But the point is ... what if there is not enough customer coming period. You can open your doors, that doesn't mean you are going to make enough money. What if sales are down 80 - 100%?
COVID-19’s Impacts on BGW
- Thread starter WDWRLD
- Start date
Just curious... What is the break even point attendance-wise for a fully open park day? 10k? 15k?
It depends what kind of business you are in. If you are a retail store, sales are typically spiky, not smooth. Even if you have little to no sales one day, the next day someone may come in and spend several hundred or thousand dollars, which could cover costs for the week. Better to be open than lose that business to the Walmart or Costco.
And what if no one comes in for two months straight? Seems like you wasted your time for nothing.
"A. Upon a determination by the State Health Commissioner that exceptional circumstances exist relating to one or more persons in the Commonwealth who are KNOWN to have been exposed to or infected with or reasonably suspected to have been exposed to or infected with a communicable disease of public health threat and that such exceptional circumstances render the procedures of Article 3.01 (§ 32.1-48.01 et seq.) of this chapter to be insufficient control measures or that the individuals have failed or refused to comply voluntarily with the control measures directed by the State Health Commissioner in response to a communicable disease of public health threat, the State Health Commissioner may invoke the provisions of this article relating to quarantine and isolation."
Not a legal expert either but I have heard several people that are legal experts who question weather you can extend that Known clause to include everyone just because there is a wide spread infection.
Its lower than that, but the exact number depends on what the attendance bracket for the day started out at and what hours the park is planning on being open. It's one thing to be preparing to open the park for 6k and another to be prepared for 26k. So there's going to be more staffing there earlier.
As far as the exact number, I will say that park typically has planned opening days with forecasted attendance as low as 4k.
That would be a scenario where you would want to close. But if you are running a small business and you can get 1 person to enter and buy something from your store then you are already losing money than you would have by not opening.
I wonder what the park would charge for 9 of us to come in and ride Apollos... The way I see it, you need to may the mechanics to come in and certify the ride and a couple ride ops.
Let's say the mechanic costs $100 (for his, idk 90 minutes time?) and the two ride ops for 8 hours cost $160. Maybe they need one extra person to check us in for the day and of course Busch gardens has to make a profit; so let's say $900 to make it worth their time. $100 a person for unlimited no waiting for Apollo's all day. Sign me up.
I've seen them use 1K as a bench mark; if they ever have less than 1K for an hour then they plan to close early. WCUSA I've seen use 500 as their bench mark.
I might have not been clear in my question regarding breaking even. I wasn't referring to just staffing. I was curious as to all costs - utilities, manpower, food prep, etc. etc. It would seem to me to just power up the entire park to open the doors you'd have to see thousands of paying guests to see a profit for the day.
I thought you were clear. That's why I said some if it depends on what the forecast for the day is. If the forecast for a day is 26k then all those costs go up because there is more work early and there is more staff working than if the forecast for the day is 6k. Also there are more food costs, more utility usage, etc
I will point out that guests coming into the park alone doesn't cover operating costs. That comes from food, merchandise and other sales as well.
He said between late April and late May. That's a pretty wide window.
I think @madmax is referencing the IHME model (make sure you set the location to Virginia):
IHME | COVID-19 Projections
Explore forecasts of COVID-19 cases, deaths, and hospital resource use.
covid19.healthdata.org