SAKL getting A+ media attention>
"Sack Lunch Productions (SAKL) hammers another home run in public entertainment"
People, especially Millennials, are looking for “experience” over “things”. This incredible trend has created a renewed opportunity in the public entertainment sector, but the world has changed since the Ayn Rand “me” generation disconnect and those wishing to capitalize on the rapidly growing public entertainment space have to be on the innovative edge. Sack Lunch Productions (OTO: SAKL, Forum) is one the companies creating a new paradigm of fun. This Salt Lake City, Utah-based venture has been making major waves on a global scale with a series of original, fun, family-oriented events which are geared to generate memories that last a lifetime.
Its current flagship, Slide The City®, an all-day family-friendly event with live music, food and a 1000 foot street-level waterslide, is taking the sector by storm. This is no small accomplishment as Sack Lunch Productions CEO, Richard Surber illustrated, “The concept for Slide The City® was only thought up in 2014. I think we only threw two or three events in that year. Since that time, we’ve been able to set up a global franchise system and as a result, we were able to open dozens of markets for Slide The City® in 2015. This year I think there are over ninety markets in North America alone that are being opened up for Slide The City®, including both franchised and corporate-run events. Beyond that, we have franchised events in the Asian market, in South America, and in places as far away as South Africa and Australia.”
Not only is Slide The City® a favoured public activity, but the media has also latched onto it like a kid on cake with national giants such as the Today Show and Good Morning America doing focus pieces on the event as well as local and regional news outlets providing coverage when Slide The City® comes to town.
And that’s just one event.
Another Sack Lunch brainchild is the Lantern Fest®, a night of music, dancing and s’mores which culminates in a mass launch of lanterns to fill the night sky with symbols of hope, regret and great Instagram opportunities. This event is experiencing similar hockey stick growth and in just one year it’s taking place at 30 locations spread across 17 U.S. states. The 2016 Lantern Fest® tour also has a charity component which donates a portion of its proceeds to Angels of America’s Fallen, a non-profit organization focusing on helping children of America’s fallen military and first responders to develop into strong successful adults. This philanthropic element not only speaks of the company’s community awareness, but further strengthens its relationship with participants, creating a deeper loyalty to the event.
Then you have the already wildly popular Color Me Rad® run, loosely based on the Hindu Festival of Colors, which the company acquired August of last year. This well-known and well-attended event allows participants to casually complete a 5K course while passing through a periodic prismatic shower of hues, resulting in a series of colourfully enjoyable memories for both friends and family.
Also there’s the Dirty Dash® where you can get in touch with your inner five year-old’s love for mud. Last but not least, Sack Lunch’s latest creation, Trike Riot®, where the company has teamed with American culture icon and manufacturer of the legendary A model kick scooter, Razor, to bring you the ultimate in family three-wheel fun.
If you’re not already rolling in the “feely feels” and the preceding material hasn’t absolutely piqued your curiosity, you will definitely be interested in Sack Lunch’s Q1 performance numbers. The company really knocked one out of the park when it reported system-wide sales exceeding $5.0 million. Surber commented on the year ahead, “Our forecast is showing that we should be bringing in at least $3.0 million in net income by the end of fiscal 2016. Admittedly it’s early in the year because our season really kicks into gear during the summer when Slide The City® is reaching a crescendo, but we seem to be on track to hitting that number.”
The company is on target to putting out over 256 events system-wide over 2016 and believe it or not, has another two projects up its sleeve that Surber kept tight-lipped about because they are in early development. He did however lay out what investors could expect over the next 12 months, “We will be dramatically expanding our footprint, both from the standpoint of corporately-hosted events and franchised operations. We’ve signed Malaysia so there will be number of markets in Malaysia franchised this year. There will be five locations in Mainland China. I believe there will be up to six events in Colombia. We also have our eye on Mexico and a couple of other countries below the U.S. southern border. We will have more than tripled our corporately-hosted Slide The City® events from 2015. This will be our first year operating our newly-acquired Color Me Rad® and Dirty Dash® events.”
He then added, “We’ve already had tremendous success at decreasing our operating costs and improving our bottom line. So I think the results of these particular successes will also unfold through 2016.”
Structurally speaking, Sack Lunch intends to have audited financials completed in accordance to the U.S. securities laws by the end of 2016 and be fully reporting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This will set the stage for a possible up-listing to the OTC and beyond that, first tier NYSE or small-cap NASDAQ.
