Present: Scooter, Mike Currie, Dan Gillespie, Evan Scully, Shelley Harding, Dan Wortman, Sarah Carrigan-Kent, Michelle Strain, Mike Keech, Pat Forestell.
Regrets: Darren Wheaton, Bill Waterman, Kevin Estabrooks, Zach Ball.
Old Business: Nothing brought up.
Financial Report: No financial report available. Kevin has the necessary information, and is still working on generating financial statements for the summer and for September.
Manager’s Report:
- September was a good month, with fairly solid sales and a lot of busy nights on weekends.
- Roughly 350 memberships sold to date (25 last week alone).
- Figured on 400 memberships for the year, so will hopefully beat expectations.
- Discussed reasons for membership, pros and cons. Talked about marketing, benefits to students, whether or not there should be different lines to let members in earlier, etc.
- Bands booked every Wednesday night for this term, should hopefully bring additional customers.
- Discussed discrepancies in rent and price in solarium, and why the solarium isn't open on Thursdays.
- Discussed CP costs, why do we need to pay for CP's when we could hire Pub staff. Need better feedback for CP's and written guidelines.
- Inventory of alcohol is currently sitting at approximately $13,500, and approximately $2,500 for non-alcohol bar supplies. Cash in bank is hopefully enough to cover this year’s operating expenses, but will wait on financials before being able to confirm.
- Wages are up this term as an absolute number.
- A lot of cost increases relate to the move.
- Discussion of cleaning responsibilities can the pub staff do more to get the 16 hours of cleaning to 12 hours a week?
- Superstud after AGM was good. Homecoming had good sales, but there were a lot of unhappy alumni: Pub too small, lineups too big, couldn't get to ATM because of size of lineup.
- Cut back hours, no longer open on Mondays and Tuesdays except for special events. Moved Trivia to Thursday nights. On fundraiser nights, start charging cover at 10 pm.
- Security Report: no judicial charges. A few cases that were dealt with internally with Pub bans.
- Upcoming events: There may be a SuperStud with Thorton and SAC for Halloween. Food services maybe on Wednesdays?
New Business: Everything was already covered in discussions during Manager’s report.
Next Meeting: November 9th, 2009, at 8pm.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
September 2009 meeting minutes
Held on: September 10th, 2009
Old Business:
- Scooter is going to email the 2008-2009 annual financial statements to the Board.
- Election of officers took place: Darren Wheaton returning as Chairperson, Dan Wortman as Vice Chairperson, Shelley Harding as Secretary, Kevin Estabrooks as Treasurer (appointed).
- It was noted that Desmond Lockhart and Tag Thompson had both expressed interested in being on the board again this year as student, but since they did not show up at the AGM and were not nominated in elections, they will not be invited to rejoin the board. However, if they wish to request to attend meetings that is fine.
Manager's Report:
- Scooter read a big list of things he has done in August and early September to be ready for the new school year.
- Scooter is expecting a high possibility of a Liquor Licensing Board inspection tomorrow night (due to the planned Super-Stud) but does not anticipate any problems.
- Membership sales have been soft, probably due to the elimination of member discounts on drinks, but may result in increased revenue throughout the year.
- 816 first year frosh, 41 MASSIE.
- No new security concerns within the Pub, although the University had an ID card printer stolen, so the Pub staff are on the lookout for fake MTA ID’s.
Entertainment:
- Aly Kelly is the SAC’s Entertainment Director for this year, and seems very motivated to work with us. Hope to see some good bands.
New Business:
- Inventory is strong at roughly $11,500 for alcohol items.
- Cash balance in the bank is low but revenues look to be good for the rest of the month.
- Superstud on Saturday, DJ booth will be located between the Pub and Gracie's. SAC gives $1500 and covers the cost of CP's, Pub will pay for equipment rental (approximately $500). Bracelets for underage and 19+.
- Homecoming? Need to sort out security concerns for that night. Also Fall Fair on Homecoming weekend. Bridge Street closed for bands, Main Street closed for parade.
- University needs to look at lighting in the Solarium. There is no way for the Pub staff to turn on the lights in the Solarium in the event of a security incident or an emergency.
- New Board members need to do a volunteer shift at the Pub.
Next meeting:
The 2nd Monday of every month, 8pm. The next meeting will therefore be held on October 12th (Thanksgiving). Students should be back from their travels for the most part, so we won’t adjust the date for this meeting.
Old Business:
- Scooter is going to email the 2008-2009 annual financial statements to the Board.
- Election of officers took place: Darren Wheaton returning as Chairperson, Dan Wortman as Vice Chairperson, Shelley Harding as Secretary, Kevin Estabrooks as Treasurer (appointed).
- It was noted that Desmond Lockhart and Tag Thompson had both expressed interested in being on the board again this year as student, but since they did not show up at the AGM and were not nominated in elections, they will not be invited to rejoin the board. However, if they wish to request to attend meetings that is fine.
Manager's Report:
- Scooter read a big list of things he has done in August and early September to be ready for the new school year.
- Scooter is expecting a high possibility of a Liquor Licensing Board inspection tomorrow night (due to the planned Super-Stud) but does not anticipate any problems.
- Membership sales have been soft, probably due to the elimination of member discounts on drinks, but may result in increased revenue throughout the year.
- 816 first year frosh, 41 MASSIE.
- No new security concerns within the Pub, although the University had an ID card printer stolen, so the Pub staff are on the lookout for fake MTA ID’s.
Entertainment:
- Aly Kelly is the SAC’s Entertainment Director for this year, and seems very motivated to work with us. Hope to see some good bands.
New Business:
- Inventory is strong at roughly $11,500 for alcohol items.
- Cash balance in the bank is low but revenues look to be good for the rest of the month.
- Superstud on Saturday, DJ booth will be located between the Pub and Gracie's. SAC gives $1500 and covers the cost of CP's, Pub will pay for equipment rental (approximately $500). Bracelets for underage and 19+.
- Homecoming? Need to sort out security concerns for that night. Also Fall Fair on Homecoming weekend. Bridge Street closed for bands, Main Street closed for parade.
- University needs to look at lighting in the Solarium. There is no way for the Pub staff to turn on the lights in the Solarium in the event of a security incident or an emergency.
- New Board members need to do a volunteer shift at the Pub.
Next meeting:
The 2nd Monday of every month, 8pm. The next meeting will therefore be held on October 12th (Thanksgiving). Students should be back from their travels for the most part, so we won’t adjust the date for this meeting.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Change in Format of Board of Directors' Meeting Minutes
Effective October 2009, we are changing the format of recorded minutes from all regular meetings of the Tantramarsh Club's Board of Directors, and from the Annual General Members' Meetings. We used to archive them directly on our website, but we have decided to move them to this blog, to simply the process of archiving and website maintenance. All available minutes from past meetings are posted below, grouped by fiscal year. Going forward, as each monthly set of minutes is approved, the minutes will be posted here individually. As a reminder, here is a link to the blog website where all minutes will be archived:
tantramarshclubboardminutes.blogspot.com
tantramarshclubboardminutes.blogspot.com
Tantramarsh Club Board Minutes, 2008-2009
Minutes from the March 9th, 2009 meeting:
Promotional Report (Chris Grove)
End of the year banquets are coming up for residences. Harper Hall has already confirmed. They wish to have their banquet at the pub and are confirmed for March 31, 2009. Thornton House and Bigelow House have also confirmed that they wish to have their end of year banquets at the pub but a date has not been confirmed. Wednesday Night Band Night: Concerts have been confirmed and booked for every weekend until exams except for the last week. There will be no concerts that Wednesday night due to the last week of classes and last class bash going on the next night. This Wednesday (March 11th) will be Weak Size Fish and next Wednesday (March 18th) will be Urban Preacher. Tuesday Night Trivia: Attendance has been good. Numbers dropped the Tuesday of Spring Break but was to be expected. Attendance seems to be picking up again now that school is back in session. St Patrick's Day (March 17th): We have received goodies for this event with most colors being green and gold. The pub will be doing the traditional green beer as well with other green beverages including SoCo lime. Considering a more Mardi Gras theme for the pub on St. Patrick's night. MTA Grad Banquet to be held March 19th. Dance Floor has been confirmed for this night.
