Driving Disruption: John Dunlap and Wes Marks of Five Star Parks and Attractions On The Innovative Approaches They Are Taking To Disrupt Their Industry

An Interview With Cynthia Corsetti

Make it happen. Our Team works with a high sense of urgency. If we have a major attraction that goes out of service our team jumps into action to ensure the attraction is ready to go for guests sometime within hours or the very next day. We have great communication between the operators and leaders to give the teams the support they need. Or if Operators have a great idea with proven track record of success, we always try to find a way to make it happen.

In an age where industries evolve at lightning speed, there exists a special breed of C-suite executives who are not just navigating the changes, but driving them. These are the pioneers who think outside the box, championing novel strategies that shatter the status quo and set new industry standards. Their approach fosters innovation, spurs growth, and leads to disruptive change that redefines their sectors. In this interview series, we are talking to disruptive C-suite executives to share their experiences, insights, and the secrets behind the innovative approaches they are taking to disrupt their industries. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing John Dunlap, CEO of Five Star Parks & Attractions; Wes Marks, COO of Five Star Parks and Attractions.

Wes Marks — As the Chief Operating Officer at Five Star Parks and Attractions, Wes Marks leads operations for 27 family entertainment centers in 13 states. He is an Oz Principles certified leader who inspires people of all ages to escape and play through immersive and interactive experiences. With over 25 years of experience in the amusement, restaurant, and entertainment industry, Wes has a proven track record of growing top-line sales, creating world-class guest satisfaction, and developing operational excellence.

Before joining Five Star in June 2022, Wes was the COO at the Department of Wonder, a mixed-reality immersive venue that dissolves the boundaries between physical and digital entertainment. He was instrumental in launching and scaling this innovative concept. Wes also served for over a decade in various leadership roles as the Senior Regional Director of Operations and Head of Field Operations at Main Event Entertainment, where he oversaw more than 45 locations and supported multiple new center openings during Main Event’s national expansion. Wes is a humble servant leader who stands up for his team, supports them through complex challenges, and expresses his appreciation for their hard work. He is passionate about delivering boundless storytelling experiences and fun for every guest.

John Dunlap — John Dunlap is the forward-thinking leader guiding Five Star Parks & Attractions. Since stepping into the role of the company’s inaugural CEO in January 2022, John has overseen its impressive expansion from 3 to 27 locations across 13 states, solidifying its standing as one of the most innovative and fastest growing family entertainment companies in the US.

John’s career reflects his steadfast dedication to the amusement and hospitality sectors. Prior to joining Five Star Parks, he held notable positions including President of SeaWorld & Sesame Place in California, founder and CEO of Iconic Attractions Group, and Executive Director of the renowned San Diego Zoo.

Educated at the University of Virginia, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree with distinction, and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he attained his MBA, John further honed his expertise with certifications in executive leadership, financial management, and food service management from Cornell University.

John currently resides in Charlotte, NC with his wife Jenny and their children John, Evelyn, and William, where they enjoy spending quality time together and engaging in community activities. Known for his down-to-earth nature, John values the simple joys of family life and cherishes the connections he makes within his local community.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

John Dunlap — Five Star Parks and Attractions is the leading owner and operator of micro-amusement parks in America. Over a span of two years, Five Star Parks saw significant growth as it established itself as one of the premier amusement and hospitality companies in the US; its portfolio went from 3 to an impressive 27 locations, boasting 10 brands and several other parks in different stages of development. Since the company’s inception, Five Star Parks has diversified its offerings to cater to a wider audience. Initially focusing on outdoor family entertainment centers in tourist-centric markets, the company now includes large indoor micro-amusement parks in various markets across the country, diversifying and enhancing its position as a leader in the amusement and hospitality sector.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Wes Marks – I tend to think about 3 of our core values, integrity, accountability and performance. I want to win but win as a team not as an individual. Nobody wants to climb the mountain alone. For me accountability always starts in the mirror looking at me, my role is to set high standards and expectations while ensuring that the team has the right tools necessary to achieve success. As I reflect on certain situations, I want to ensure that I was clear on the expectations and did I provide the right resources. In terms of integrity, it is all about doing what is right for the team, the guest and the business. If it is good for the team, the guest and the business then we are likely doing the right thing. And as for Performance, it is validation if you are deploying the right strategies and behaviors to grow your business.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader? I'm curious to understand how these challenges have shaped your leadership.

Wes Marks - When making decisions I like to focus on the decisions where I have control. We have a slogan called "control what you can control, influence where you can influence”. During Covid my team at the time was very focused on things that they had no control or influence over and I had to call time out to shift the focus on things that we did have control over. I find it unproductive to spend energy on things we can’t do anything about.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. In the context of a business, what exactly is “Disruption”?

Wes Marks - For me Disruption means doing something different from everyone else. Targeting a customer base that no one else is focused on. For us at Five Star, we are relentlessly focused and anchored around being best in class in concession go-karting and creating fun occasions for Families. Our brand promise is to create safe, clean, fun for our guests. As an example, we want to own the space between Chuck e Cheese and Dave and Busters in our trade areas.

How do you perceive the role of 'disruption' within your industry, and how have you personally embraced it? Is it a necessity, a strategy, or something else entirely in your view?

