November 2012
Case
HBS Case Collection

Sugar Bowl

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Alisa Zalosh

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:15

Abstract

Shelby Givens, a recent business school graduate, returned home to Raleigh, North Carolina, to help rescue her family's ailing and outdated bowling alley, Westlake Lanes. Although she cut costs and addressed inefficiencies, moving the business from near-bankruptcy to profitability in nine months, market conditions threatened the long-term viability of the business. Givens then sold her family on a new, more youth-oriented concept, an urban lounge called Sugar Bowl that could generate sizable revenues from the food and beverage businesses already embedded in Westlake Lanes. The case follows Givens as she builds Sugar Bowl into a turnaround story through shrewd decision making in finance, operations, and marketing, while contending constantly with challenging surprises and disappointments. The case also captures Givens's reflections on how the entrepreneurial drive has motivated her. Sugar Bowl may be taught alone or after "Westlake Lanes" (4431), which follows Givens through the initial turnaround process.