So far growth at Sack Lunch has been nothing less than explosive as Surber explained, “If you look at our 2014, on an unaudited basis, we recorded top line revenues of $4.8 million. When we put out our annual report for 2015, you’re going to see over $10.0 million in top line revenue and we’re on track to exceed $18.0 million in gross revenues for 2016. This doesn’t even include bringing on Trike Riot® or a lot of these other potential franchise systems that we will be signing on as well. We’ve had one hundred percent growth year-over-year for the last two years and there’s still plenty of runway coming in 2017 for additional growth with not only the existing brands, but also the potential launch of Trike Riot® as well as the other two innovative events we have on the drawing board. This also doesn’t include potential acquisitions we may execute on other existing events.”
That said, Sack Lunch will face the challenge of fine-tuning its systems and improving upon its logistics as well as handling the operational demands of such powerful and immediate growth, but this is an incredibly great challenge to have and Surber impressed me as someone who had the vision and wherewithal to handle the task. What is doubly reassuring is he is not alone at the helm and has some serious management support with individuals like John Malfatto, who was part of the ownership team for the last five years of Springbok Holdings, the company who originally ran Color Me Rad® and the Dirty Dash®.
Yes, the global economy isn’t shining, but when times are hard, people are even more inclined to seek out fun activities to supplement their lives, making the public entertainment sector somewhat anti-fragile.
So in an age where everyone seems to be glued to their smart phones, Sack Lunch Productions, with over 4.0 million followers on the various social media outlets, provides an excellent opportunity for us to engage on a personal level, reaffirming our sense of humanity and community, while allowing us to maintain connections to our digital tribe through sharing those memorable experiences with friends across the globe on services like Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. Essentially, Sack Lunch is a perfect storm of “old” and “new”, marrying the best of each to fundamentally enhance our daily modern life.
The real beauty of this story however is Sack Lunch Productions is just getting started. All the movement and success so far is just the tip of the iceberg. As an innovator leading the new wave of public entertainment, Sack Lunch has endowed itself with some incredible blue sky potential which could see the company capture a major share of this rapidly growing and relatively fragmented multi-billion-dollar sector. Don’t take my word for it, however. As always, do your due diligence before making any investment decision.
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2016/...UzBWJrm.99
"Sack Lunch Productions (SAKL) hammers another home run in public entertainment"
People, especially Millennials, are looking for “experience” over “things”. This incredible trend has created a renewed opportunity in the public entertainment sector, but the world has changed since the Ayn Rand “me” generation disconnect and those wishing to capitalize on the rapidly growing public entertainment space have to be on the innovative edge. Sack Lunch Productions (OTO: SAKL, Forum) is one the companies creating a new paradigm of fun. This Salt Lake City, Utah-based venture has been making major waves on a global scale with a series of original, fun, family-oriented events which are geared to generate memories that last a lifetime.
Its current flagship, Slide The City®, an all-day family-friendly event with live music, food and a 1000 foot street-level waterslide, is taking the sector by storm. This is no small accomplishment as Sack Lunch Productions CEO, Richard Surber illustrated, “The concept for Slide The City® was only thought up in 2014. I think we only threw two or three events in that year. Since that time, we’ve been able to set up a global franchise system and as a result, we were able to open dozens of markets for Slide The City® in 2015. This year I think there are over ninety markets in North America alone that are being opened up for Slide The City®, including both franchised and corporate-run events. Beyond that, we have franchised events in the Asian market, in South America, and in places as far away as South Africa and Australia.”
Not only is Slide The City® a favoured public activity, but the media has also latched onto it like a kid on cake with national giants such as the Today Show and Good Morning America doing focus pieces on the event as well as local and regional news outlets providing coverage when Slide The City® comes to town.
And that’s just one event.
Another Sack Lunch brainchild is the Lantern Fest®, a night of music, dancing and s’mores which culminates in a mass launch of lanterns to fill the night sky with symbols of hope, regret and great Instagram opportunities. This event is experiencing similar hockey stick growth and in just one year it’s taking place at 30 locations spread across 17 U.S. states. The 2016 Lantern Fest® tour also has a charity component which donates a portion of its proceeds to Angels of America’s Fallen, a non-profit organization focusing on helping children of America’s fallen military and first responders to develop into strong successful adults. This philanthropic element not only speaks of the company’s community awareness, but further strengthens its relationship with participants, creating a deeper loyalty to the event.
