Good Neighbor Podcast Estero
Bringing Together -
Local Businesses & Your Neighbors in SWFL
Good Neighbor Podcast Estero
EP # 245 Fun Beyond Bowling: 810 Entertainment Brings New Gaming to Southwest Florida
Meet Joe Beach, the dynamic General Manager bringing 810 Entertainment to Southwest Florida's leisure landscape. This isn't your parents' bowling alley – it's a technological wonderland where tradition meets innovation in spectacular fashion.
Joe's journey from his Greek culinary roots to entertainment venue leadership reveals how passion for guest experiences shapes exceptional service. As 810 Entertainment expands beyond its original "Billiards and Bowling" identity, they're revolutionizing how families, friends, and coworkers play together at their Miromar Outlets location in Estero.
Step into a world where real axes meet digital targets, where darts pop virtual balloons on projection-mapped cork boards, and where VR gaming lets you battle Godzilla with wind effects. With 65+ arcade games, bowling lanes with plush leather seating, elevated food and cocktail menus, plus over-the-top milkshakes at their Meemugs bar, 810 creates memorable experiences for every occasion – from date nights to birthday parties to corporate events.
What truly distinguishes 810 Entertainment is their flexibility and community focus. They'll customize experiences for any group size or special request. As Joe puts it, they're willing to "go the extra frame" to exceed expectations. Whether you book by the hour through their website or take advantage of their comprehensive party packages starting at just $30 per person, you'll discover why first-time visitors' eyes widen with amazement when they walk through the doors.
Ready to experience southwest Florida's most versatile entertainment venue? Visit atembowling.com to browse options, connect with their sales team, or simply stop by their corner location at Miromar Outlets by the Tesla charging stations. Your new favorite spot for fun awaits!
810 Entertainment
Joe Beach
10801 Corkscrew Rd, Suite 50, Estero, FL 33928
(239) 766-8448
INFO@810BOWLING.COM
810bowling.com/810-entertainment-in-estero
It's time to check out your neighbors on the Good Neighbor podcast, where we bring good vibes, great neighbors and local businesses in Southwest Florida together. Here's your host, Cabo Jim Schaller.
Speaker 2:Welcome. Good Neighbors, episode number 245 of the Good Neighbor podcast. Today we have Good Neighbor Joe Beach, general Manager of 810 Entertainment. Welcome, thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me neighbor, joe Beach, general manager of 810 Entertainment. Welcome.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. Yeah, pleasure to get to know you and share your story with our listeners. So, without further ado, let's start off by sharing a little bit about what you do over at 810.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we are new to the community here in Southwest Florida. We're a one-stop shop for everything. Fun, right? We have a combination of all kinds of different gaming. We have an elevated food menu, we have a nice fully stocked bar with very affordable signature cocktails. We have a Meemugs milkshake bar where we make over-the-top dessert treats that everybody loves, and we're located right in the Miromar Outlets so you know when you're going to get your shopping. You can really spend the whole day over there with us and have some fun. Nice, nice, I love it.
Speaker 2:I love it. So let's back up the story a little bit, whether we want to go into your personal story or maybe the story of 810. But how did you both end up here?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I'll do a little combo action, I guess there. So I'm Greek. I grew up in the in the service industry. My grandfather ran restaurants my whole entire life. I inspired to be a chef when I was younger and kind of got into the culinary game and then quickly found my strengths in the front of house taking care of guests, and that's where I shined. So you know, through college and stuff, serving and bartending, and then I moved to Myrtle Beach, south Carolina, where I met 810. 810.
Speaker 3:It started as just a secondary source of income, picking up a quick bartending job for one of the newest location that they opened up there in Myrtle Beach, and I fell in love with the concept. It really meshed with my personality. It was very upbeat, it was different from standard food and beverage that I've worked my whole entire career and it was like I said, I enjoyed going to work every single day. So as the company started to grow there in Myrtle Beach, I was able to grow with them and got an opportunity to be a bar manager at one of their newer locations there. And then I ended up traveling with the company. I've been to Phoenix Arizona to open locations and then brought me back to Myrtle Beach and then down here to Southwest Florida. So yeah, the company is popping up here and there and everywhere and it's been really fun to watch it grow, help it grow and grow alongside with it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So let's talk about some of those challenges. As far as growth is concerned, I mean, you're opening new stores all over the place, but you know, especially being down here in Southwest Florida, what challenges have you faced in doing so.