Scheduling Report (Scooter)
Solarium has been booked for Saturday, March 28th as usual. Thursday, March 26th is the MTA Athletic Banquet which is to be at the pub. For this night, due to high numbers, considering opening the solarium as a place for extra seating. We are considering renting the Solarium as a dance floor for Athletic Banquet night rather than for Conduct Becoming, and the area would simply be open for seating on Conduct Becoming night. Harper Banquet: Concerns have been addressed with the high number of students in the residence and the capacity of the pub. Again it is being looking into concerning booking the solarium for extra seating area. Aramark is doing the food but are concerned about the space issue if they were to serve food into the pub. Alternative possible option may be to have Aramark serve in the café section instead and have the pub for other events/ceremonies for the night.
Management Report (Scooter)
There is no finance statement for this time, but it is believed that the month of February this year might be better in comparison to last. There have been some security issues. Students' coming in through the front doors of the building has become an issue with no security being present. Students are in places and doing things that they are not supposed to be doing. Issues concerning the coat check have come up mostly in regard to location. Michelle suggested the relocation of the coat check to upstairs or possibly the atrium. Issues concerning the coat check being upstairs would be the difficult procedure of getting the coat racks to the location. The elevators presently are turned off after a certain time but there is a card system that will be installed to ensure the elevators can be used. This project, unfortunately, will only begin in April. Issue with coat check being placed into the atrium was the cameras in the location not working. Michelle believes the cameras in the atrium area to be working but will double check to confirm. Also would be beneficial to have Campus Police in the area of coat check at the end of the night to ensure everything goes smoothly and there are no problems with individuals. Coat check brought in $285.00 and $290.00 the last two times that it was open. Two more racks are being looked into being purchased for next year. One for sure will be a requirement but two is also a possibility. The possibility of CP coming into the bar has come up. Scooter would be more comfortable with Pub Staff taking care of the issue inside the bar instead of CP. They would be allowed in to take a look around but for the most part bar staff deal with issues inside and CP handle issues outside the Pub. ID scanning is now becoming a more important concern for the Pub. With a few situations already being presented it would be more beneficial for the pub to scan all ID's that are not pub members. This is to help in the event that anything does happen the Pub does not only have to rely on cameras and face identification. This way the Pub will be able to more accurately identify an individual if problems occur. There have been some problems concerning smuggling alcohol onto the premises. Bottles of alcohol that are not purchased by the Pub have been found after hours during clean up. Although this has become a bigger issue it is also one that is very difficult to stop completely. On Friday, March 6th there was an assault at the Pub. Those who committed the assault were not Mount Allison students and therefore were signed in by a present student. There is the possibility that punches were thrown and as well hair extensions were pulled out from the head of the victim of the assault. Student who signed the guests in will be receiving a 3-6 month ban from the Pub (summer months do not count towards the ban). On busy nights, usually Fridays & Saturdays, CP are asked to help control the crowd waiting to enter the bar and have been doing so, but the Pub asks that smaller numbers be allowed in at a time to avoid bigger line ups at the door.
Constitutional amendment is being considered by the Board of Directors. The Board wishes to include another member, VP Campus Life. Presently there are no objections to having the VP Campus Life added to the Board of Directors for the MTA Pub.
It has been decided that the Pub will attempt to remain open for the summer months of 2009. Three individuals have expressed interest in the position of Summer Manager. Two are members of the present bar staff and one is not. After much discussion, it has been agreed that a present employee for the position would be more beneficial for the long run and also would provide more help to Scooter for following school year. It has been decided that Rich Bertrand will be the Summer Manager for the Pub during the summer of 2009.
Most of the bar staff will be graduating this year but returning staff includes: Neil Gouder, Jackson Trehearne, Cathy Cowe, Rich Bertrand, Shauna Krasuski, Caroline Smith. As of right now Scooter is avoiding hiring for next school year. He would like to have training done in August for staff with the new venue.
The RCMP stopped by Saturday, March 7th to check out the new venue and gave the thumbs up.
The next Board of Directors meeting will be Sunday, April 5th. The time of the meeting will also return to the previous time, which is 9:00pm at the Pub.
Minutes from the January 12th, 2009 meeting:
Present: Darren Wheaton, Shawn Calhoun, Michelle Strain, Zach Ball, Bill Waterman, Scooter, Chris Grove, Desmond Lockhart, Tag Thompson, James Grady.
Regrets: Ian Allen, Kevin Estabrooks.
The minutes from the meeting on November 24th were approved. The minutes from the meeting on December 7th were approved.
The agenda for the meeting was approved.
Financial Report: There was a loss of $14000 in December.
Promotions/ Special events: Thursday fundraisers organized by the SAC, only one Thursday not booked. Grad banquet and athletic banquet upcoming. Good business forecasted for this academic semester, now that there is a dance floor. Wednesday nights have been busy, thanks to live entertainment events. There will be a fundraiser for students whose apartment burnt down.
Manager's Report: Sales were poor in December. Lots of complaints about the speed of service. Temporary bar shelving and bar setup changed. More efficient, and allows for more sales. Specials at side bar advertised around bar alleviated congestion at main serving area. DJ gear can be left in solarium on Friday nights/Saturday daytime – we will see how this works out as there are other bookings. Fire capacity is 200 if solarium is open, 150 if not, and not able to increase this due to size constraints. Labour cost at new Pub higher. Need 4 bartenders instead of 3, plus a busser, DJ, doorman, and CP's, not forecast to be a huge difference. Idea of having a shooter girl put forth. Has not worked in previous years, but possible that it might work now. A lot of people come in to watch TV earlier.
Old Business:
1. Increasing membership. Maybe wait until next year to push memberships. The more memberships sold, the less the Pub will make on cover. Memberships will encourage students to come out more often during the week. Not able to send out mass emails to students without memberships - no access to
2. Coat racks ordered. Full income statement and balance sheet, up to date, including wages, will be provided to Board.
3. Loan repayment tabled until next month's meeting. Loan started Oct. 1st, interest free, but 2.5% interest after interest free period is over. Letter to be drafted to try to get credit for problems that are not the Pub's fault. Discussed perhaps holding off on loan repayment to prevent insolvency. Discussed the dancefloor - is it affordable? Increase in expenses on top of a business model that was hardly viable in the first place.
4. Café shuts down early and is missing out on business from Pub-goers.
5. Budget is needed. Should include estimate alongside of actual revenue. Will be able to compare forecast with actual sales. Manager to talk to accountant to get more up to date info.
6. Sponsorship of rugby team - will look at this at a later date.
New Business:
1. Physical improvements: will defer this until a later date.
2. Addition of ATM. Manager would take responsibility for this. Would pay for itself. Alternative to ATM outside of Pub. May not be allowed to have debit machine - this will be looked into. Debit machine, if viable, should be taken on by Pub itself. Costs associated will have to be looked into. Will probably have to charge a lot for usage. Will be able to run credit card tabs. Will wait on it, vote by email upon disclosure of more info.
3. Additional projects: staff threatening to take Pub to WCB because of dangerous, slippery floor.
4. Food: if cafe does not open, can Pub sell chips behind the bar? This will be looked into and discussed at next meeting.
Next meeting will be Sunday, February 8th, 2009. Meeting adjourned.
Minutes from the December 7th, 2008 meeting:
Members Present: Jonathan Clark, Chris Grove, James Grady, Michelle Strain.
Items for Action: Scooter to provide details about lighting to the University.
Minutes approved from the November 24th meeting.
