GILROY
– Paramount Parks, one of the nation’s leading theme park
operators and the company that owns Great America in Santa Clara,
has inked a five-year deal to manage Gilroy’s picturesque but
financially troubled Bonfante Gardens Theme Park – and the first
message to the community is a positive one.
”
The park will reopen,
”
reported Bob Kraemer, president of the park’s board of
directors.
And in the long run, park leaders believe the move will also
help the horticultural wonderland nestled into Hecker Pass run more
efficiently and draw the people it needs to achieve financial
success.
GILROY – Paramount Parks, one of the nation’s leading theme park operators and the company that owns Great America in Santa Clara, has inked a five-year deal to manage Gilroy’s picturesque but financially troubled Bonfante Gardens Theme Park – and the first message to the community is a positive one.
“The park will reopen,” reported Bob Kraemer, president of the park’s board of directors.
And in the long run, park leaders believe the move will also help the horticultural wonderland nestled into Hecker Pass run more efficiently and draw the people it needs to achieve financial success.
“We bring you some very good news tonight,” Kraemer told the City Council in announcing the deal Monday night. “We believe this is the start of a very good future.”
Paramount officials said the agreement fits in with their Bay Area business objectives and strategy, and expressed excitement over the prospect of managing a park that’s known in the industry for its uniqueness, quality and unparalleled beauty.
Paramount Parks President and CEO Al Weber, who visited Bonfante Gardens and met with the park’s founder and creator, Michael Bonfante, said the park is “highly respected” in the theme park world and “a beautiful property.”
“We’re proud they’ve chosen us to manage the park,” he said.
“It’s a beautiful park and we think it has a lot of opportunities to grow,” added Bob White, the vice president of marketing at Great America who will be a part of a Paramount management team scheduled to descend on Bonfante Gardens beginning today.
Business plan tops agenda
The team’s objective will be to put together a business plan in short order for approval by the park’s local board, which includes City Councilman Al Pinheiro. Bonfante Gardens is a non-profit entity formed to provide benefit for the city of Gilroy.
Although the agreement officially begins March 1, Paramount officials – specializing in human resources, finance, operations, marketing and other areas – were expected to begin swarming on the park immediately to evaluate needs and start hammering out a business plan.
Under the management agreement approved by Bonfante’s nonprofit board of directors last week, Paramount will be responsible for all day-to-day operations. It will also provide strategic guidance on financial decisions and long-range planning to the nonprofit’s board, which will maintain overall oversight authority over the business plan for the park and make decisions on capital investments.
“It will be Paramount’s job to ascertain the business environment there, make recommendations to run the park and have it done in the most cost-effective way possible,” White said.
Paramount could also make recommendations on larger, more strategic changes – such as hypothetical new rides or nationally licensed cartoon characters – but officials said those would probably come farther down the line and be subject to board approval.
Family, flowers theme intact
Park and Paramount officials stressed they plan to preserve the park’s theme and character as a family-oriented, horticulturally based operation that stresses natural beauty.
“We think it’s well-positioned for families with young children,” White said. “It’s a beautiful place and is manageable size for children. We do think the park has a future or otherwise we wouldn’t have been involved.”
And the deal is not a sale or acquisition of any kind, Kraemer stressed.
“All of the corporate activities of Bonfante Gardens remain under the board,” he said. “Everything to do with ownership of equipment and financing of the park itself is our responsibility. It doesn’t mean they don’t bring a powerful force of consultants and so forth to guide it in the future, but the ownership of the park remains as it is now.”
Paramount officials also stressed that they are making no investment in the park.
“Our role is to advise the board over those kinds of issues,” White said. “We absolutely do not have an investment in the park.”
Paramount and Bonfante officials kept many specifics close to the vest Monday, such as financial terms of the compensation package Paramount will receive and whether or what kind of incentives are built into the agreement.
But park officials said the new management agreement will bring increased marketing clout and a wealth of operational experience necessary to run the park efficiently and expand its attendance.
“Obviously this is someone that has the knowledge and the history, and this is what they do for a living,” Pinheiro said. “They’ll be bringing in people that have years and years of experience in this, and that can only be positive because they have track records and have been managing parks throughout the world.”
The Bonfante board has dealt with several companies in recent months since it closed the park early last fall, Kraemer said, but Paramount was seen as the best match for long-term success.
“We think we couldn’t have a better match,” he said. “They provide us the financial stability and organization to allow us to get in this year, and a a top-notch management team.”
High-level transfers
Paramount recently transfered high-level officials to the West Coast to concentrate on the company’s operations here, including Executive Vice President Tim Fisher, who managed the company’s largest theme park, Paramount’s Kings Island, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Fisher will supervise Bonfante’s new director of operations.
“There are high-powered individuals with a lot of experience,” Kraemer said.
Marketing is a major reason for the deal and will be a cornerstone of the new business plan in order to boost attendance.
The park still isn’t as well-known outside of South County or south San Jose as it could be, Kraemer said, but Paramount – with its larger range of marketing resources and experience – can help expand that reach to include the greater region.
“There’s a belief we have tremendous capacity with what we have now to attract people if we can get them in the park so they can see what’s there,” Kraemer said.
Great America marketing synergy
The presence of Great America also provides opportunities for “synergies,” officials said. Great America already has a substantial marketing effort, existing clientele and customer lists that Bonfante can “piggyback” off, Kraemer said. Cooperative marketing between the two parks could be one option, White said.
Meanwhile, the agreement could also allow Bonfante to tap into other benefits, such as Paramount’s larger purchasing power and scale in areas like concessions, officials said.
“We have professional buyers where that’s all they do.” White said. “Before, I doubt Bonfante had people who had those kinds of roles. Now they’ll benefit from our market knowledge and power when making those kinds of acquisitions”
It’s unclear how many current or former park employees – full-time or seasonal – will be rehired in the new agreement. White said those determinations will come in the next month or so. Officials planned to hold a meeting with the roughly 15 park employees left after last fall’s layoffs this morning.
Officials expect to announce the new director of operations within the next month. They expect to announce a transitional manager in coming days.
The park’s nonprofit tax status has not changed as a result of the agreement, Kraemer said. In the future, revenues made under Paramount’s guidance could still end up going to educational programs or community groups as originally envisioned when the park was set up as a nonprofit, he said.
“That’s not going to happen in the next two years,” Kraemer cautioned. “We’ve got to get up and running. But that still exists, absolutely.”
No decision on ticket prices
Ticket prices are also uncertain.
“We understand it has to be a good value, let’s put it that way,” White said.
Bonfante, who has moved to Branson, Mo., will remain on the board of directors. Kraemer said he has come to Gilroy in recent months to meet face-to-face with Paramount officials and review terms of the agreement.
“He fully supports everything that’s happening,” Kraemer said.
13 million guests annually
Paramount, headquarted in Charlotte, N.C., entertains more than 13 million guests annually at five theme parks in North America, as well as some European locations.
The company’s parent corporation is entertainment giant Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV, Showtime, Blockbuster and Simon and Schuster.
Bonfante directors announced the search for a long-term business partner to pour cash and expertise into the park last fall after closing the park early and laying off most full-time staff members.
