The Burlingame Voice

Topgolf: Is the cash cow running low on milk?

We noted the news that Callaway and Topgolf were looking to get a divorce here on the last Topgolf post.  I didn't fully catch that the financial struggles were on the Topgolf side instead of the equipment (Callaway) side, but a WSJ piece lays it all out.  The entertainment center business (i.e. the hi-tech driving range) is good--just not quite as good as it has been.  There are big hopes in City Hall that Topgolf will drive serious tax revenue allowing the city to shoot for the green with a smooth pitch and sink some long putts.  But.....

Serious golfers are reliably showing up on golf courses, spending money on their equipment and golf balls. But recreational players are no longer as keen on shelling out some $70 an hour on a driving range for fun these days.  Lately, the Topgolf business has been hit hard by slowing consumer spending. Same-venue sales fell 8% in the second quarter from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive quarter of declines. The sales drop was even worse for big-group events because of “corporate belt-tightening,” according to the company.  (Ed:  think Westin, Hyatt, Marriott).

The company initially thought that visitors to Topgolf would become newbie golfers who might seek out its products after trying them out at those venues, which carry Callaway equipment. As it turns out, hitting a few balls at a recreational driving range isn’t enough to convert people into Callaway faithful.

The steeper price tag might be one contributor: In its location in Edison, N.J., for example, it costs about $155 to reserve one bay for a two-hour session during peak hours. And that doesn’t include food or drinks. Topgolf is trying out different ways to lure customers, including variable pricing, tweaks to its promotions and adding concerts and live DJ nights.

Here's the bottom line

Topgolf itself isn’t a lousy business—it is profitable and generated a 15.5% margin on the basis of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization last year. Its top line grew at a healthy 27% compound annual growth rate between 2021 and 2023 before the recent slowdown, and it still has a long runway of new locations. (Ed: especially our little B'game location).  It will, however, first need to prove that it can bring customers back after the first handful of visits.

Now, let's chat about those "DJ nights".  I never went to the movie nights at the old driving range during Covid, but I recall they did draw a bit of a crowd to Boringame.  What's the curfew policy these days on the Bayfront?

Top Golf: Rounding the turn?

I stopped by the Golf Center (aka the old city dump) to check on the progress of the Top Golf project.  My completely uneducated guess is they are about to round the turn.  In golf "the turn" is an expression used to denote the part of the golf course where the front nine turns into the back nine. When you've reached "the turn," you've reached the halfway point of an 18-hole golf course. So "making the turn" means leaving the front nine and moving on to the back nine.  It's been more than five years in the works as noted here.

It's an impressive build and the number of poles surprised me.  One can only hope it generates as much B'game revenue as some city elders are predicting.  The sooner the better!  Here's the view as of now.

BHS Baseball cracks the Top 15

Let's keep the school post rally going by highlighting today's SF Comicle Top 15 high school baseball rankings.  BHS made the #15 slot--the only team not ranked preseason!  There are not a lot of public schools on the list--Los Gatos being one that has a rich baseball history--as does B'game.  Keep it up, team.

Update May 18:  Things did not go well for the Panthers today against Mitty at Washington Park.  It was a beautiful day for baseball, until it wasn't.  I arrived mid-game when BHS was down 6-1 and it went downhill from there.  I think it was 12-1 at the end due to strong hitting by Mitty and some very sloppy defense by the home team.  That's the way the ball bounces.  Making the CCS D-I playoffs is quite an accomplishment, and my guess is that is what the coaches are telling the players here after the game.

Volunteer Profile: BCE President Jen Faber

I recently had a chance meeting with the current BCE president, Jen Faber, and after a pleasant conversation she agreed to do more of an in-depth "interview" for the Voice.  Afterall, why let "Mark at the Mic" Lucchesi have all the fun profiling people in town?  We talked for about an hour about her background (molecular biology and history), why she passed up a chance at med school, and worked in a medical lab and for J&J.  But BCE was the topic du jour and you can find more details here.

Once your kids are out of BIS and especially after they are out of BHS, you tend to lose touch with the organization.  I have.  I still believe it is a critical contributor not just to the school system, but to the overall quality of life and our shared investment in B'game.

As the mother of three boys, Jen started as a BCE donor, then volunteer and eventually became a board member.  She was a site director at Hoover which is often a jumping off point to further BCE involvement.  As Covid hit and some people moved out of B'game, BCE experienced some turnover which may have contributed to Jen taking on the presidency after only four years in town.  See what can happen when you raise your hand?

The main function of BCE-- raising money and granting it back to the schools--is pretty stable.  With a fiscal year starting July 1, the funds granted have been between $2.6M and $2.7M for the last three years --the Covid years.  There are expenses and the endowment needs to be maintained in case there are more economic disruptions.  The grants have funded 19 additional teachers which is why multi-year stability (or better yet growth) is important.  The additional staff are teaching music (7), PE (5), language (2) and five other assignments.