Speaker 3:I think the biggest thing is just getting integrated into your community. Right, you know you can have a perfect business model and everything can be like perfect on paper, but you know you pick an area, you really have to do the legwork to get involved with the community. You know, one of the biggest things that that I'm looking for is 2025 is I want everybody in the town of Estero to know it at least who 810 is. Have heard about us, you know. You know it doesn't scream entertainment venue by our name, but like that's something that you know. I want everybody to know that they can go to 810 for a good time, whether it's, you know, a date night or, you know, kids birthday party, a team outing after work. We really facilitate everything like that. So getting our name out there is definitely one of the one of the goals for 2025. And I want to get everybody in to check us out and just like really see it. Because once people walk through our doors, you see the big, wide eyes and they're like, oh my goodness, this place is amazing. Like how come? I didn't know about this and you know. So that's that's definitely the goal was getting out there.
Speaker 3:But you know, challenges come across. You know when you're doing business, especially food and beverage, there's all kinds of different bumps in the road. I guess you will say it's always something on the list, but just keeping your head down and you know doing right by people. You know, like I tell my staff all the time, like you know I want to talk to every single person that comes through the building. You know we're here selling funds. Let's have fun doing it. It's really hard to have a bad day when you're surrounded by so much like people like having a good time, you know.
Speaker 2:Right, right. It's got to be a great job. You can't complain about that. I love what you do. So let's let's talk about maybe some of the myths or misconceptions surrounding what you do that we can kind of maybe clear up for our listeners today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. Some people, you know, think that, like when they hear bowling alley because that's something we get classified as sometimes is a bowling alley, you know, sometimes I think, um, you know, the old school bowling alleys really bright lights, um, you know, 60 lanes, you got like cafeteria style food and beverage service where it's really not too personal. Um, we really are in that new age group of entertainment venues where we have the bowling lanes. But we have the bowling lanes, but we have the really cool LED lights. We have nice long, comfortable leather couches for every single lane so you're in comfort while you're bowling.
Speaker 3:And that's not the only thing we have, that's just a part of our building. So we have so many other things that you can get in there and get involved with and have fun with. We axe throwing crazy darts, we have a sports simulator, golf simulator, we have 65 arcade games and TV is all over the place so you can watch the Masters that were just going on all the football games during the NFL season. We try to keep all the sports involved and have good specials going along with it. So I would say it's just so much more than just bowling Right and just really seeing what we have to offer.
Speaker 2:It's not your parents bowling, ellie, right? No, it's, much more it's. It's. It's not your parents bowling, alley right so let's, talk about. Let's talk about you know you've got a lot of new technology, but what certain things are trending that are different nowadays? Yeah, you mentioned some of them with the axe throwing and stuff like that yeah, yeah, yeah, um.
Speaker 3:Well, our, our company, just um, did a, a rebrand shift here recently. Um, where we kind of we were 810 Billiards and Bowling and we've transitioned to 810 Entertainment because, as we continue to grow and open up new locations, we're introducing new gaming, and this location in Estero Florida is one of our newer models that have the additional gaming in it. So some of the cooler things we have, you know, the axe throwing, it's not just throwing. Well, first off, they're real axes. They're not foam or fake axes, they are real metal axes and you're throwing them at real wood. But it has a projected image on it and camera sensors to allow it to track its score in real time. So you're literally playing against the people that you're on the lane with and, um, you can play tic-tac-toe. You can play, you know, whoever gets the closest to the bullseye and gets the point value wins. Um, and that same technology transfers over to our crazy darts. Now we're the only place in Southwest Florida that has these crazy darts lanes. They are by far the coolest thing thing I've ever seen. I would love one in my man cave at home. Uh, it's a six foot cork board right, and you throw metal tip darts at it, you get five throws per turn. Um, but that too has the projected image on the cork board and sensors all around it. So if you have a balloon floating um that has a 60 on it and you throw the dart and pop that balloon, you get 60 points um. So it's very interactive. It's very fun. We also introduce beanbags for the, the children to throw. That way they can be included too, because it's such a cool game that the kids just always want to play it. So the beanbags were definitely a a safety pickup on my end, so I don't have metal tip darts flying around the dining room. But, yeah, that's really cool.
Speaker 3:We have a newer age arcade with over 65 games, some VR games, where you literally feel like you're in a helicopter, winds blowing at you, you're shooting, you know, I think, godzilla and other dinosaurs, and then you have your. You know, I think, uh, godzilla and other dinosaurs, um, and then you have your. You know classic um games that are more like children based, that are lower um credit items and stuff like that. You have ski ball, your basketball games, but all that has um technology through it. Um, all the bowling is like new age bowling, so, um, they're not the freestanding pins where you need like four mechanics on duty to be in the back chasing pins down and greasing up lanes. Everything's run by computers and fuses and motherboards and stuff. Now it's all camera based and sensors. So definitely a lot of technology involved in everything. Keeps me young and well-read having to keep up with it all. But yeah, it's fun and, like I said, it just puts a fun new twist on all the classics that we love.
