Dallas Fan Fares Celebrates 25 Years in Hospitality Industry

June 25, 2005 -- In 1980, as the mother of four small children and with a need to return to the workforce, Kaye Burkhardt started Dallas Fan Fares, Inc., out of her home with an investment of 50 Dallas Cowboys season tickets, with a neighbor and morning jogging partner as her first employee and without a business plan.

Twenty-five years later, the former schoolteacher has yet to compile a business plan. But her company is thriving in the highly competitive meeting and hospitality industry, with a client list that includes Fortune 500 corporations and major sports conglomerates such as the National Football League.

Forty full-time and 25 part-time employees will help Burkhardt celebrate Dallas Fan Fare's silver anniversary in 2005. The company that originally offered corporations and groups a chance to see "America's Team" as part of a premium package based on Burkhardt's season ticket investment, now provides hospitality at every major sporting event in the country and plans all the logistics for meeting and incentive groups at global destinations such as South Africa, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, England, France, Australia and Hawaii.

Dallas Fan Fares, which reported earnings of more than $18.5 million in 2004, has continued to prosper while other hospitality companies had to close their doors during sluggish economies, and when travel curtailed following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"I've always maintained that our only product is service," said Burkhardt, president of Dallas Fan Fares. "It's our people who deliver that service, and Dallas Fan Fares really has the most incredible, quality staff of professionals in the industry. Our clients repeatedly make comments about the quality of our staff and the tremendous service they provide. I hear that over and over again."

Twenty-five years ago, lifelong sports fan Burkhardt parlayed her investment of Dallas Cowboys season tickets into a program that took corporations attending conventions in the Metroplex to games at Texas Stadium. However, it was a Dallas Mavericks game that essentially kicked off the company. Her first customers, former North Texas and Pittsburgh Steelers star Joe Greene and his then business partner, Cincy Powell, formerly of the American Basketball Association, teamed up with Burkhardt to host clients at a pre-game meal at The Peach Basket, Greene and Powell's Oak Cliff restaurant. Patrons then boarded a bus for the Mavericks game, and afterward got the opportunity to mingle with local sports celebrities at a post-game party at the restaurant.

The company's "big break," according to Burkhardt, was in providing a business meeting coupled with a hospitality program for a pharmaceutical company at Super Bowl XXI in Pasadena in 1987. A $1.7 million budget and the task of entertaining 800 guests were at stake.

"It wasn't entirely clear in my mind at the moment how we would do everything, but I knew that we had been in business long enough, had enough experience and made enough contacts, that we could pull it off," Burkhardt said. "It was one of the finest hours for Dallas Fan Fares. That put us in the meeting management/corporate hospitality business, big-time."

Today, Burkhardt estimates that 80 percent of Dallas Fan Fares' business can be traced to that one account. While pharmaceuticals comprise the bulk of the company's extremely loyal client base, Dallas Fan Fares also serves the technology, finance and banking, food and beverage industries. The employees' commitment to serviceas well as a huge dose of creativity--factor into every product launch, investigator meeting or incentive program the company's mostly female staff plans for its customers.

At a product launch for one pharmaceutical client, for example, attendees were sent player contracts as invitations and were treated to an NFL training-camp style theme once they arrived at the event. Sports legends served as player-coaches for each "team" throughout the meeting, and even provided bed checks for the attendees at night. Imagine having Walter Payton or Mean Joe Greene knock on your hotel room door at midnight to hand you the company's newest product, with Pat Summerall announcing all the play-by-play action throughout the event.

"Kaye and her staff bring a passion to every event," said veteran sportscaster Lesley Visser, who also counts Burkhardt as a personal friend. "If you made a checklist, she's everything on it: talented, smart, competitive and kind. And you don't often find those last two together.

"She's been able to accomplish everything with a grace that's central to her authenticity and skills, and the fact that really solid people like Daryl Johnston, Rick Majerus and my husband, Dick Stockton, like her is not coincidental. People respond to her."

In 2004, the NFL named Dallas Fan Fares as an official sponsor of corporate hospitality for the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl. The company also provides hospitality at every major sporting event in America, including the Masters, Kentucky Derby, Breeders Cup, Major League Baseball's All-Star Game and World Series, the NCAA Final Four, the US Open (golf and tennis) and Ryder Cup, to name a few. DiversityBusiness.com also included Dallas Fan Fares on its list of "Top Woman-Owned Businesses" for 2004.

"A lot of thought and preparation goes into everything they do, and it's always first-class every time you go to one of their events. I always end up having a good time myself," said former Dallas Cowboys fullback and current NFL broadcaster Daryl Johnston, who reports he's even been amazed to meet the likes of Tommy Lasorda, Gordie Howe and Evander Holyfield in some of his Dallas Fan Fares celebrity appearances. "The connections they have are amazing, the staff is always upbeat, and their creativity comes from that positive work environment that always shines through at every event.

"There's nobody in the country who can do the things they do."

About Dallas Fan Fares, Inc.

Founded by Kaye Burkhardt in 1980 as a destination management company, Dallas Fan Fares has evolved into a premier specialist in every phase of the hospitality industry. The company provides meeting planning, incentive programs, sports hospitality and special events for a vast array of corporate clientele. Its experience, resources and technology have led to a global presence, as well as long-standing relationships with leading organizations in industries such as healthcare, technology, finance, communications and food & beverage. For more information, visit the company's website (www.dallasfanfares.com) or call 972.239.9969.

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