Elsie's
Elsie's is a privately owned Minneapolis restaurant, bar, and 16-lane bowling center serving local consumers with dining, open and league bowling, banquet and birthday events, and a Minnesota Twins game shuttle.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1991
- HeadquartersMinneapolis, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Elsie's does
Elsie's is a privately held, locally owned and operated restaurant, bar, and bowling center located at 729 Marshall St. NE in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The single 16-lane venue combines a full-service restaurant (breakfast served Tuesday through Sunday, plus lunch and dinner), a beer/wine/cocktail bar, banquet and private event facilities, birthday party hosting, a Minnesota Twins game shuttle service, and a multi-day-week league bowling program. The firm employs 51–100 people and is listed as having been founded in 1991; it is independently owned with no disclosed parent company, funding, or institutional investment.
The underlying "technology" is operational and physical rather than software-based. Core physical assets include 16 fully automatic bowling lanes with bumpers, automatic scoring, and a weekend cosmic bowling sound-and-light system. Commercial and back-office systems are minimal: gift card sales run through a Square online storefront, league registration and standings are hosted on the third-party LeagueSecretary.com platform, and the company maintains a Facebook page and an X (Twitter) account for community engagement. There is no proprietary software, no mobile app, no e-commerce for food/merchandise, and no online ordering or delivery offering.
Elsie's business model is a pure physical-venue, direct-to-consumer play. Revenue streams include per-game and per-hour bowling lane rentals (priced $3.95–$7.50 per game or $30–$49.99 per lane-hour depending on day/time), $4 shoe rentals, recurring league bowling fees across seven nights, dine-in food and beverage sales including a happy hour, banquet and private event hosting (birthday parties, corporate events), gift card sales, and the Twins shuttle add-on. Pricing varies by daypart and weekday/weekend; food, beverage, and banquet pricing are not publicly disclosed but are available via downloadable PDF menus. Marketing is primarily local, organic, and community-driven — word-of-mouth, league participation, Facebook/X presence, and event inquiry funnels (phone and web form).
Elsie's firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Elsie's
- Legal name
- Elsie's
- Website
- https://elsies.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1991
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Elsie's is a privately owned Minneapolis restaurant, bar, and 16-lane bowling center serving local consumers with dining, open and league bowling, banquet and birthday events, and a Minnesota Twins game shuttle.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Elsie's industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Bowling and Entertainment Hospitality Venue
- NAICS
- Bowling Centers (71395), Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) (7224), Caterers (722320)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Supper Clubs & Dinner-Theater Restaurants (THAFACAL)
Keywords
Where Elsie's is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Minneapolis
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Elsie's business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Bowling Lane Rentals: Revenue from per-game and per-hour lane rentals during open bowling and league sessions. Pricing varies by time of day and day of week.
- Food and Beverage Sales: Full-service restaurant and bar serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, beer, wine, cocktails, and happy hour. Revenue generated from dine-in orders.
- Banquet and Event Hosting: Private event bookings including birthday parties, banquet dinners, company events, and other celebrations. Revenue from event catering and facility use.
- Shoe Rental: Bowling shoe rental at $4.00 per use, generating ancillary per-visit revenue.
- League Bowling Fees: Weekly league bowling programs across multiple days (Monday through Sunday) generating recurring seasonal fees from league participants.
- Gift Cards: Sale of gift cards through a Square-powered storefront, driving pre-paid revenue from gift-givers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Weekday Daytime Bowling — Before 5PM Mon-Fri |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Weekday Evening Bowling — After 5PM Mon-Thu |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Weekend Bowling — Fri-Sat 10am–5pm |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Sunday Night Bowling |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Shoe Rental |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels3 records
Elsie's product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Elsie's operates a single physical venue in Minneapolis combining a 16-lane bowling center (with automatic scoring, bumpers, and cosmic sound/light shows) with a full-service restaurant (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and a bar serving beer, wine, and cocktails. The venue also hosts banquet events, birthday parties, organized league bowling programs across the week, and a shuttle service to Minnesota Twins home games.
