzel said.

 

Kane, who was president of Six Flags New England in Agawam, Mass., took over the Jackson park in 2006 and quickly directed his attention to the basics: He created a code of conduct for customers. He discouraged smoking, line cutting, profanity and littering. He enforced the rules by quadrupling the size of the security force. He added 50 percent more wastebaskets.

 

And he expanded employee training to improve customer service. That has had a residual impact; the number of employees who have returned to work at the park this year increased by 20 percent, Kane said.

 

Visitors to the park on Monday had kind words. "They keep it clean. It's organized. It's children (friendly)," said Charles Granatelli, a West Hempstead, N.Y., resident, who visited the park Monday with his wife and 14- and 9-year-old daughters.

 

Kane, 54, lives in Freehold Township, and he took a circuitous route to get here.

 

Born in Hazleton, Pa., Kane's father worked in the wire and cable manufacturing industry in a job that took the family to Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan, all by the time Kane was in eighth grade.

 

They settled in Freehold Township. He went to what was then Glassboro State University and majored in psychology — a degree that would come in handy when he found himself working at a ball toss game at Great Adventure during the summer of 1976.

 

The secret to the game wasn't complicated. "Everyone wants to be a winner," Kane said. "When you talk about the games business — how do I make money — it comes down to three things: The game, the prize and it has to be set up fairly."

 

If he didn't learn his business skills from his father, he's had plenty of other chances along the way.

 

Kane moved up the ranks at Great Adventure. He jumped to a games manufacturing company in Grand Rapids, Mich. He was an executive at Skee-Ball Inc. in Chalfont, Pa. He moved back to Six Flags, working in Jackson, Grand Prairie, Texas, and Agawam, Mass., and then, finally to Jackson again.

 

It didn't make for the most convenient family life. His wife, Kim, and their three daughters — Jessica, Rachel and Lauren — live in Southlake, Texas, where they decided to stay so the children could finish high school without needing to make another move.

 

His daughters have graduated, leaving the Kanes with another decision to make about where to live. Looking back, Kane said shuttling between cities was difficult. But he wouldn't change anything.

 

"This is the job I wanted the day I got here in 1976," he said. "If I had stayed here all of those years, I wouldn't be sitting here now."

 

Six Flags executives said this summer has been surprisingly strong. The company reported two weeks ago that attendance was up 7.6 percent and revenue was up 5.1 percent companywide, putting to rest concerns that high gasoline prices would force customers to stay home.

 

The company doesn't break out statistics for individual parks, but executives said Six Flags Great Adventure has shown a comparable, or even stronger, gain.

 

Kane said he's simply restored order. The next step: To create a culture in which employees meet customer expectations without thinking twice. Enforce the rules. Help when they have questions. And pick up stray trash.

 

"That's what we're trying to do," Kane said. "Affect a cultural change."

 

Excellent story, and excellent job Mark and all the staff!

[JetsDevs4Lyf]

Well I certainly think anyone you ask who has consistently gone to the park since the takeover can certainly see that things are headed in the right direction. Heck just look at the few years prior to the takeover and what we have now and the park looks so much nicer and people generally seem happier there. Very nice article indeed.

[GAcoaster]

While things got better with the previous managers since Shapiro took over, it's really Mark Kane's personal influence and hard work that have made the most profound changes.

[29yrswithaGApass]

Mark is THE MAN!

[JetsDevs4Lyf]

Which year did Mark get to lead at our park exactly. I can't seem to remember when a lot of that stuff began taking place in terms of season.

[GAcoaster]

He took over in the late summer/fall of 2006.

[DarkKnight]

The Asbury Park Press has a pretty good writeup on the state of Six Flags Great Adventure, and how things have changed since Mark Kane took over two years ago. It also gives more history about Mark Kane himself then I've seen before. It's a pretty good read, and you can see it right here. http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../808280455/1003

[Guest warnerleroy]

Interesting, maybe attendence at our park will go up! We might even break the 3,000,000 mark for the first time in 25 years!

 

 

[Railer]

He is what the park needed. He brings consistency to the upper level management team. His influence is really starting to show. With big companies like Six Flags it usually takes a few years before you start to see results, and we are really starting to see them now. I work for P.S.E. & G. and we are the largest utility in the state, so i know how it goes with big companies, and they are headed in the right direction. I just can't wait for next year, the core values that they have strived for the last few years have been achived. Now I want to see what the next step will be, because I think they will take our park to the next level of entertainment value.

[darkridedan]

Interesting, maybe attendence at our park will go up! We might even break the 3,000,000 mark for the first time in 25 years!

 

I guess your asking about attendance figures. It was 3 1/2 million in 2001.

[Guest warnerleroy]

I guess your asking about attendance figures. It was 3 1/2 million in 2001.

In 7 years then!