Fusion Superplex Chief Operating Officer Dominic Richards is dismissing claims that the entertainment centre is too big of a dream and that the project will not succeed.
Mr. Richards said he can’t convince people who don’t understand the business model.
He added that he doesn’t think Galleria Cinema isn’t competition, but they just aren’t any competition for Fusion.
“What I’m trying to do is build a community; a big part of building a community is like how you build families. You give them someplace to go where they feel safe. You keep your price point on the ice cream and coffee as reasonable and if they go to a movie, I’mhappy.
“If they go upstairs and eat to the restaurant that’s great; but think about it from a different perspective.
“The average theatre is trying to get an occupancy rate of about seven to ten per cent to profit.
“I want to put that in perspective. If I have a theatre with 200 seats, I just need 20 people to be profitable; I think I’ve gotten more than 20 people in a theatre,” he said.
There have been concerns about movie pricing at Fusion as some say seeing a movie there is pricey.
Mr. Richards added that the Fusion experience is not just about coming in to see a movie. He said it’s about the experience.
“The movie is all about the experience; the number one experience we have right now in the country is VIP, followed very closely by 4DX and Imax and so in those experiences the price is higher, because that’s what Bahamians actually want.
“We think that it’s less about the price and more about the value that you provide to the client as well,” he said.
While many have praised Fusion filling its staff compliment with young people, the Fusion COO said with this comes a few challenges.
“When you target young people, you have issues with of course skill sets, and you have issue with temper management. How do you build someone who is less atoned to the business setting?
“So when you focus on that part of the business sector, you spend a lot of time mentoring more than managing.
“You spend a lot of time listening to a lot of issues and I think that’s been the second most powerful thing that we’ve been doing at Fusion since we’ve been open,” he said.
Mr. Richards maintains that the entertainment centre has been very successful over the past four months.
He was speaking to the Rotary Club of West Nassau’s weekly meeting.