Product overview
Elsie's is a locally owned and operated bowling center and restaurant in Minneapolis, MN, operating as a single unified establishment rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offerings include 16 bowling lanes with cosmic bowling and league programs, a full-service restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and a bar offering beer, wine, and cocktails. Supporting services include banquet and event hosting, birthday parties, Twins game shuttle transportation, and organized league bowling across multiple weekly leagues.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Bowling
Companies that use Elsie's
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Elsie's technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature2 records
Elsie's partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Elsie's competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Lucky Strike Entertainment: Lucky Strike (formerly Lucky Strike Lanes) operates a national portfolio of upscale bowling lounges with food and beverage programs. As a scaled chain, it competes for the same experiential-bowling customer Elsie's targets but serves broader geographies and a wider price-tier range.
- Bowlero Corporation: Bowlero is the largest owner and operator of bowling centers in the world, having acquired AMF and Brunswick's center portfolios. It competes with Elsie's at a national level on league bowling, open play, and birthday/event bookings while bringing significantly more capex and marketing firepower.
- Brunswick Bowling Products: Brunswick is a major bowling equipment and venue brand whose consumer-facing bowling centers overlap with Elsie's league and open-bowling customer base. It is comparable as a broad bowling-industry incumbent rather than a direct Minneapolis competitor.
Direct peers
- Pinstripes: Pinstripes operates upscale bowling-plus-bocce venues paired with full-service Italian-American dining and event spaces. It mirrors Elsie's combination of bowling, full restaurant, bar, and banquet/event hosting, but at a higher price point and in larger metro markets.
- Memory Lanes: Memory Lanes is a Minneapolis bowling and entertainment venue directly linked from Elsie's own website. It offers bowling plus food and beverage in the same metro, serving the same local casual-leisure customer with a similar dine-and-bowl model.
- Kings Dining & Entertainment: Kings is a multi-location bowling, dining, and nightlife concept offering lanes, full-service kitchens, bars, and private event rooms. It is directly comparable to Elsie's dine-and-bowl proposition and event-hosting model.
- Tuttle's Eat Bowl Play: Tuttle's is a Minneapolis bowling center that combines dining and bowling under one roof, also linked from Elsie's site. It targets the same family/casual-leisure segments and competes for open bowling, league play, and event bookings in the same geography.
- Splitrocks Entertainment Center: Splitrocks is a Minnesota-based bowling and entertainment venue cross-linked from Elsie's website. It competes head-to-head for league bowlers, birthday parties, and casual diners in the Twin Cities market.
Emerging players
- Main Event Entertainment: Main Event operates family entertainment centers featuring bowling, laser tag, billiards, and food and beverage service. Its bowling-plus-eats format overlaps with Elsie's combined dining and entertainment proposition, especially for group and party occasions.
- Dave & Buster's: Dave & Buster's combines arcade gaming with full-service dining, drinks, and private event spaces. While it does not focus on bowling, it competes for the same family/group entertainment-and-dining occasions that Elsie's targets through its birthday party and banquet verticals.
Market position
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Elsie's social profiles
Digital presenceElsie's financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Elsie's leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Elsie's funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Elsie's M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Elsie's
What does Elsie's do?
Elsie's operates a single physical venue in Minneapolis combining a 16-lane bowling center (with automatic scoring, bumpers, and cosmic sound/light shows) with a full-service restaurant (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and a bar serving beer, wine, and cocktails. The venue also hosts banquet events, birthday parties, organized league bowling programs across the week, and a shuttle service to Minnesota Twins home games.
Is Elsie's a public or private company?
Elsie's is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Elsie's founded?
Elsie's was founded in 1991. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Elsie's based?
Elsie's is headquartered in Minneapolis, United States, in the North America region.
How does Elsie's make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Bowling Lane Rentals are the primary driver. The others are food and Beverage Sales, banquet and Event Hosting, shoe Rental, league Bowling Fees and gift Cards.
Who are Elsie's's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Lucky Strike Entertainment, Bowlero Corporation and Brunswick Bowling Products. Direct peers are Pinstripes, Memory Lanes, Kings Dining & Entertainment, Tuttle's Eat Bowl Play and Splitrocks Entertainment Center. Emerging players are Main Event Entertainment and Dave & Buster's.
Does Elsie's have an API?
No public API is recorded for Elsie's.
What industry is Elsie's in?
Elsie's's product category is Bowling and Entertainment Hospitality Venue. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAFACAL, Supper Clubs & Dinner-Theater Restaurants. Its NAICS code is 71395 and its SIC code is 7900.