EAST SPARTA — Bryce and Tammy Langford had not planned on entering the entertainment and food industry when they bought a trailer and settled in Sandy Valley Estates on Sept. 1.
“We already had a company in Canton, so we were driving down the road looking at buildings for potential sites,” Bryce Langford said.
But while Bryce was looking at other buildings, the former East Sparta Recreation — renamed Alley in the Valley by the previous owner — was intriguing to his wife, who had moved her small business, OGS Procurement Inc., to Canton from Akron on Melchoir Place SW in 2018.
The couple then found out the property was for sale. And, on Oct. 1, the Langfords officially took over as the new owners of Alley in the Valley, an eight-lane center at the intersection of State Route 800 and Westbrook Street SE.
It’s a stretch to go from operating a company that specializes in contract manufacturing and global sourcing to a small bowling center in a rural area. But Langford and his mother-in-law, Linda Crum, feel the family is up to the task.
“We moved to this area because where we were living was becoming a lot busier,” said Langford, OGS Procurement’s operations manager, who had previously live in the Portage Lakes area and in Canton near the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“We like it here because it’s not high traffic and quiet. But there’s not a lot around.”
And that’s what peaked the Langfords’ interest in the property.
“It all about the food,” Crum said.
“The Flipside Grill was out of business. There was a Crossroads Pizza in the plaza and a Subway in the gas station, but that’s about it,” Langford said. “We’re trying to do something to give people something to do. When we moved into the trailer park, the ladies told us there was nothing to do, so we wanted to look into it.”
One thing Langford has stressed is the business will be open.
“We never really closed when we took over Oct. 2,” said Langford, who added the new hours will be 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday. “We had a soft opening on Oct. 2 and put out some flyers telling people it is under new management to come out and meet us.
“We want to do carryout and have daily specials. We have about 1,200 people living about a mile up the street in the trailer park not to mention East Sparta. But (the previous owner) was only open 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.”
The family doesn’t have experience in the bowling industry — Crum joking that the one time she bowled she lost control of a ball and hurt her late husband — but there is experience in the food industry. Crum, now 76, worked for 20 years as a short-order cook, and Tammy Langford is a former waitress.
And Langford stressed this will be a family business, including his wife, two children and their families plus the third owner, contractor David Meier. Langford and his daughter, Hayley Brinkman, are the other listed owners. All bring a certain expertise to the new business.
“I’m a machinist by trade, so mechanical stuff I can pretty much figure out,” Langford said. “My son in law (Seth Brinkman, who also is attending veterinary school) is an air conditioning guy and can handle the electrical stuff while Dave is a contractor. We’ll run this the same way we run procurement, playing to peoples’ strengths.”
Langford figures to have seven to nine employees as the business gets up and running, with Crum being a key in the kitchen portion.
“I didn’t want to be an owner with my age. I don’t want to work as many hours and they are going to put in,” Crum said. “But I don’t mind coming in at 8 a.m. to get things going until around 1 for the hard part at lunch and preparing.”
Langford is hoping the food end of the business can provide a revenue stream to finance other improvements needed to both the building and lanes.
“We are going to offer different breakfast items and lunch and dinner specials, like stuffed peppers, cabbage rolls … things you’re not going to find at a fast food place,. We are also going to have sandwiches like hamburgers, hot dogs, pulled pork sliders … at better prices than a drive-through,” Crum said, with prices being in the $10 range.
“Once we get up and running, we’d also like to add delivery. There are a lot of older people in this area that would appreciate that.”
WORKING ON LANES
Langford knows improvements are needed to the building and property, which the new owners financed $200,000 to obtain, and the lanes.
“We’d like to do improvements, but it’s all money oriented. We know there have been issues with the building and roof, with some water issues,” Langford said, adding the previous owner had to invest nearly $40,000 in repairs. “We have some weak areas that we have to finish.
“It’s probably going to be a few years before we get it all together. We’ve talked to the health department, we’ve talked to other other people.
“We know the lanes need resurfaced, that the kick plates need replaced, but the eight lanes are all in working order even though we get the normal pin jams once in a while. We have to do some rearranging.
“The updating of the lanes is going to be money intensive so we’re hoping to get the food operation in here to help us fund those repairs. That’s our focus right now on getting the kitchen together.”
As for bowling, the center currently has just one Thursday night mixed league, but Langford has been approached about adding another late league on Thursday and a women’s day league on Tuesdays.
“We’d like to add two or three leagues this winter and start a fall kids league on Saturdays,” Langford said, adding parties already have been booked for each weekend in October along with future events as the holiday season approaches. He added Canton South High School bowling coach Brian Gates has been his resource for the bowling end of the business and will lead the youth league.
“It’s slowly coming together,” Langford said. “But a lot of it is letting people know we are here and we’re open.”
Open bowling will be at $5 per game, with $1 shoe rental. But the new owners are offering coupons for buy one, get one free games from Sunday through Thursday plus other specials. Glow bowling also is available.
Hayley Brinkman is handling the accounting and scheduling of events while his stepson also operates a side premium business that can do laser engraving of cups, glassware, trophies and even bowing shirts.
FAMILY AFFAIR
The Langfords have been married for 29 years and have moved twice previously before coming to the East Sparta area. Bryce left his job at Logan Machine to join Tammy’s company.
“When she took over OGS, she called me and told me to turn in my notification, that she needed me to run the Akron shop. It was nothing for her to come in at 8 or 9 (a.m.) and tell me to get what I need to get done and meet her at the airport to fly to Hong Kong,” Langford said. “Tammy has always run 90 miles an hour with her hair on fire as we say. You either keep up or you get left behind, which is the way this family seems to run.
“If we got into another business venture, one thing we said we wouldn’t do is get into the food industry. So what do we do? Tammy’s going around saying she never wants to win the Power Ball now. It seems everything we say we don’t want to do, we end up there.”
And Crum feels that will be a key for the business to be successful.
“Our family will always pull together,” Crum said.
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