Speaker 2:Right, there's something for everybody there, and technology is a wonderful thing. It just makes things more and more enjoyable and easier for people as well too. So I know you mentioned you came from up north, from Myrtle Beach down here, but I'm happy to be in southwest Florida, but I know your job can be very demanding. When you do get a moment of free time, what do you do outside of work?
Speaker 3:So my girlfriend and I we love just being outside, whether it's at our local pool here or if we're going to travel to a new beach. Her parents just recently moved down here from New Jersey so they're in the Port Charlotte area so any day off that we have. They're recently retired so they're on their second wind of life, so they're helping keep us young as we're helping keep them young, so we like to get up with them, go to the beach, you know, maybe have a bite out. And you know I also, like I said, being in the food and beverage industry, I very much appreciate everybody that works in this industry. So I like to get out and try new local restaurants, you know, stuff that's not as corporate or branded, and try to find some hidden gems here in Southwest Florida.
Speaker 2:Plenty of those around. For sure you gotta look, but don't tell everybody all the time.
Speaker 3:I can't blow the spot up, but yeah, I would love to talk after this and see if you got a good recommendation Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So is there one thing you wish our listeners knew about? 810 that maybe they won't be too familiar with?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would. I would want people to like know that you know we can facilitate Anything you can think of. I know a lot of times when you get into some of these larger entertainment venues and stuff that very strict on a like this is, this is what we offer. You can either take it or leave it. You know we've been known to go the extra frame and like, think outside the box and facilitate parties of all sizes for any kind of different group of all sizes, for any kind of different group.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, whether it be like a company buyout for like a large, uh, large event and you want specific decorations you you're thinking about, you know, having a? Um like a meeting in the middle of it. You want things displayed on TV screens. Um, I can hook up to our sound system. You know, tap into all of our TVs. You know, hook up to our sound system. You know, tap into all of our TVs. You know we can do birthday parties for any sizes. We do like donation nights for local fundraisers and whatnot. Right now, get involved with all the summer programs and field trips. I really, I really take pride in the fact that you know, if you can think it, we can execute it and you know we're willing to get with you and work out the details and get it all planned out, just to make sure everything goes over flawlessly, which is, I think, is something a little bit different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and you're trying to try to become part of the community as well, to bring the community together, which I love 100 percent, and bring the community together, which I love 100%. So how would our listeners go about contacting you if they wanted to check it out, wanted to plan a party? Or just wanted to come and hang out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I recommend, if you're in the area. We're located right in the Miromar Outlets so we have a nice big corner store right over there by the Tesla charging ports in the Miromar Outlets, because when you walk in and you see the venue for yourself, you really can grasp everything. But you can always jot over to atembowlingcom and check us out. It has general information about the company on there. Or you can click our Astero Florida page and go through there. You can start a conversation with our sales team, where it will get you in contact with our sales representatives and they will send over our package breakdowns and work through whatever budget you have going on to try to find the perfect party plan, the perfect party for you. And you can also go on and book yourself through our online reservation portal.
Speaker 3:Through 810 Bowling. com you can book any of our gaming. We sell everything by the hour, so you can book anything by the hour. You can even plan your night out and start bowling from 5 to 6 and then move to Crazy Dart from 6.15 to 7.15 and then to the next game, so you can do all that. We also have party packages online for smaller birthday parties and stuff that you can book where, like our spare package, is 30 a person, two hours of bowling shoes included, a pizza party and unlimited soft drinks for the whole two hours that you're there. So it's very user-friendly. Um, you know, if you want to get on and book it yourself, you can do that, or you can um talk with a sales representative and get taken care of through there, or just call the store and ask to talk to Joe and I'll help you out and get you booked up.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely. I love it I love it.
Speaker 2:I'm going to have to come check it out. Oh, absolutely I don't think I can wait until Friday. I might have to come beforehand, but it's been a pleasure getting to know you, Joe. Thank you for being such a good neighbor and I hope to see you on the community soon.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Thank you, Cabo.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, bringing together good vibes, great neighbors, local businesses in Southwest Florida. To nominate your favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to CaboWaboJim. com. That's CaboWaboJimc. om, or call 239-427-4100.