Trolley Pub Columbus Gains Market Traction with the Root to Reach™ Framework
Trolley Pub Columbus is a top performing business for Columbus tourism, winning awards for new, innovative tours and ideas. But for every successful new service, more struggled to launch. By introducing the Root to Reach™ framework into their product development workflow, Trolley Pub Columbus improved team alignment, increased their successful partnerships by 20%, and launched several new services over the following months.
THE CLIENT
Trolley Pub Columbus has quickly become an entertainment staple for tourists and locals alike in Columbus, Ohio. Part of a national franchise, the Columbus branch was launched in 2023. The party bikes tour local establishments, allowing patrons to help charge the vehicles by pedaling between locations. Founder Joseph Kapferer wanted to create a more community-driven experience that was both more inclusive and creative, something not restricted to the drinking culture that made party bikes so popular.
Kapferer has become known for his unique tours and innovative partnerships with other local businesses, and he was named Experience Columbus Insider of the Year in 2023.
THE CHALLENGE
While Trolley Pub Columbus has never struggled to identify new opportunities in the market, internal support and organization has held them back in the past. Past great ideas have failed to scale as anticipated, sometimes because of partnership follow through or team misalignment. Without external partnerships, Tolley Pub averages a month or less to launch new programs. External partners often triple that timeline.
“We often get stuck when everyone loves a new idea, but the people involved can’t agree on our priorities,” Founder Joe Kapferer said. “Its amazing how often partnerships lose traction when it comes time to execute.” Communication breakdowns are another hurdle the business faces, often discovering partners have deviated from agreed-upon approaches without warning. Or, employees at a partner wouldn’t be briefed on decisions, leaving both patrons and staff confused.
What Trolley Pub Columbus needed was a model for introducing new ideas, scaling those ideas, and keeping both external and internal stakeholders aligned while new services grew. They found that model in the Root to Reach™ framework.
THE SOLUTION
Trolley Pub Columbus participated in a three-day workshop with Acorn Adaptive, learning the Root to Reach™ framework and participating in guided exercises to apply the framework to their unique business needs. Before attending the workshop, Kapferer rated his team’s alignment as a 7 out of 10, citing that there were some gaps to cover when it came to priorities, especially with partners. A progressive dinner tour idea that was well received failed to take off because restaurant partners weren’t able to prioritize the collaboration.
As he prepares to expand his business to the Cincinnati market, Kapferer worried that the new region and unfamiliar community would exacerbate these problems. Turning to Acorn Adaptive’s interactive foundations workshop gave him the confidence and tools he needed to roll out new offerings and grow his market share.
"The Root to Reach framework helped me discover new ways to manage my day-to-day operations as well as gave me the tools I will need for future scaling opportunities,” Kapferer reported after completing the training. “It introduced new approaches to scaling that I hadn’t thought about before. I was surprised how easily the framework could be applied to my specific business.”
Those new approaches to scaling quickly paid off.
THE METRICS
Popular ideas among internal stakeholders and partners don’t always translate to successful offerings in the market for Trolley Pub, sometimes failing to scale and sometimes struggling to garner interest. Yoga tours, for example, were well reviewed but didn’t initially thrive at the scale Trolley Pub had invested in and anticipated. The holiday lights tours, on the other hand, were a resounding success.
Kapferer has a straightforward measurement for the success of his offerings:
- Good - Sells a minimum of one tour a week
- Great - Sells out available tours on the weekend
- Fantastic - Drives demand for full or sold-out tours on weekdays
Ideas that don’t consistently sell every week are taken off the menu. Once a tour sticks, though, it's usually there to stay.
THE RESULTS
“The Offering Modeling really resonated with me,” Kapferer said. “Its such a simple and actionable way to lay out a new idea for a service. I had no trouble using the approach to align team members and partners.” After implementing the Root-to-Reach framework with his team, Kapferer rated his team’s alignment at a 9/10, rising 20% from his pre-workshop assessment. It wasn’t difficult to share the concept with others. “The tree allegory makes even the more complex concepts easy to follow, making the framework way more accessible than something from a textbook,” he said.
Since applying the framework, Kapferer has been able to align 60% more staff to support and scale services in the coming months. He’s ready for the growth that had seemed daunting earlier in the year. Plus, in the three months since the workshop, he’s increased his number of successful partnerships by 20%, citing that aligning stakeholders is easier now. “The concept of ‘provision’ from the shared terminology and modeling really helped. I was able to reorient on the strategic decisions and activity behind-the-scenes that make an offering successful. That’s how I was able to onboard new stakeholders who had the same priorities I did.”
One of those new partnerships was launching a shuttle service coordinated with large sporting events in the area. Columbus is home to an NHL team The Columbus Bluejackets, Triple A-Minor League team The Columbus Clippers, and MLS team The Columbus Crew. All three stadiums are within pedaling distance of Trolley Pub’s downtown garage.
IN CONCLUSION
For fellow small business owners struggling to find a foothold in the market, Kapferer recommends the Root to Reach™ Foundations Workshop from Acorn Adaptive. “Its really beneficial for understanding how to grow in areas or markets you might be uncomfortable in,” he said. “Root to Reach has helped me tackle that uncertainty.” He also recommends the framework for anyone struggling to align staff and partners, emphasizing that it helped him become a better leader.
Now, Kapferer is more comfortable strategizing for the future, because he knows what tools he needs to successfully scale his business. “The framework is only going to become more helpful to us as we grow,” he said. As for the Cincinnati expansion, Kapferer says his recent new services are helping prepare the company for more growth. “Thanks to Root to Reach, we’re ready.”