Marketing Report: Last day of classes was a successful night for the Pub. Positive feedback about the last night of classes, with sales for last day of classes around $2300. Dance floor should be a nightly thing. Cut back in staff. Mondays are busier than they have previously been. Sales on Tuesday and Wednesday are lagging. Dance floor can be done two nights each week, but costs are about $350 per night. Boosts sales, but this boost might still not cover costs; however, it is good to have the increase in customers. About 3000 drink tickets were given out last year, 218 not redeemed. Checking to see if Pub can serve coffee for exams. Do not want to undercut Aramark. Serving coffee would help promote the Pub as a study area during the daytime. Recyclables: will have recyclables picked up every 3rd week to minimize pickup costs. Discussion about guns vs. bottles. Guns would not be viable. Renovations for the rebranding of the Pub. Looking into getting rugby banner for the Pub. Painting of walls. Rob MacCormack to give quote on the cost of this. Pictures for wall, currently looking into this. There won't be a lot of physical renovations apart from painting, hanging photos, and changing the lighting. Lighting changes will cost around $2000. Will get a quote from Rob MacCormack. University needs details on lighting issue. Scooter will provide this. Office has no air conditioning. Dec. 17-19, 22-24 construction company will bring tradespeople back for work on Student Centre. Will be working out worst stuff. Wall in office not on work order list, but lighting is. Thermostat broken in washroom. Perpetrators caught on camera. Phones installed for bar. Also, local calls will be free for patrons.
New business: Rugby team parties possibly sponsored by Pub next year. SAC wants to get involved with scheduling and organising events. They're already organising most Wednesday night events and entertainment. University willing to buy Pub's chairs and give Pub other chairs. Vending machines always empty. University has talked to vendors about this.
More lessons learned from last class bash: Pub needs a Shop Vac. First-aid kit is needed. Too many broken glasses. Noise bleed from Solarium into Pub, but it wasn't as hard to hear drink orders as
it was at the old Pub. Bar design is still inefficient. 4 bartenders for $2300 in sales. Left side of bar not noticed by customers. This could be remedied by offering specials there.
Meeting adjourned. Next meeting will be held Monday, January 12, 2009.
Minutes from the November 24th, 2008 meeting:
Present: Darren Wheaton, Shawn Calhoun, Michelle Strain, Zach Ball, Bill Waterman, Scooter, Chris Grove, Desmond Lockhart, Tag Thompson, James Grady.
Regrets: Ian Allen, Sam Thibideau.
Promotions/Manager's Report:
- Membership prices lowered to $30 since early November. However, nobody has bought one yet. Mass email to be sent out to students and staff at start of January.
- Weekday sales on par with last year.
- Large percentage of sales from athletes on the couple busy nights that we've had.
- Draught prices have been dropped until the end of term for day-time sales.
- Weekend sales poor, with no dance floor.
- In past years, the Pub has been final destination for pub crawls; not the case now.
Security Report:
- No telephone for bar, we really need to get one. The request was put in by Scooter over a month ago.
- One staff member fired for buying alcohol for minors.
- RCMP says the Pub needs to have a person at the front entrance to check ID's at all times, so underage customers don't sneak into the washrooms.
- A monitor is needed for the front door so the doorman can see what is happening inside the Pub.
Financial report:
- Net income down about $20,000 in comparison to this time last year.
- Revenue for October 2007 was $28,000; and for October 2008 was only $7,100.
- Membership revenue, which is a pure profit revenue, is down about $6,000.
- Had a meeting to address problem with various SAC members and university staff to talk about the dance floor. It will cost $200/night basic rental for solarium, on top of cleaning charges, staffing charges, incidentals, and damages. No problem with liquor licensing. Cost of renting dance floor this year will be $18,400. Last year's rent for the Pub was $21,000. Total rent for the Pub going forward will be about $40,000 annually, when including Solarium rental fees. Cover charge will be reinstated once dance floor is in use, but this probably will not be enough to help offset all expenses. Last day of classes will be a test run.
- Two new TVs will be installed soon. $1000 cost for installation (worst case scenario) because of the plugs that need to get moved.
- Decor: Scooter proposed that the walls should be painted dark garnet on the bottom so as to make it more of a bar-type atmosphere. University themed pictures and other memorabilia for bare spots on walls.
Old business:
- Eggshells: has not been looked into yet; there are bigger issues at hand.
- Manager's contract: will be receiving retro pay as previously discussed.
New business: Financial report & budget to be drafted by Manager after last day of classes. This will help with planning for second term.
Next meeting: Sunday, December 7th.
Meeting adjourned.
Minutes from the November 3rd, 2008 meeting:
Present: Darren Wheaton, Shawn Calhoun, Zach Ball, Ian Allen, Bill Waterman, Scooter, Chris Grove, Desmond Lockhart, Tag Thompson, James Grady.
Regrets: Michelle Strain, Sam Thibideau.
Approval of the agenda.
Approval of the minutes of the October 20th, 2008 meeting.
Financial report: unofficial report is that sales are weak, $70,000 cash balance in the bank.
Promotions & Special Events Report: Thursday will be when special events take place.
Manager's report:
- Halloween was not busy, but the following night was. Other bars had no available dance floor that second night (November 1st), which gave the Pub an advantage. Halloween sales and cover charge usually generates about $4000, but this year only $280 in sales made all night.
- Poor ventilation in men's bathroom and there is a bad smell as a result.
- Air conditioning can not handle large crowds.
- Due to poor layout of the bar, bartenders are not able to work as efficiently as they did at the old location. Also, their backs turned to customers too much, which makes them uncomfortable.
- Too much lighting behind bar.
- University not happy with lighted signs because holes had to be drilled in the walls - financial compensation may be required.
- University refuses to install last two TV's because of placement of electrical outlets. University says the placement of the TV would not meet building codes. Would cost $1000 to move outlets to the proper location - the Pub will be expected to bear that cost. The University has offered to pay for the TV if dispute can not be resolved.
- Mirrors are supposed to be installed behind bar at some point.
Old business:
- ATM contract and letter to Dave Stewart is ongoing. The Pub needs to write a letter to Dave Stewart to ask for permission to install an ATM in the Pub.
- Trying to increase membership sales by having the $10 drop in price of memberships starting effective for the first of November.
- Storage: Scooter is willing to trade a 32" LCD TV for all of the stuff in storage. Everything in storage was stuff that we tried unsuccessfully to sell, and is of questionable value. We will create offsetting invoices for $700 plus HST to make this transaction official.
- Question of having a serving staff member who is the Moosehead rep came up. No negative response from Molson, so it was assumed that there is no problem.
- Talked about how much the Pub is going to pay down of its loan and when. Nothing to be signed until reviewed by the Board. There has to be two signing officers on everything. Specifics on expenditures should be reviewed before giving any money to the University.
- Expanding office space: about $100 in losses because of theft from open storage space so far.
- Keys: there are now keys for staff to get into the bar.
- Coat check: there have been complaints because of the lack of a coat check. We could set up mobile racks. It would cost $2000 to $3000 for coat check equipment plus wages have to be paid to staff. Would pay itself off in a few years. This issue is not urgent enough to be immediately addressed, but as soon as there is a dance floor and crowds the issue will have to be addressed. Will not purchase equipment yet; until we see whether or not we can eventually create a dance floor.
New business: Marketing memberships to faculty and staff. Will wait for Michelle Strain's input on this matter.
Other: Talked about getting egg shell covering for ceiling, to try to help improve acoustics. Would cost a couple thousand dollars. Tile floor contributes to the problem, so egg shell on the ceiling would not be a complete solution, but it would help. Decided to hold off from purchasing so far.
Next meeting: meeting originally scheduled for November 10th, but subsequently changed to Monday, November 24th at 9pm.
Meeting adjourned.
Minutes from the October 20th, 2008 meeting:
Items for action:
- Letter to Dave Stewart, VP (Administration), is to be drafted to request that ATM be allowed on premises at the Pub. Letter will be submitted for approval by Board of Directors.
- Copy of contract between the Pub and Pub Manager, Jonathan Clark, will be provided to Board for review at the next meeting.
- Inventory of Pub property in storage will be brought to next board meeting so as to determine what can be thrown out or sold.
Agenda Approved.
Minutes from previous meeting approved.
Old Business: Staff member/Moosehead rep: Still awaiting word from Molson about situation.
Financial Report:
- Unofficial reports were that sales were very soft.
- Mondays and Tuesdays as good as last year.
- This Wednesday, band that played had poor turnout. Not sure why. Perhaps because of midterms, or the genre of music (punk).