Jen revealed that she has a "challenger" mentality--probably why we got along right off.  She sees the BCE board and presidency as a political position in the sense that one needs to know how to influence other bodies like the District, the Trustees and the City while understanding where to pick one's fights.  We didn't get into that too much, but if and when one arises, I will know who to ask about it.  Here's our selfie taken during the interview in case you want to say hi when you see her around town.

Netflix comes to B'game: BALCO

B'gamers who have been here for twenty years or more will remember Burlingame was the center of the doping scandal that rocked many professional sports back in 2003.  After getting its start in Millbrae and then San Carlos, BALCO moved to 1520 Gilbreth Rd.-- about a block from the It's It shop across the freeway.  The company principal, Victor Conte, and personal trainer/distributor Greg Anderson were fixtures around town.  They especially loved breakfast at Alana's.  Now Netflix has revived interest in the story with a just-released documentary film "Untold: Hall of Shame".

The film's good guy is Jeff Novitzky, the IRS agent who led the investigation into BALCO.  He grew up in B'game, graduated from Mills High School and played sports at Skyline.  His Wikipedia page is a fun read and he comes across as a tenacious investigator in the film.  This USA Today article describes the on-going social media fight between Novitsky and Conte.

If you watch closely, you will see images of the Gilbreth office building and the Burlingame police report that got things rolling.  All in all, it's a fun trip down a local memory lane.

BHS Gym bites the dust

Having been removed from the BHS community for more than a decade, big changes that the community is alerted to early can be news to me when they actually happen.  So it goes for the BHS gym--and I am not alone.  Several people pinged me to say how they were caught by surprise at the demolition of the old gym.  Not saying it wasn't time, just that it was a surprise.  If anyone knows where the gym-based sporting events are to be played, please weigh in.

This is the scene were the gym once stood.  Compared to other developments, a gym should go up pretty quickly.

Courtesy of the B'game Historical Society here is a photo of the first BHS gym designed by Ernest Norberg from the early 1930s

200 e-Bikes, 200 Grand

It was nearly five years ago that we did the Lime bike (aka "Litterbike") experiment in B'game.  Recall the concerns and complaints here.  This latest experiment is with Spin which appears to have a rule against kids under 18 using their bikes.  During Lime's short-lived experiment, kids seemed to me to be the main riders.  The DJ notes some of the details:

A new electric bike sharing program is set to roll out in Burlingame, with Millbrae also looking to get in on the action.  The program would have 200 electric bikes for transit commuters and in-city use and will be a joint collaboration with Millbrae, which will discuss the idea Oct. 11. Users will get discounts if they park the bikes in “preferred zones” that include existing bike racks, corrals and stencil-marked areas in locations around the cities.

The cities were each awarded a $200,000 San Mateo County Transportation Authority grant to implement a bicycle-sharing program. The total sum for the award equals $440,000, including a $20,000 match by each city. Burlingame and Millbrae will apply the funds toward the purchase of new bicycle racks and signs for preferred parking zones. The cities will also subsidize rides for new users and subsidize a portion of Spin’s cost to purchase e-bikes for the program, according to the report.

It feels a little expensive to me (68% more than the deal Penn State has), but there will be "subsidies" so this will be tagged to the new "Free Stuff (Not)" category as well

Spin is proposing $1 to unlock and 42 cents per minute to ride. Spin also offers discount rates for monthly passes, student pricing and low-income users, according to the staff report.  Spin spokesperson Phuong Bui said that the staff operates 24/7 and aims to respond to bikes parking improperly within two hours.

If that sounds to you like we may have more Spin vans driving around picking up bikes and placing them back where they belong and relocating them, you are not alone.  But there is a fine schedule, and you get banned after four parking infractions.  I've done a couple of two-hour rides on an e-bike and it's fun, but it's also a potentially dangerous activity for those around the rider since they are fast.  I hope BPD is ready for more traffic enforcement.  In fact, let's start now with the motorized scooters that are zipping all over town after school lets out.

Panther Basketball AND Baseball go....all...the...way!

Watching live local sports is finally coming back as the pandemic-driven closings and rescheduling abates.  Rescheduling delays are what put basketball on the sports page in June.  And the BHS Panthers have made the most of it by winning the CCS championship in dramatic fashion.  The Daily Journal has the story

The seventh time was the charm for Jeff Dowd.  In his second stint as head coach of the Burlingame Panthers, the architect of one of the most consistently dominant public school programs in the Bay Area finally earned a section championship on Saturday night as his team downed the previously unbeaten Santa Cruz Cardinals, 43-39, in the CCS Division III Championship Game.

No matter how big or small Dowd’s teams are, no matter whether they’re underclassmen or seniors, defense has been a constant for the Panthers, and it showed up in a big way on Saturday. Second-seeded Burlingame (11-4) held the Cardinals 22 points lower than their season average, only allowing double-digit points in one quarter.

This is quite a feather for Coach Dowd's cap given that the team is mostly underclassmen.  With a bevy of juniors returning next season, this run could go on for quite some time.  Congrats all around, Panthers.  That banner will look sweet in the gym!

