standing out in the rain and he’s been up
since 5 a.m. moving sound equipment and
he won’t be home until really late that night.
And all of a sudden he just stops and says,
‘What the hell amI doing?’”
The quick success convinced Vitagliano to
consider franchising the operation, and that
transition was completed in about nine
months – after her husband sold his
business to pay the necessary fees, and the
couplemoved into the building fromwhich
the first golf coursewas operated.
The first franchise operation sold two days
after it was listed, and the $30,000 fee
brought in by the transaction enabled the
couple to pay the last of the loans it had
takenout tomake the switch.
These days, 29 Monster Mini Golf
franchises are up and running in the United
States and Canada , a long s ide one
corporate-owned location in Las Vegas and
a 3 0 , 0 0 0 - s q u a r e - f o o t c o r p o r a t e
headquarters office in Providence, R.I. The
Nevada facility is co-branded with the rock
band, Kiss, primarily as a marketing vehicle
108 | BusinessWorld |
May 2014
