What Topgolf's challenges say about the future of food-and-games brands

What is the future of Topgolf?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Mathew Focht, the founder and managing partner of the investment fund Emerging.

Emerging is a fund that invests in small technology and restaurant and entertainment concepts. The fund has invested in several food-and-entertainment brands.

Several such brands have emerged in recent years to combine restaurants with various activities, including minigolf, bowling, baseball, pickleball and even race cars. 

Topgolf is one of the biggest names in that business. The company thrived coming out of the pandemic. It was sold to the golf equipment maker Callaway Brands in 2020 and the next year Callaway added Topgolf to its corporate name as the chain’s sales went through the roof.

But those sales have fallen more recently, prompting Topgolf Callaway to propose a spinoff. Meanwhile another food-and-games concept, Pinstripes, is cutting costs as its own sales fall. And Dave & Buster’s has also had sales problems.

We talked with Mathew about these issues and what they mean for Topgolf but also the emerging food-and-games sector, which is still receiving considerable interest from investors. Mathew and I talk about this as well as the overall state of investing in the restaurant space.

We’re talking Topgolf on A Deeper Dive, so please check it out.