Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
Parks! America, Inc., through our wholly owned subsidiaries, owns and operates three regional theme parks and is in the business of acquiring, developing and operating local and regional theme parks and attractions in the United States. Our wholly owned subsidiaries are Wild Animal Safari, Inc., a Georgia corporation (“Wild Animal – Georgia”), Wild Animal, Inc., a Missouri corporation (“Wild Animal – Missouri”), and Aggieland-Parks, Inc., a Texas corporation (“Aggieland Wild Animal – Texas”). Wild Animal – Georgia owns and operates the Wild Animal Safari theme park in Pine Mountain, Georgia (the “Georgia Park”). Wild Animal – Missouri owns and operates the Wild Animal Safari theme park located in Strafford, Missouri (the “Missouri Park”). Aggieland Wild Animal – Texas owns and operates the Aggieland Wild Animal Safari theme park near Bryan/College Station, Texas (the “Texas Park”). We acquired our Georgia Park on June 13, 2005, our Missouri Park on March 5, 2008, and our Texas Park on April 27, 2020.
Our Parks are open year round but experience increased seasonal attendance, typically beginning in the latter half of March through early September. As a result, our combined third and fourth quarter net sales have historically ranged from 68% to 72% of our annual net sales.
Our business plan includes expansion via the acquisition of additional local or regional theme parks and attractions, if attractive opportunities arise. We believe acquisitions, if any, should not unnecessarily encumber the Company with additional debt that cannot be justified by current operations. We may also pursue contract management opportunities for themed attractions owned by third parties. By using a combination of equity, debt and other financing options, we intend to carefully monitor stockholder value in conjunction with the pursuit of growth.
Shares of our common stock trade on the OTC Markets Group OTCPink marketplace (“OTCPink”) under the symbol, “PRKA.”
For an overview of our business operations, see MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITIONS AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS herein.
Corporate History
The Company was originally incorporated on July 30, 1954 as Painted Desert Uranium & Oil Co., Inc. in Washington State. On October 1, 2002, Painted Desert Uranium & Oil Co., Inc. changed its name to Royal Pacific Resources, Inc. and its corporate domicile to the State of Nevada.
On December 19, 2003, Royal Pacific Resources, Inc. acquired the assets of Great Western Parks LLC pursuant to a Share Exchange Agreement that set the stage for our current corporate structure and operating strategy. We changed the name of the Company to Great American Family Parks, Inc. The acquisition was accounted for as a “reverse acquisition” in which Great Western Parks was considered to be the acquirer of Royal Pacific Resources for reporting purposes. As of June 11, 2008, the Company changed its name from Great American Family Parks, Inc. to its current name, Parks! America, Inc. In addition, effective June 25, 2008, the Company's quotation symbol on the OTCPink was changed from GFAM to PRKA.
Wild Animal Safari, Inc. – Our Georgia Park
On June 13, 2005, Wild Animal – Georgia acquired our Georgia Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia. Our Georgia Park is situated within a 200-acre portion of a 500-acre plot, which is owned by Wild Animal – Georgia, located approximately 75 miles southwest of Atlanta. Our Georgia Park includes a drive-through animal viewing area that opened in 1991. It is home to over 500 animals, birds and reptiles, comprised of over 65 species. The majority of the animals roam wild in a natural habitat. Visitors are able to observe, photograph and feed the animals along the paved road that runs through the drive-through section of our Georgia Park’s natural habitat area. Some animals are contained in special fenced-in areas within the natural habitat, drive-through section of our Georgia Park, while others are located in a more traditional zoo-like walk through section. Also within our Georgia Park is our reptile house, located next to our petting zoo, featuring reptiles from several continents.
