Kinney family keeps business fun

In the 1940s, Art and Lorena Kinney began their business career with a 10-seat diner. The Kinneys installed a jukebox and pinball machine for entertainment purposes.

Little did they know that move would launch a multidimensional amusement firm still run by the family.

“The machines actually out-earned the restaurant,” said son Ron Kinney, who now owns the company with his wife, Donna. “So, they continued to buy more and more until they ended up with an amusement route, and they started Kinney Amusements in 1948.”

The family business is much more diverse today.

The family-owned business – now actually two companies: Kinney Amusement and Vending Co. and Kinney Billiard Sales Inc. – still maintains amusement routes but has supplemented them with vending machine routes and retail sales. Ron Kinney worked with his parents for most of his life and took over running the company following his father’s death in an auto accident in 1973.

“The business kind of led you – you didn’t lead the business,” Ron Kinney said. “We went from amusements to vending to home billiards, and that’s where we are today.”

The Kinneys also own Sharky’s Billiards and Grill next door to Kinney Amusement and Vending Co., 525 S. Glenstone Ave. Kinney Billiard Sales is at 3560 S. Campbell Ave.

The company is expanding its Glenstone location in order to provide more office and storage space, as well as a more adequate showroom for retail customers. The new showroom, scheduled for completion Oct. 1, will feature products showcased in a series of vignettes, to give customers a better idea of how to design a game room in their home.

Amusing their clients

Vending and amusements comprise the bulk of the Kinneys’ empire.

“The retail side is only about 25 (percent) to 30 percent of our total business,” Kinney said, declining to disclose company revenues. “Vending and amusements are a much larger part of our company. We serve a 50-mile radius, which puts us into Branson going south, Bolivar going north, Mount Vernon going west and Lebanon going east.”

The company serves a variety of clients with its vending and amusement machines, including nursing homes, call centers, small factories, restaurants and bars. Kinney said that the company’s ideal customer for its vending operation is a company with 50 employees or more.

Most of Kinney’s machines are on a commission split, meaning that Kinney and its clients receive a portion of sales from machines.

Even as their market has changed, the Kinneys have worked to ensure that their patrons enjoy the same quality of service that they have since the company began.

“It’s getting harder to do with all of our overhead costs, but we feel that it’s important,” Kinney said. “When people call us, they get a person on the phone, not a machine. And on service calls, we have a response time of two hours or less.”

Sherry Levesque, general manager of Battlefield Lanes, has worked with the Kinneys for a number of years.

“The gaming industry is a great industry because kids love it and adults love it,” Levesque said. “It relaxes people before they bowl, keeps them entertained while they are waiting for a lane, and it’s attractive. We have a very attractive game room. And (the Kinneys) are very attentive.”

Special attention is important to Levesque.

“I won’t let anything come in here that isn’t family-oriented,” she said. “If a game comes in that I feel is too violent, I give them a call and they have it out of here in an hour. They are very good about helping me monitor that.”

Home entertainment

Kinney Billiard Sales serves customers who want to enjoy these amusements in their own home.

“If you are thinking of putting in a rec room, we have everything you would need for that,” Kinney said.

“We have jukeboxes, pinball machines, foosball, air hockey, different sizes of pool tables, and all of the accessories that you need to go with them.”

In their South Campbell showroom, the Kinneys sell everything from extra foosball men to pool table lighting. But most popular lately is the poker game accessories.

However, one other recent trend surprised them.

“Shuffleboards have been extremely popular this year,” Kinney said.

“That was a surprise because they are more expensive than pool tables, and they are 22 feet long. But people love them,” Kinney added.

Keep it in the family

Like his parents, Ron Kinney plans to one day give control of the company to family. Ron and Donna Kinney’s daughters, Emily Kinney Carroll and Kelly Kinney, along with nephew Patrick Murphy, all play an active role in the company’s daily operations and will eventually own the company.

“We’ll be around for at least five to six years,” Ron Kinney said. “We’ll want to slow down eventually. But we enjoy this business too much to have any aspirations toward retiring, so we’ll probably never really be completely out of the business. They won’t get rid of us that easily.”

Kelly Kinney, a Missouri University-Columbia graduate, had worked for several years in St. Louis and Kansas City real estate before returning to Springfield to work for her family.

“At first, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to join the company, because I knew it would be a lifelong commitment,” she said.

“But working with my family was a huge draw, and I can’t imagine being in Springfield and working for anyone else. Even when I was 5 years old, I would ask them for jobs to do.”

Kinney Amusement and Vending Co. and Kinney Billiard Sales Inc.

Owners: Ron and Donna Kinney

Founded: 1948

Address: 525 S. Glenstone Ave.,

Springfield, MO 65802

Phone: (417) 831-0405

Fax: (417) 831-5479

Web: www.kinneyamusement.com

Services/Products: Vending and amusement machines and billiards products

Employees: 35 full time, 4 part time