Are You the Guy That Can't Visit a Small Biz without Wondering How Much Money They Make?

‍Well I spent an hour indoor sledding in the smokies yesterday & learned all about this wild new cash cow biz model:

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Most don't realize that the Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited of all national parks, and it's not even close.

14.1m people visit per year, more than twice the Grand Canyon. 

Why? 

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Because the East Coast has a ton of people and it's an easy drive. Also, it's beautiful!

Over $2B/year is spent in Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg on tourism alone. Millions of Americans go & visit Dollywood, go hiking and indoor sledding, apparently!

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After visiting, I asked the owner of Pigeon Forge Snow how much his biz makes & this is what I learned:

- 35k sqft building

- Cost mid 7 figs to build out (out of self-respect i don't say "multiple" 7 figures, sorry)

- The land alone was 7 figs (but Guy Fieri is next door so #worthit #flavortown)

- Annual EBITDA? Yep, 7 figgies

- Financed with bank loan. Had RE experience.

- Usually 6-7 employees on the clock

- Break even is 3-4 sledders at a time, but it holds hundreds!

- $30-$45/hour per person to slide, with wintertime being peak season, by far

- It was slowish yesterday, and only took 3 mins without a line. 20 slides per hour, not bad!

- Double digit % of revenue comes from non-ticket sales. Massage chairs, candy and pics for sale. What else are adults gonna do while the kids sled? (I was sledding, personally. Freaking fun)

- Slide #5 is the fastest (by my testing)

- No chemicals, just frozen water.

- This was the first of it's kind.

- Can it be replicated in a non-tourist trap market? TBD!

-99% of water used is recycled

- There's a snow room for kids too small to sled

- Launched in 2018