- Thursday was hit or miss last year, might be same this year.
- Weekend sales disappointing. Opened for football game. People brought drinks out of the bar, this problem will have to be addressed. Will have to make it known that drinks can not be brought outside. For the 2nd half of game, sales were good. Solarium would bring in customers during football game.
- Weak financial outlook for now. Fewer people working at one time to cut back on operating costs.
Promotions Manager's Report:
- Plenty of events and entertainment lined up for the future.
- Promote Pub at house parties is one method for getting people into the bar.
- Gender-oriented events are not something that has been successful in the past.
- Big events need to be planned in advance so as to avoid scheduling conflicts with other large events on campus or in Sackville.
- Bring classes to the Pub. A drop down screen and projector could accommodate their needs.
- Can have people play video games on the big-screen TVs which are coming in shortly.
Manager's Report:
- Draft has been installed. New draft system uses nitrogen, which is not very expensive at about $5.00 per keg. No more noise from the air compressor.
- People coming behind bar is a problem. Gates will serve to potentially keep people out.
- New decorative signage installed.
- Acoustics poor because of ceiling and floor. Looking into coating for ceiling to fix problem.
Entertainment Report: There will be plenty of entertainment at the Pub this year. The SAC is helping us to secure bookings.
Things Associated With the New Pub:
- Loan: total owed to the university is $106,000. It cost the university $560,000 to build the Pub space. This number was not based on the actual cost of the physical space, it was based on a per/unit cost for square footage in the entire building. Payments on the loan are going to have to be $1,600/month, with a $40,000 down payment.
- Pub can pay down more of its debt earlier than what it has agreed to. Loan is interest free for 1 year.
- Front door: University is reluctant to install a half-door. Will be addressed at a later date. Not an issue right now since we don't have high volumes of customers.
- The lack of communication between front door and bar staff is a problem. Light signal system not viable right now. Most of the issue is covered by the surveillance system that has been installed, with security monitors so that door staff can see each other.
- ATM: not having an ATM in the bar is a huge potential drawback. Right now there are no lineups. This is not a serious issue as long as there are no lineups, but if we get lineups at the front door, this is going to be a huge problem. Debit machines not nearly as viable. Not having an ATM is a major disadvantage.
- A letter to Dave Stewart, VP (Administration), is only possible option for the Pub to get an ATM. Letter will be drafted and submitted for approval by the Board by the next Board meeting.
- Issue of old ATM: A copy of contract will be provided by next meeting for review for by the Board. The ATM originally cost $15,000 for the unit, total of $25,000 after other expenses. The old ATM was mutually beneficial to the owner and the Pub. The Pub faces possible financial repercussions for not being allowed to have the ATM in the Pub, with either a buyout clause or compensation for lost revenue.
- Storage: storage space in basement not an option. Currently renting storage space for $100.00/month, and much too small (5' x 10' space). Instead of paying $100.00/month, Manager has proposed that he could lease space on better financial terms. Scooter also wants to cut out the wall between the office and storage area as a possibility to alleviate the problem of on-site storage. Debate on whether or not we should wait before going through with this option. The cost will be about $1000, but $1000 is a "drop in the bucket" considering the Pub's current financial situation. University wants us to get stuff out of the old Pub. Lots of stuff already thrown out from the old Pub. List of inventory in off-site storage will be brought to next board meeting so as to determine what can be thrown out or sold.
- Keys: keys will be provided for shortly.
- Dance Floor: may be able to use solarium as a dance floor on weekends (62 person capacity). We could play rock music in the Pub, and dance music in the Solarium. Will have to license the Solarium. Cost for steam cleaning each week. Solarium rent cost cheaper than Café.
- Coat Check: currently, there is none. That will be a problem soon.
- Key to back entrance for Manager would save time throughout the week for major deliveries.
- No memberships sold since new Pub opened. Another email about Pub memberships will be sent out. Promoting it now would be pointless, we need to wait until Pub gets something going for it.
- Seating: we now have less than 60% of previous seating capacity compared to old Pub, so there is need for more efficient seating. However, the bar is almost 40% smaller, so this makes sense.
Next meeting to be held at the Pub on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 9pm.
Minutes from the October 9th, 2008 meeting:
New Business:
- A Pub staff member just got job as brewery representative. In the past, brewery reps were not allowed to work for the Pub. New job results in conflict of interest, but this could be avoided. As long as he does not promote product, there should be no real problem. No violations of any contract terms are being made. Staff member will continue to be employed at Pub.
- Staff size: Pub staff size about the same as last year. One new hire.
-September sales: Currently, the Pub is looking at a fiscally "rough" year.
- Terms of debt repayment: current debt is $110,000. Interest free for one year. Repayment will occur over a 5 year period. Is the Pub paying for things it doesn't want? Infrastructure, however detrimental to the functioning of the Pub, was paid for entirely by the Mount Allison University. Extras (glasswasher, cooler, fridges, signs, other decor, etc.) paid for by the Pub.
- How can service be made faster? Layout of the bar is the primary problem. Staff will adjust and become more efficient in the long run. While business at the Pub is still slow, staff can gain extra experience. Any major changes to the layout of the Pub bar will have to be considered for action next summer when business has "slowed down".
- Lighting: currently too bright; lacking the dankness we have become accustomed to at the old Pub. Once neon lights and TVs are installed, lights may be able to be turned off completely, thus replicating the character and atmosphere of the old Pub.
- Dance floor: without cover charge, Pub would have lost $15000 last year. No dance floor, no grounds for charging cover. Estimate that half of memberships are bought because people do not want to pay cover to dance. We will definitely lose business from those who come to Pub to dance. It is projected that membership will decline by more than half, as business from others will also be lost. Might be able to have cafe open as a dance floor once a week. This would get more people in. This would be a mutually beneficial arrangement; cafe is making money from Pub goers, Pub would be making use of a space that would otherwise be unused on a Friday or Saturday night. Even if the Pub had to pay for wear and tear to facilities (carpet cleaning or replacement, repairs or replacement of any other damaged property), it could still be a profitable undertaking.
- Possible transfer of bar services responsibilities from SAC to the Pub? This possible arrangement should be explored further, because the SAC might be open to the idea. Less responsibility for them. Pub would offer more efficient service than SAC, due to having more experienced bartenders.
- Talked about other venues run by the Pub, and other potential money-making ventures for the Pub. Could possibly have smaller concerts in the cafe space. It would be easiest for the Pub to run things only in cafe instead of all over campus. Also, attracting people watching sporting events to the Pub gives the promise of more revenue.
- Drink prices: can not increase drink prices; has already been done recently.
- Idea of having the solarium licensed to the Pub brought up: to be explored further.
- Scooter's meeting with Dr. Campbell: a lot of students feel that the university is trying to get rid of the Pub. Dr. Campbell asserts that this is not the case. The Pub is integral to student life, and the administration wants to make it work.
- Question about the attendance of students at board meetings raised. If there are any restrictions, they would be outlined in the Pub constitution. Someone will check the constitution, to make sure it is ok. We would have to ask students to leave meeting while more sensitive matters are discussed. This will be discussed further at the next meeting.
- Meetings: normally will be held the first Monday of every month at 8pm; however, the next meeting will be held Monday, October 20th at 8pm.
- Critical issues to be addressed immediately: Scooter handed out an outline of these issues to the board members in attendance. Best options for repayment of loan. Front door is currently a problem. Old Pub front entrance was optimal, because it had a half-door; could see bar from it. New door will be a security issue. Best practices for how the doorman is to work around the current configuration must be planned out and implemented. Perhaps surveillance equipment can be adjusted to adapt to the current situation.
- Lighting is bad.
- Need for ATM inside the Pub: university says that there can only be one ATM in the building. Ways to get around this to be explored further. Currently, Pub goers have to leave bar to access ATM, and once they leave they must wait in line again.
- TVs needed ASAP. 42" flat panels at Costco for $799 ea. Plasma screen TVs preferred.
- Storage space (lack thereof) is a problem. Possible to take out the wall between the office and the storage area. We may get extra storage space for recyclables in basement. This is currently being addressed with the help of Michelle Strain.