.......and now the update about the CCS Champ Panther baseball team.........best Voice post update ever!  From the Daily Journal piece

There are generally only two reasons baseball players get dirty. One, because they play hard. Two, because they’re running the bases a lot. The No. 6-seed Panthers (18-9) did both to the max to stun No. 4 Los Altos in claiming their first CCS title since 2010, their third all-time, and the first in (Coach Shawn) Scott’s 11 years at the helm.  While starting pitcher Max Alvira went the distance — allowing single runs in the first and third before closing the championship run with goose eggs through the final four frames — the Panthers’ offense was circling the bases with abandon.

And these two Panthers are cut from the Neon Deion Sanders two-sport mold

“We didn’t have the biggest guys, we didn’t have the most skilled team, but we grinded every pitch,” Burlingame junior Lou Martineau said.  Martineau has bragging rights over any player involved in Saturday’s game. Having also played Burlingame hoops for a team that captured the CCS Division III boys’ basketball crown June 12, the junior is the only Panther to have started on two CCS champions this season. Junior Sean Richardson, a basketball starter and baseball reserve, also celebrated both titles.

Kudos to Coach Scott and Coach Dowd--this will be a year to remember and that pair of banners will look great in the gym.  Click through to the DJ piece to see the dogpile victory photo that is just like this one.  The 2021 win even had a similar outfield-infield DP!

Looking for Silver Linings of 2020

As this annus horribilis winds its way to its midnight conclusion, I have been searching for whatever silver linings come to mind.  There aren't many and perhaps some of you will add a few more, but these are what I have come up with:

With schools going virtual and organized sports on hold, it was a rough year for kids.  On the bright side, it's gratifying to see how many kids rediscovered their bikes.  Bike sales skyrocketed (unfortunately so did bike thefts) and seeing so many B'game kids cruising the streets with or without their parents has been great.  Popping wheelies is also back and modern bikes allow for some impressive wheelie yardage.

Sales of puppies may even be outstripping that of bikes.  On my dog walks, I have seen more puppies in the last two months than I can ever recall.  Even better, new owners seem to have the time on their hands to do puppy training.  I took the puppy obedience classes at the SPCA at Coyote Point years ago and know the basics, but there must be some good YouTube instruction for these new owners to learn virtually since they are doing so well.  I bet there are a lot of dogs as happy as are mine with the extra walks.

Our restaurants have been at the epicenter of the business stress.  Many were temporarily closed even before the latest lockdown and some are not likely to make it.  But in speaking to the owner of one of my favorites on the Avenue, he noted that through all of this he has gotten to know his customers better than he ever has before.  People really wanted to talk when they were out, as we saw with the BAAZ, and owners and staff are happy to comply.

Spring cleaning started right on time and then continued for months and months.  It is still on-going if the "Donations Are Full" signs at Pick of the Litter are any indication.  I once saw the donation line at the Goodwill in San Mateo stretch into the street and bend back almost to El Camino.  20 cars.  People generally have good hearts and 2020 made it more visible.  Home improvements followed suit and local gardens certainly benefited.  Lowes, Home Depot and nurseries made it to "essential business" status.

All things on Zoom and virtual is a double-edged sword.  Hanging out with people is key to many, especially the extroverts, and web conferencing is a thin substitute.  But on the plus side, we can hangout with friends from far away or long ago easier than ever.  Having health care providers adapt to virtual sessions will be another long-term benefit.

The last silver lining I have is a prediction.  As things return to normal, we will all have a greater appreciation for a lot of heretofore less-noticed things.  Meetups for morning coffee, sitting at a ballgame at Bayside or Washington Park, the Lion's Car Show, Art on the Avenue, going to church in church, and family gatherings will all be sweeter than before.  Happy New Year!  Bring on 2021.    

Local Celebrities Stop By B'game

Golden State Warriors "Outsiders" Drew Shiller and Grant Liffmann stopped by the Rec Center Monday night as part of a Park & Rec Foundation fund-raising speaker series.  Both young men grew up in B'game and played sports here before going on to bright turns in college.  What started as a bootstrapped show on Facebook Live has blossomed.  Now they are the "voice of the common man" on TV right after Warriors games.  They have drawn enough attention as Outsiders for their relaxed format to be copied around the country by other pro basketball teams and now pro football (the Eagles).  Grant is also doing some other announcing and looks to have a career in the making.

Attendees got almost two hours of discussion and all the Q&A the crowd of about 40 people could muster.  The pitch resembled the guys' show which is not surprising since their approach in TV is to give the impression of two guys sitting around talking basketball.  We got some insights on their careers, on specific players, the NBA, and the new Chase Center where the Outsiders will have a nice new studio.  They certainly will be better situated at Chase than at the "Wreck Center"  (hat tip to Hollyroller on the nickname) where we endured the harsh florescent lights and hard chairs.  Grant and Drew need audience support so follow them on Facebook, Instagram and watch their show--especially if the Warriors lose which they predict will be much more common this year than we have become accustomed to.