Then you have the already wildly popular Color Me Rad® run, loosely based on the Hindu Festival of Colors, which the company acquired August of last year. This well-known and well-attended event allows participants to casually complete a 5K course while passing through a periodic prismatic shower of hues, resulting in a series of colourfully enjoyable memories for both friends and family.
Also there’s the Dirty Dash® where you can get in touch with your inner five year-old’s love for mud. Last but not least, Sack Lunch’s latest creation, Trike Riot®, where the company has teamed with American culture icon and manufacturer of the legendary A model kick scooter, Razor, to bring you the ultimate in family three-wheel fun.
If you’re not already rolling in the “feely feels” and the preceding material hasn’t absolutely piqued your curiosity, you will definitely be interested in Sack Lunch’s Q1 performance numbers. The company really knocked one out of the park when it reported system-wide sales exceeding $5.0 million. Surber commented on the year ahead, “Our forecast is showing that we should be bringing in at least $3.0 million in net income by the end of fiscal 2016. Admittedly it’s early in the year because our season really kicks into gear during the summer when Slide The City® is reaching a crescendo, but we seem to be on track to hitting that number.”
The company is on target to putting out over 256 events system-wide over 2016 and believe it or not, has another two projects up its sleeve that Surber kept tight-lipped about because they are in early development. He did however lay out what investors could expect over the next 12 months, “We will be dramatically expanding our footprint, both from the standpoint of corporately-hosted events and franchised operations. We’ve signed Malaysia so there will be number of markets in Malaysia franchised this year. There will be five locations in Mainland China. I believe there will be up to six events in Colombia. We also have our eye on Mexico and a couple of other countries below the U.S. southern border. We will have more than tripled our corporately-hosted Slide The City® events from 2015. This will be our first year operating our newly-acquired Color Me Rad® and Dirty Dash® events.”
He then added, “We’ve already had tremendous success at decreasing our operating costs and improving our bottom line. So I think the results of these particular successes will also unfold through 2016.”
Structurally speaking, Sack Lunch intends to have audited financials completed in accordance to the U.S. securities laws by the end of 2016 and be fully reporting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This will set the stage for a possible up-listing to the OTC and beyond that, first tier NYSE or small-cap NASDAQ.
So far growth at Sack Lunch has been nothing less than explosive as Surber explained, “If you look at our 2014, on an unaudited basis, we recorded top line revenues of $4.8 million. When we put out our annual report for 2015, you’re going to see over $10.0 million in top line revenue and we’re on track to exceed $18.0 million in gross revenues for 2016. This doesn’t even include bringing on Trike Riot® or a lot of these other potential franchise systems that we will be signing on as well. We’ve had one hundred percent growth year-over-year for the last two years and there’s still plenty of runway coming in 2017 for additional growth with not only the existing brands, but also the potential launch of Trike Riot® as well as the other two innovative events we have on the drawing board. This also doesn’t include potential acquisitions we may execute on other existing events.”
That said, Sack Lunch will face the challenge of fine-tuning its systems and improving upon its logistics as well as handling the operational demands of such powerful and immediate growth, but this is an incredibly great challenge to have and Surber impressed me as someone who had the vision and wherewithal to handle the task. What is doubly reassuring is he is not alone at the helm and has some serious management support with individuals like John Malfatto, who was part of the ownership team for the last five years of Springbok Holdings, the company who originally ran Color Me Rad® and the Dirty Dash®.
Yes, the global economy isn’t shining, but when times are hard, people are even more inclined to seek out fun activities to supplement their lives, making the public entertainment sector somewhat anti-fragile.
So in an age where everyone seems to be glued to their smart phones, Sack Lunch Productions, with over 4.0 million followers on the various social media outlets, provides an excellent opportunity for us to engage on a personal level, reaffirming our sense of humanity and community, while allowing us to maintain connections to our digital tribe through sharing those memorable experiences with friends across the globe on services like Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. Essentially, Sack Lunch is a perfect storm of “old” and “new”, marrying the best of each to fundamentally enhance our daily modern life.
The real beauty of this story however is Sack Lunch Productions is just getting started. All the movement and success so far is just the tip of the iceberg. As an innovator leading the new wave of public entertainment, Sack Lunch has endowed itself with some incredible blue sky potential which could see the company capture a major share of this rapidly growing and relatively fragmented multi-billion-dollar sector. Don’t take my word for it, however. As always, do your due diligence before making any investment decision.
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2016/...UzBWJrm.99