- Staff members need keys to the Pub.
Minutes from the February 8th, 2009 meeting:
Present: Chris Grove, Scooter, Michelle Strain, Desmond Lockhart, James Grady, Bill Waterman, Darren Wheaton, Kevin Estabrooks.
Regrets: Zach Ball, Ian Allen, Taggart Thompson, Shawn Calhoun.
The minutes of the Board meeting for January 12th were approved. The agenda for the meeting was approved.
Presentation from SAC: The SAC would like the Pub Board to consider making an allowance for VP Campus Life to sit as a member of the Board. This would improve SAC relations with the Pub, and would make for a closer working relationship between the SAC and the Pub. The VP Campus Life will be able to provide important feedback and help with promotions. The Pub has had SAC reps on the Board before. No conflict of interest would posed by having VP Campus Life on the Board. There would have to be a change in the constitution, which would presumably be done at the next AGM in September. We could make the VP Campus Life a non-voting member, or a voting member. Perhaps it would be good to extend the board even further by having another official "member at large." The VP Campus Life would be able to send reports out to students through mass emails. Will be talked about at next month's meeting, after someone examines the Constitution.
Financial report: $5000 profit for January. Bar revenues up. Pub has $30,000 in the bank, of which $9,000 is short term GIC. Part will be used to pay down loan. There has been a significant icrease in rental costs because of the Solarium. The Board reviewed comparative income statement and changes made to it. Pub is working with SJ McIsaac about write offs in April (at year-end) relating to move from old venue, which Scooter estimates to be about $20,000 or slightly more.
Promotions/Special events: The latest performers at the Pub expressed appreciation for those who showed up, with a great turnout. Mondays are getting busy. Tuesday is trivia night, holding steady. Thursdays have been booked solid with the help of the SAC, and various clubs and societies are benefiting. On Friday and Saturday nights, the dancefloor is continually drawing a crowd. This academic semester is seeing far better turnouts than the last. Speed dating event for Friday, February 13th.
Manager's Report: Newly devised, more efficient way of organising coat check/lineup outlined by Scooter, which will hopefully streamline traffic. There have been a lot of requests for garbage cans. Garbage cans have been provided, with signage displayed so as to prevent recyclables being thrown out. Interac is up and running, but not heavily used - averaging $3-$15 in transaction fees per night (2-10 uses per night). However, there is indirect revenue from people spending more because of the availability of an Interac machine (few Visa transactions). Pub staff now have keys to the solarium gate. Bar has been divided into service zones, for more efficient service, with an Interac zone established. Bar gate partially closed so as to prevent customers from wandering behind the bar. Buspersons are being trained behind the bar to take pressure off regular bartenders. Maintenance issues pertaining to the dancefloor – windows need cleaning after closing, theft of hardware from windows. Not enough beer glasses. There are major video camera issues: better coverage is needed. There are lghting issues behind the bar. It would be great to get lighting on the bar, which would help prevent theft of tips. There are problems with the Coca-Cola coolers - stuff is freezing and exploding in one of them. Over thirty-five degrees behind the bar at times, therefore not comfortable working conditions for the bartenders.
Old Business:
1. Budget - already covered previously in meeting.
2. Letter to be drafted to University to request credit due to issues beyond the Pub's control. Scooter will follow up.
3. Loan repayment. The Pub has enough to make payment without causing financial constraints to Operations. Motion to have post-dated cheque (April 1st) for $20,000 to be made out to University. Motion carried.
New Business:
1. Lost coat - camera which was supposed to be covering the cafe is not operational. There is a precedent for paying for lost coats, on the rare occasions where the Pub staff believe that it was their own fault that the coat was lost. The cost of lost coat is $300. Pub will pay for cost of lost coat, because of the fact that in this particular case, Scooter actually told the customer where to place the coat in a "safe area," not knowing that the video cameras were not operational in that area. The Pub will not assume responsibility for all other coats lost when there was no coat check, and customers voluntarily left them on chairs and in corners. Lost coats hopefully will not be an issue once coat check arrives.
2. Banning issue – one student was caught smuggling liquor into Pub last year, after having been warned previously. The student appealed the ban in hopes of having it shortened, since approximately ten months of the ban had already been served and the lesson was learned. The Board did not want to overturn the ban, but shortened the time period slightly so the ban would end in early March of 2009.
3. Smuggling – smuggling is still a big issue which needs to be controlled better. Females will have bags checked as they come into the Pub. There will be undercover CPs in bathrooms. Other measures to prevent smuggling will be looked into.
Other:
1. Suggestions (again) for decorations, other improvements, including painting along bottom of walls, or murals, to give students a sense of ownership. People asked about donations of framed pictures of sports teams, or alumni donations to help decorate.
2. Debated the merits of a "So You Think You Can Bartend" event, which would be a contest where students try their hand at bartending for a night. This could be a free staff member under supervision of regular staff, which might help to get people out on quiet nights.
3. Need to promote televised sports events more frequently.
Next meeting will be held on March 9th, 2009, at 8pm. Meeting adjourned.
Tantramarsh Club Board Minutes, 2007-2008
Minutes from the February 4th, 2008 meeting:
Present: Zach Ball, Chris Grove, Shawn Calhoun, Troy Heibein, Michelle Strain, Jonathan Clark, Darren Wheaton, Tim Jones, Jess Hamilton.
Regrets: Kevin Estabrooks, Sarah Milligan, Bill Waterman.
Meeting called to order.
Agenda approved.
Minutes amended to include Darren as having been present at last meeting, then approved as amended.
Financial Report:
- Still doing very well compared to last year.
- We approximately broke even in January (net income of $377 for the month) compared with an almost $7,000 loss in January of last year.
- Big gain in cover charge.
- We still have a net surplus at this point in the year, compared to a large net loss at this point last year.
- Memberships and cover charges are still accounting for the majority of the net income (this is where the Pub is making its money).
- Debate over whether or not Fridays still need such heavy drink discounts based on how busy the Pub has become. Scooter noted that he does not want to change the discounts during the current year, and that low drink prices are probably attracting more people to come out on Fridays instead of Saturdays, which is good because we are already at or exceeding capacity on Saturdays. Everyone agreed that a different dynamic will occur in the new Pub. The bar design in the new Pub will help with the drink line issues. Scooter noted that having so many people show up at one time, and everyone wanting to get drinks at the same time, was a major organizational problem for the staff.
Promotional Report:
- Sold a second wave of memberships in January.
- Price has been discounted to $30 in January and $20 in February.
- With midterms and February being a short month (break week) there are not many promotions planned.
- SAC Bingo coming up with a Fireball Whiskey promotion.
- March 6th – Jagermeister promotion.
- March 19th – Grad banquet.
- March 26th – Conduct Becoming.
- March 27th – Athletic banquet.
- No real plans for the Break week other than for the Thursday night before the break, and Trivia on Tuesday during the break itself.
- February is sort of slow, but we expect a lot of events and promotions in March.
Security Report:
- Lots of smuggling, catching a couple people each week. It is a big problem, costing us thousands of dollars per year, so we are really trying to minimize it. There are three notable cases in judicial right now.
- Coat check incident, someone had to be kicked out of coat check and then threw a chair out onto the main road outside the building – got a ban for that.
- There was another disagreement over a drink which resulted in a minor assault, therefore another ban.
- Lots of minor incidents, but luckily no really major ones recently.
Entertainment Report:
- Two wet/dry events were very poorly attended by the underage crowd.
- February will be slow for bands.
- March is looking better with several bands booked.
Minutes from the January 7th, 2008 meeting:
Present: Kevin Estabrooks, Zach Ball, Shawn Calhoun, Troy Heibein, Michelle Strain, Jonathan Clark, Darren Wheaton.
Regrets: Chris Grover, Sarah Milligan, Jess Hamilton, Tim Jones, Bill Waterman.
Meeting called to order.
Agenda approved.
Minutes from previous meeting approved as read.
