A nostalgic New England bowling brand modernized into a 24/7 digital powerhouse with a custom-built lane reservation system, e-commerce upsell engine, league and stats portal, and a mobile-optimized site rebuilt entirely from scratch on the TruPortals platform.
Candlepin Bowling had history, nostalgia, and heart. What it didn’t have was a digital experience that matched the magic of the game. Customers struggled to book lanes, merchandise sales were low, the site wasn’t mobile-friendly, and there was no system for tracking leagues, stats, or repeat engagement. Revenue was slipping through the cracks, not because of the product, but because the operational layer hadn’t been built yet. Candlepin needed a modern digital platform that preserved its legacy while opening up new revenue streams.
The owner didn’t want to buy off-the-shelf reservation software. So TruCreatives built one entirely from scratch on TruPortals: a 24/7 lane booking system, an e-commerce store with upsell flows, a league and stats portal that gamified repeat visits, and a mobile-first SEO-optimized website that finally matched the brand. When the first version didn’t hit exactly right, we rebuilt it. For free. A three-day trip to Boston working alongside his team got the whole platform shipped, trained, and humming. Today the in-house team runs the engine themselves.
This wasn’t a typical agency engagement. Candlepin’s owner wanted to own the system, so the whole partnership was structured around building, training, and handing off. A three-day on-site trip to Boston got the platform shipped, the staff trained, and the owner fluent in his own software. Today his in-house team runs email marketing, text marketing, social posting, the phone system, and the booking engine themselves, all from inside TruPortals. We don’t need to be in the loop day-to-day, because we built it so they wouldn’t need to be. That’s the kind of partnership that earns introductions to more brands in the same space.
Book your modernization call and see how the same custom platform that scaled Candlepin Bowling can transform your local business.