Wes Marks - I think more about innovation rather than disruption. In my role we are hyper focused around ensuring that we have the right Strategy that drives guest frequency or drives one more visit and first-time guests. Additionally, we want to ensure we are continuously improving the Product. We are constantly looking at the guest experience and how can we eliminate any pinch points within the guest’s journey. Also developing the right systems and incentivizing our teams to focus on performance that drives the right behaviors that helps us deliver on our brand promise.

What lessons have you learned from challenging conventional wisdom, and how have those lessons shaped your leadership style?

Wes Marks - The big game-changer for me personally is when I learned the importance and began embracing the idea of “what else can we do”. Along with focusing on the things that I can control allows me to stop worrying about things I can’t do anything about and start working towards the things I could do something about. Understanding, there are always challenges that we must overcome but when you allow the teams to dig deep into the root causes and test new ideas that may go against conventional wisdom is where true innovation can happen.

Disruptive ideas often meet resistance. Could you describe a time when you faced significant pushback for a disruptive idea? How did you navigate the opposition, and what advice would you give to others in a similar situation?

All below require change, change isn’t easy – have team trust. Change management, start with trust, be transparent, deliver results, be open to change. When we changed the pricing model or systems. Push through adversity to get to growth

Wes Marks - Disruptive ideas or Change Management can be a challenge but doesn’t have to be if you have the right Team in place with the right Strategy and Plan. Follow by ensuring that we execute the plan and measure what worked and what didn’t work.

What are your “Five Innovative Approaches We Are Using To Disrupt Our Industry”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.

John Dunlap - Advancing innovation initiatives at Five Star Parks & Attractions involves several strategic approaches:

1. We leverage the compact, indoor nature of our developments to create a unique experience. By combining diverse attractions under one roof, we offer a scale and variety unmatched in the marketplace, effectively creating the category of indoor amusement parks. Our model caters to a wide age range, from 2 to 92 years old, optimizing the indoor theme park concept with a goal to create the first national brand of family entertainment that appeals to multiple generations.
2. We acquire parks and enhance them by integrating cutting-edge technology tailored to our needs. Our "hyperfocus" on sophisticated management systems sets a new standard for FEC’s. These innovations optimize both business operations and guest experiences, ensuring we maintain a competitive edge.
3. With the decline of big-box stores and brick-and-mortar retail, we pivot to transform already existing spaces like malls, and old retail stores, into vibrant entertainment destinations. By repurposing defunct retail locations, we breathe new life into malls and become key attractions in local communities.
4. Unlike other FEC organizations, we are not anchored to specific attractions like mini-golf or laser tag. This flexibility allows us to continuously reinvent ourselves, akin to Disney, ensuring we remain fresh and relevant in the entertainment industry.
5. We also prioritize career growth for our employees, promoting from within and empowering our management to operate as if they were owners. This focus on developing top talent ensures we have a strong team ready to support our growth. We embrace a culture of continuous improvement and are not afraid to learn from failures, overcoming previous management habits to drive innovation.

Wes Marks - Good question, I would say

1. Ensure you have the right team in place. Not everyone gets to make the team, and the best ideas win regardless of who they come from. We aren’t afraid to address the elephant in the room and the need to continuously get better. Great teams are led by the players not the coaches. So, listening to your guests and frontline team members will give you a great starting point on what you need to work on.
2. Don’t be afraid to innovate and test new ideas so long as you are measuring what worked and what didn’t work. Here at Five Star, we have a weekly think tank meeting where the entire focus is on what are the biggest pinch points in the guest experience and how do we solve them. There are no sacred cows.
3. Have a plan. We spend a tremendous amount of time developing plans or strategies to win. Our leadership team meets each week to review our quarterly action plan to ensure deadlines are met and what impact initiatives are having in the business.
4. Get better data. Our motto is to always trust the data over opinions. What is the data saying and can we use other data points to ensure that the data is accurate. We put a lot of energy and effort into our Business Intelligence tools to ensure that we can make the right decisions in real time.
5. Make it happen. Our Team works with a high sense of urgency. If we have a major attraction that goes out of service our team jumps into action to ensure the attraction is ready to go for guests sometime within hours or the very next day. We have great communication between the operators and leaders to give the teams the support they need. Or if Operators have a great idea with proven track record of success, we always try to find a way to make it happen.

Beyond professional accomplishments, how has embracing disruption affected you on a personal level?

Wes Marks - The biggest learning for me is to be willing to take calculated risks, our CEO John Dunlap will always say to our team if you don’t do anything you get what you always got. In other words, if you want to be disruptive within this space, you must be willing to do something different from everyone else.

In your role as a C-suite leader, driving innovation and embracing disruption, what thoughts or concerns keep you awake at night? How do these reflections guide your decisions and leadership?

Wes Marsk - Well the #1 thing is always keeping our teams and guests safe. But beyond safety concerns, ensuring we are living up to our values and making sure we are validating that each decision is the right thing for our teams, guests and business.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Wes Marks - My wish is we could all live by the golden rule and treat others as you would want to be treated.

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

About the Interviewer: Cynthia Corsetti is an esteemed executive coach with over two decades in corporate leadership and 11 years in executive coaching. Author of the upcoming book, “Dark Drivers,” she guides high-performing professionals and Fortune 500 firms to recognize and manage underlying influences affecting their leadership. Beyond individual coaching, Cynthia offers a 6-month executive transition program and partners with organizations to nurture the next wave of leadership excellence.