Old News:
-Talked about the "Wet Wednesdays" confusion – Scooter had advertised an event as being 19+ because it was not specifically identified on Tim's schedule as being a wet/dry event, but it actually was a wet/dry event (due to Winter Carnival). Scooter immediately sent out a correction email after Tim notified him of the error.
New News:
-We got some more information about the new Pub in Trueman. Specifically, we would need to buy a new glasswasher, because ours does not meet MTA's green standards. Also, water cooled ice machines are no good, so we'll have to buy another ice machine. The walk-in compressor unit that we currently have is compliant with current standards, and will be moved. Renovations are progressing on schedule, so we are still tentatively scheduled to move between approximately August 15th and August 30th of 2008.
Financial Report:
-December is traditionally one of our weakest months of the year, due to exams and holidays, which means that we are only able to be open for major sales on a couple key dates during the month. In December of 2007, the Pub lost approximately $2700 for the month. However, in comparison with the same period in 2006, this year proved to be very strong. The loss in the month of December in 2006 was approximately $7700, therefore, our loss for December this year was about $5000 less than the loss for the previous year.
Security Report:
-No major incidents to report.
Meeting adjourned.
Next meeting set for 8pm, February 4th, 2008.
Minutes from the December 2nd, 2007 meeting:
Present: Ian Allen, Zach Ball, Chris Grove, Jonathan Clark, Troy Heibein, Sarah Milligan, Michelle Strain, Tim Jones, Jess Hamilton, Shawn Calhoun, Darren Wheaton.
Regrets: Bill Waterman, Kevin Estabrooks.
Minutes of the Board's November meeting were approved, with minor amendments.
Old Business (Scooter):
- Scooter has had initial exploratory talks with Joy at the SAC regarding possible options for the new Pub next year, and possible partnerships with the SAC. Some tentative options would be to have the Pub run the large room on busy nights as a wet bar, or for the Pub to partner with the SAC and have the room set up as a wet/dry bar, or for the Pub to explore the possibility of running the room as a wet/dry bar, or to go with a wet room only but limit this to Saturday nights rather than both Fridays and Saturdays.
- Scooter will present these options more formally later in the year. First, he needs to engage in further discussions with Joy to try to figure out logistical issues that would be involved with each option, before an official set of options is presented to the SAC and to the Pub's Board. Joy is generally receptive to the idea of enhanced cooperation between the Pub and SAC, but of course, everything is pretty vague right now so no commitments can be made without further extensive investigation.
Security Report (Scooter):
- Smuggling: there have been more people caught smuggling alcohol into the Pub than normal lately. Four people were caught one weekend and giving warnings, and after that weekend, people caught will be charged through judicial. Warning signs were posted on the Pub website and in all of the washroom stalls.
- Racism: an incident arose earlier in the term between one of the international students and another student. There were concerns at first that this might have been a racially-based incident, but it appeared after the fact that the participants were simply over-reacting on the night in question, and there seem to have been no repercussions since then.
- Harassment: there have been a couple cases of harassment of various types within the Pub, which can sometimes be tougher to deal with because they sometimes involve grey areas where there is no immediate proof that something happened. However, Scooter reiterated that incidents such as these should be brought to the attention of the bar staff immediately, so they can try to deal with the situation at that time.
- Theft: one student was banned for theft after being caught stealing money from the tip jars.
- Overall, the number of bans and judicial charges has increased from the previous years, but is consistent with the number of incidents in previous years when volumes and traffic levels were similar.
Trueman Progress Report (Michelle):
- Furniture cost estimates are going to be higher than $60,000.
- There will be a tour on Wednesday morning at 11:45am with the electrical consultant, who will be going over the current Pub equipment to make sure that everything is up to code.
- Loose furniture will not be too expensive – it is the mechanical items that will push the price up.
- The University has a higher building standard than the provincial building code.
Financial Report (Scooter):
- The Pub broke even in November.
- Bar stock inventories are quite high compared to normal levels.
- Alcohol sales of all sub-categories are up from last year.
- Volumes are up.
- Wages are up, however, because of increased volumes and also because of increases to the minimum wage rates.
Promotional Report (Grover):
- Not a lot of special things happening in December due to the exam period.
- Normal hours during exams.
- Energy drinks on sale (which can be taken out of the Pub, because they do not contain alcohol).
- Tim said that there was a consensus that the "wet-dry" Wednesdays should be changed to just "wet" only, because the number of under-agers in November at the events was weak. Sarah wondered about making the decision on an event-by-event basis, although it would be more confusing that way. Shawn said that upperclassmen were upset about having to drink in the back room. Scooter cautioned that it has been the cover charge from underagers at these events which makes them more feasible, and changing the format half-way through the year would set a bad precedent if we want to have wet-dry events next year. There was a long debate about this, with Scooter & Grover speaking out against the change, and most of the other student board members arguing in favor of changing to wet-only. Everyone agreed that while the program was a good success during first term, it was limited because of the poor layout of the bar area. In the end, the Board decided to cut back on the number of wet/dry events, but Tim committed to having one major wet/dry event each month and also to making sure that the SAC sent out an email to explain to students why the events were being scaled back.
- Michelle discussed a trend in the past couple years whereby more students are living in Moncton and commuting back and forth to Sackville, for various reasons (including the greater availability of part-time work in Moncton).
Next meeting scheduled for 8pm on January 14th, 2008.
Meeting adjourned.
Minutes from the November 5th, 2007 meeting:
Present: Jess Hamilton, Sarah Milligan, Tim Jones, Chris Grove, Zach Ball, Jonathan Clark, Darren Wheaton, Shawn Calhoun, Michelle Strain, Troy Heibein, Bill Waterman, Ian Allen.
Regrets: None.
Manager's Report (Scooter):
- Brewery marketing partnership proposals have been submitted to Labatts, Moosehead, and Molson. The breweries will have until late January to respond. When the proposals come in, Scooter will present them to Grover, Troy, and Jess for review. A decision will be made in March.
- Discussion of a possible greater working partnership with the SAC has not happened yet. Scooter contacted Joy to let her know that the Pub would like to discuss long-term partnership options. We have several months to talk about possibilities, but it would be good to finalize any possible plans by the end of the current academic year (April 2008).
Financial Report (Kevin):
- The Pub basically broke even in October, which is a significant improvement from October of 2006. Revenues increased significantly (doubled) when compared to October of 2006 – partly due to consistently higher customer traffic, and partly due to the fact that October of 2006 was especially bad because of the closure for a week due to the Norwalk virus. Most of the costs were more in line with previous stable periods of three or four years ago.
- Much busier on weekends than in past couple of years, as demonstrated by the very large increase in cover charge revenues. As mentioned in previous meetings, the Pub generally does not make money on regular operations and from selling alcohol, and the membership and cover charge revenues are the two items that keep us in business.
- The Pub should be able to break even this year, for the first time in about four years, if the start of the year is indicative of future performance for the rest of the year.
- Scooter commented that we need to allocate about $60,000 to $70,000 for the move to Trueman. He thinks that we will have approximately that amount in the bank at the end of this year, but not much more.
- Michelle said that tentative furniture prices should be available for the next board meeting.
- The main things to focus on with respect to the financial report is that sales have approximately doubled (not a big impact because we don't make much from selling drinks, but it shows that customer traffic is up), the cash balance in the bank is adequate to keep us from becoming insolvent, and cover charges at the door are a very significant contribution.
Promotional Report (Grover):
- Things are going very well.
- Hallowe'en events were great. The MASSIE party at Hallowe'en was timed to allow the MASSIE crowd to overlap with the regular nightly crowd, which encouraged people to stay after the party officially ended.
- There is a "Mojo Cooler" promotional night on Thursday designed to let people become more familiar with that product. This will be tied in with the BioScience trivia night somehow.
- There will be a country music night shortly, on a Wednesday night, which will be a mix of a DJ playing country tunes, and hopefully a local country-based live band.
- Talking with Habitat For Humanity about a couple of promotional events for late November and early January.
- The Conduct Becoming Songwriters' Contest is coming up shortly. This is usually a pretty big event. Tim noted that there are a lot of underage performers this year, so it is a good thing that this event will run on a Wednesday night. This bodes well for the future for the Conduct Becoming project.