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Wild Animal, Inc. – Our Missouri Park
Wild Animal – Missouri purchased our Missouri Park as of March 5, 2008. Our Missouri Park is situated in Strafford, Missouri on 255 acres of land located 12 miles east of Springfield and approximately 45 miles north of Branson. Our Missouri Park is a drive-through wild animal park with a five-mile course permitting access to approximately 400 animals, birds and reptiles, comprised of over 65 species. Most of the animals roam wild throughout the natural habitat. Visitors are able to observe, photograph and feed the animals along the paved roads that run throughout the drive-through section of our Missouri Park’s natural habitat area. Some animals are contained in special fenced-in areas within the natural habitat, drive-through section of our Missouri Park and other animals are located in a more traditional zoo-like atmosphere. During our 2013 fiscal year, we opened a reptile house within the more traditional zoo-like area of our Missouri Park, featuring reptiles from several continents. During our 2018 fiscal year, we made a significant investment in acquiring a baby female giraffe for our Missouri Park. During our 2020 fiscal year, we completed an expanded Giraffe Barn, which allows our guests to view and feed our giraffes year round.
Aggieland-Parks, Inc. – Our Texas Park
Aggieland Wild Animal – Texas acquired our Texas Park on April 27, 2020. Our Texas Park is situated on 250 acres of a 450-acre property, located approximately 25 miles northeast of Bryan/College Station, Texas and 120 miles northwest of downtown Houston. Our Texas Park includes a drive-through animal viewing area that opened in 2019. It is home to over 550 animals, birds and reptiles, comprised of over 70 species. The majority of the animals roam wild in a natural habitat. Visitors are able to observe, photograph and feed the animals along crushed-gravel road that runs throughout the drive-through section of our Texas Park’s natural habitat area. Our Texas Park also includes a 20 acre walk through Adventure Zoo, featuring outdoor and indoor animal exhibits, a reptile barn, two aviaries, extensive giraffe and tortoise encounter areas, an otter display, and a large hippopotamus enclosure and pond.
Animal Park Operations
Park revenues are primarily derived from admission fees, food and beverage sales, gift shop and specialty item sales, and sales of animal food. We also provide vehicle rentals at our Georgia Park. Management’s plans to grow revenues at each of our Parks include ongoing improvements to existing facilities, making each Park more attractive to visitors and developing unused acreage. We also believe that increasing local and regional awareness of each Park via advertising and promotion is a critical element of our revenue growth plans, especially for our Texas and Missouri Parks.
In addition to the animal environments, each of our Parks contain a gift shop, a restaurant or concessions, and picnic areas. We sell food and beverages in our restaurants or concession areas, and a variety of items in our gift shops, including shirts, hats, specialty items, educational books and toys about animals of the world, as well as other toys and animal themed novelty items. Our 2021 fiscal year plans include significantly expanding the guest food service capabilities and offerings at our Texas Park.
The majority of the animals at each of our Parks were born on-site or domestically acquired. We rarely import animals and have not imported any animals in the past 10 years. Auctions and sales of animals across the United States occur often and we may acquire animals in these auctions if we see an opportunity to enhance our Parks. As a result of natural breeding, animal populations at our Parks tend to grow overtime. Periodically, we sell surplus animals born at each Park, and these proceeds are recorded as revenue. The periodic acquisition and sale of animals is also part of our herd and genetic management program. From time-to-time, we may also relocate animals between our Parks as part of this program.
Employees
Our Georgia Park has approximately 18 full-time employees. During our Georgia Park’s prime attendance season, which typically begins in the latter half of March and extends through early September, we generally engage up to 25-30 additional part-time and seasonal employees. Our Missouri Park has approximately nine full-time employees and engages in the range of 10-12 additional part-time and seasonal employees during the peak season. Our Texas Park has approximately 12 full-time employees and engages in the range of 15-18 additional part-time and seasonal employees. We also engage consultants from time to time. We have no collective bargaining agreements with our employees and believe our relations with our employees are good. Parks! America has four officers who oversee the strategy of the Company, the operations of our Parks, as well as the overall financial activities, controls and reporting for the Company and each Park.
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