Security Report (Scooter):
- Back to the "normal" problems associated with high customer volumes.
- Trying to cut down on the amount of alcohol smuggled into the Pub, through the use of undercover Pub staff and undercover campus police officers. Signs have been placed in the washrooms as warnings, and patrons caught with smuggled alcohol will face the usual bans and judicial charges.
- Wednesday nights are getting to be problematic on busier nights. Although there have been no unusual security problems per se, the amount of space available to people who are allowed to consume alcohol is inadequate. Unfortunately though, we can't just switch the bar to a completely 19+ venue for the live shows, because it is the presence of the underage patrons in the dry room that makes the shows viable. Those patrons still have to pay the cover charges to see the bands, and without the cover charges from those customers, we would not be able to bring in the bands. Scooter has discussed plans to put up a "snow fence" on certain Wednesday nights that are expected to be extremely busy, to allow for a slightly larger area for the wet room. On these nights, campus police officers (regular and undercover) will be used to monitor for problems.
No other business was discussed.
Next meeting set for Monday night, December 3rd, 2007, at 8pm.
Meeting adjourned.
Minutes from the October 15th, 2007 meeting:
Present: Jess Hamilton, Ian Allen, Chris Grove, Kevin Estabrooks, Darren Wheaton, Shawn Calhoun, Michelle Strain, Tim Jones.
Regrets: Troy Heibein, Sarah Milligan, Zach Ball.
The meeting was called to order.
Board Structure for 2007-2008:
- Darren Wheaton was appointed Chairperson.
- Tim Jones was appointed Vice Chairperson.
- Jess Hamilton was appointed Secretary.
- Kevin Estabrooks was appointed Accountant/Treasurer.
- We will try to find a Faculty member willing to fill the vacant Faculty position, and invite him or her to join the Board.
Financial Report:
- Scooter talked about the financials in some detail, ie. expenses, revenue, miscellaneous.
- Various plans to increase revenue indirectly through public relations efforts such as general promotional items (ie. key chains, magnets, etc.).
- Repairs to be minimized this year.
- Security expenses to be reduced.
- There will be an increase in travel expense, because of higher gas prices affecting us directly through pickups, and indirectly through delivery costs.
- Slight increase in wages – minimum wage has increased, and there will be a few more hours paid out.
- Large decrease in salary expense when compared to two years ago, due to savings from Scooter's salary cut.
- Amortization/depreciation is the only non-cash expense on the financial statements (it is an expense from past periods being recognized over a period of several years).
- Bank balance is about $50,000.
- Tim asked about moving expenses for the move to Trueman (ie. the cost of the physical move, and any new equipment that would be required). Michelle said that anything fixed will be provided by the university, due to the leasehold agreement. Dishwashers, ice machine, etc. would be paid for by the Pub. Lighting is a university cost. Some things can be moved over based on existing equipment, but there will still be some minor costs involved (ie. the walk-in cooler).
Promotional Report:
- Upcoming events include DJ Champion, an After-Party on the night that the Great Lake Swimmers play at MTA, comedians, and C'Mon (a band which appeared on the Superbad soundtrack).
- Question about which DJ's would be used on the Wednesday nights: it could be either existing Pub DJ's, or imports, depending on the specific night.
- There will be a combined music trivia & Karaokee night later this term.
New Business:
1. Brewery Agreements: the major breweries will be approached shortly for proposals for a multi-year period (starting May 1st, 2008). There has been significant interest from all three breweries in the past, and the results of this process are expected to be positive.
2. Wet/Dry Events: Scooter is trying to put together wet/dry events on Wednesday nights. Getting insurance has been a problem so far. Our liquor license (a Club license) currently allows for wet/dry intermingling, however, the Pub does not wish to run a mixed wet/dry environment. The plans for the current Wednesday night Wet/Dry events are to have two rooms segregated completely, with one room being 19+ only and containing the alcohol, and the other room being accessible to underage students (if they are from MTA), but there would be no alcohol available in the underage room. In the past (six years ago), the Wet/Dry events were extremely popular, but technical issues caused the Pub to stop doing them at the time. If the insurance issue cannot be worked out with the existing insurer, then we have other potential options, such as going through a completely new company (Marsh?) or perhaps allowing the SAC to run a wet/dry room under their own license, and the Pub runs the license in the wet room. Either way, we have to balance the cost against potential revenues and non-financial promotional benefits.
3. Competition: Paddy O's appears to be struggling (it is the fifth bar in that location in ten years, and none of the previous bars lasted for more than three years). There have been rumours that a new bar may open up in the former Pizza Delight/Remy's Bistro location, but that doesn't seem likely or logical at the moment. Greco is now closed, although that will not impact the Pub since they didn't sell alcohol. Joey's has a new expansion & martini bar, although it is not expected that this will have any sort of a material impact on the Pub.
The next meeting was set for October 15th, 2007, at 8pm.
Meeting adjoined.
Minutes from the September 10th, 2007 meeting:
Present: Jess Hamilton, Ian Allen, Chris Grove, Kevin Estabrooks, Darren Wheaton, Shawn Calhoun, Michelle Strain, Tim Jones, Sarah Milligan, Troy Heibein, Bill Waterman, Scooter, Zach Ball.
Regrets: none.
The meeting was called to order. The Agenda for this meeting and Minutes from the previous meeting were both approved.
Financial Report:
- Financial performance for September 2007 was very favorable compared to previous years.
- Part of the increase was due to the fact that Sub-Zero draught continues to have strong sales. Sub-Zero was not available until late October last year.
- Part of the increase is due to greater overall traffic, due to the reduced traffic at some of our competing establishments.
- Darren noticed that the promos had increased. The reason was a large increase in the drinks that were given out to the early-bird membership purchasers, and promos given out in association with the pool tournament.
- Security expenses were not factored into last month's numbers, which resulted in a slight difference.
- Scooter hopes that the financial performance for September will be indicative of a much busier year to come.
Promotional Report:
- Great SAC-sponsored events, mostly live entertainment, on Wednesday nights.
- Still getting several new members per week, even though it is October.
- Fireball liquor and Sourpuss have both been added to the bar shelves.
- Every event seems to be going twice as well this year compared to last.
- Wednesday nights are doing well. There is no door money to the Pub (it goes to the bands) but there are drink sales of approximately $800 per night (profit of $200-300 after expenses). Labour costs are up, but the increased bar sales are covering that cost.
- Good public relations for underage students.
- DJ for Hallowe'en night (a Wednesday), in conjunction with the SAC and the MASSIE department.
- We are planning a country night for later in the term.
Manager's Report:
- We had a sewer backup, but the plumbers were called in quickly and it was fixed, and the custodians did a good job of getting everything back to normal.
- Security-wise, there has only been one ban so far.
- Surveys were distributed to ask students what they want to see in the new university center. Results will be compiled and distributed to the board members shortly. The most popular choices were the pool tables and the dj booth/dance floor, not surprisingly. Coat check was actually considered to be quite unimportant by most. Not much interest in being open during the day, unfortunately.
Old Business:
- Discussions have been started with the various breweries to enter into a new multi-year promotional partnership, starting when we move into the new building.
- Insurance – we finally got permission from our insurance carrier in the middle of September, through the assistance of our local broker, to host the segregated wet/dry events. The conditions are that this only applies on Wednesday nights when we are doing partnership events with the SAC. The SAC will assume the liability for the completely dry area, and the Pub will assume the liability for the completely wet area. This will only apply as long as the Pub ensures that no alcohol is permitted in the dry area.
New Business:
- Talked about the size of the new venue. Lots of questions about the size and layout. Scooter feels that smaller is better for the majority of the time.
- Discussed problems with access to washrooms on busy nights, and with the issue of bringing drinks into the washrooms.
- DJ booth will be problematic. There is no way to build a permanent DJ booth in the larger room. We could build a small permanent booth in the smaller room, but that wouldn't work because we need the dance floor in the larger room.
- Talked about the SAC's potential role in the café area. Jess expressed concern about the amount of responsibility that might be placed on Bar Services. Scooter suggested that extensive discussions would have to take place first, to make sure that both the Pub and SAC are happy, before presenting any proposal to the university.
- Michelle reiterated that money is tight for building the new pub/university center.
- Will have to factor increased costs when using the café area, ie. custodial, maintenance, repairs, etc.
- Chairs and tables in the café can be packed away to make room for a dance floor.
- There will be benches along the sides in the main pub, to increase seating capacity.
- The smaller size of the main Pub will be better during low-traffic periods, ie. Monday to Thursday evenings.
- As long as traffic levels are sufficient to justify the use of the café area on weekends, then that will give us a huge amount of extra room to accommodate the larger weekend crowds.
- The only permanent infrastructure that would be needed in the café area would be a few small dance lights in the ceiling, and the main speaker "tops". The bass bins could be moved in and out as they are needed, because they just sit on the floor.
- There is the possibility that the Pub could work together with the SAC to provide for an integrated wet/dry venue in the larger room on a semi-regular basis, rather than the segregated wet/dry approach that we currently use on Wednesday evenings. That will be tricky, but if we can make it work, it would have significant benefits for everyone involved, especially for the students. Scooter will be putting together a proposal for this idea, and talking to Joy and Michelle about it. If anything positive results from this, then it can be presented to the full Council and to the Pub's Board for proper consideration.
The next meeting was set for November 5th, 2007, at 8pm.
Meeting adjoined.
Tantramarsh Club Board Minutes, 2006-2007
Minutes from the April 2nd, 2007 meeting:
Present: Shane Morice, Ian Allen, Chris Grove, Kathleen Gadd, Ali Turner, Alexander Turner, Kevin Estabrooks, Michelle Strain, Scooter. Regrets: Rob MacQuarrie, Glen Jameson, Darren Wheaton.
Accounting Report:
- We are still trying to resolve a minor discrepancy in the rent billings from the University, pertaining to the discount they are giving us on this year's rent as relating to the shutdown from Norwalk in October. Michelle said that she would look into resolving this immediately.
- Sales were up in March of 2007, at $28,937 for the month compared, to $22,792 for March of 2006. The majority of this increase was in hard liquor, cover charge, and draught revenue, while beer and coat check revenues declined slightly.
- Expenses directly related to sales also increased, with the COGS rising from $13,315 in March of 2006 to $19,825 in March of 2007. However, General and Administrative expenses declined very significantly, resulting in a very slight profit for the month, compared to a loss of several thousand dollars in March of 2006. Most of the reduction in General & Administrative expenses relates to the reduction in the Manager's salary.
- Overall, for the year to date, it appears that our overall loss is down slightly from last year, although that position might be reversed slightly after April numbers are in. Our fiscal year-end is on April 30th. Also, although this seems to be positive news in light of the fact that our sales are down significantly (16.6%) so far this year compared to last, the bad news is that the only reason we are doing comparable to last year's profitability is due to the significant reduction ($16,000+) in the Manager's salary for the year. If that reduction had not taken place, we would be looking at a huge loss for the current fiscal year, instead of just a “significant” loss.
- In terms of cash flow, our depreciation and amortization expenses are still significant enough on an annual basis to mean that our cash position is not eroding too quickly. However, those expenses are declining significantly compared to last year, which will make future income statements look better, but will result in net losses being more closely correlated to a significant negative cash flow. For this year, we have been flirting with an empty bank account on a few occasions, although we still have a GIC available that we could cash next year, if necessary.
Manager's Report:
- Grover said that sales and traffic were strong during March. There were tons of special events booked, which seemed to go very well. The only drawback, as usual, was that sometimes more than one event had to be fit into an evening, due to the large number of events and minimal number of available nights.
- With respect to specific nights, trivia nights have continued to draw a crowd, the Grad Banquet went very well, St. Pat's was chaotic and disorganized but sales were fairly good, Conduct Becoming went well, and a large number of residences had booked their house banquets at the Pub.
- We had our first security problems of the year in March, with a few students being banned for various lengths of time after altercations on March 28th. This is still a fraction of the security problems that occur in a typical year.
- Scooter added that prices had just gone up at the NBLC slightly. There was a brief discussion about the implications of the increases.
Other Business:
- Kevin has had a meeting with a lawyer in Moncton regarding an issue with the provincial finance department, which could possibly result in the eventual collection of a small amount of revenue from the province due to issues back in the early 1990's. However, we are not highly optimistic about this issue, because the costs of recovering the money might possibly outweigh the costs of professional fees involved. Nonetheless, he will find out more information, so the Board can eventually make a decision as to how to proceed on this matter.
- Convocation for the Summer of 2008 will be approximately two weeks later than usual, during the last week of May (after the May long weekend). There was some discussion about how this would affect the Pub, and how it would affect students in general.
- Scooter confirmed that he would be willing take one more year on partial sabbatical at the reduced salary, subject to certain conditions. Grover confirmed that he would return as Student Manager for 2007-2008.
- Jeff Coull has been confirmed as Summer Manager for the period from April 20th through approximately August 25th, 2007.
- Michelle confirmed that both academic terms for 2007-2008 were going to be three days longer, plus next year is a leap year, which essentially means that students will be at university for a total of one additional week during the 2007-2008 academic/fiscal year.
- We discussed who would be returning as Board members, and who would be moving on. Several of the Board members expressed an interest in returning, although the Alumni position (Kathleen Gadd) will be vacant in September, and all four of the student Board members (Rob, Glenn, Ali, and Alex) will be graduating, so all of those positions will be open for 2007-2008.
The next meeting was scheduled for an undetermined date in September (tentatively September 10th), probably immediately following the AGM. However, if any emergencies arise during the summer, a Board meeting will be convened with the members who are still in town. It appears that enough members live in Sackville to meet quorum if such a meeting was necessary.
Minutes from the March 12th, 2007 meeting:
Present: Grover, Alex Turner, Kevin Estabrooks, Scooter, Ian, Glen Jameson, Darren Wheaton. Regrets: Shane Morice, Michelle Strain, Ali Turner, Kathleen Gadd, Rob MacQuarrie.
Accounting Report: Business was good in February, compared to the same month last year. Although the Pub still had a slight loss for February of 2007, this compared with a loss of approximately $7,000 in February of 2006, which puts us in a less unfavorable position when looking at the Year-To-Date performance. Sales were approximately $20,000, compared to about $12,000 in February of 2006. This is partly due to a very strong week in the week preceding the Study Break week. Kevin pointed out that the Cost Of Goods Sold is starting to decline somewhat to a more favorable percentage, which is helping significantly. There was a question about whether or not the issue with the November rent had been resolved yet, and we decided to ask Michelle to look into this for us.
Manager's Report: Grover said that February had felt like a better month. Word of Mouth was more positive, and the number of customers was growing steady, with Saturday nights being the only night that was not experiencing significant gains. Grover felt that the number of students who have turned 19 is one contributing factor to the better crowds, and another is that some people have said that they are just tired of going downtown, because the prices are better at the Pub, and there are less security problems. It was noted that there were no security problems recorded at the Pub during the entire month.
New Business:
- We talked for a while about progress at Trueman, which of course was all hearsay through word-of-mouth.
- We talked about the importance of making sure that the new Pub has a walk-in cooler for storage, rather than upright fridges, due to efficiency and advantages in operations.
- We talked about a potential tax issue with certain bars that arose from provincial tax regulations in the early 1990's, and wondered if the issue could affect the Pub. If so, it could possibly provide a rebate to the Pub, although there would be costs incurred in collecting that rebate. There were also questions about whether or not the Pub would even be eligible. We decided that Kevin would do a bit of research to see if the issue was worth pursuing.
The next meeting was scheduled for Monday, April 2nd, at 8pm.
Minutes from the February 12th, 2007 meeting:
Present: Grover, Alex Turner, Kevin Estabrooks, Scooter, Ian, Glen Jameson, Darren Wheaton, Shane Morice, Rob MacQuarrie, Michelle Strain. Regrets: Ali Turner, Kathleen Gadd.
Accounting Report:
- We are still facing a challenging year in respect to financial performance. At this point, even with the large savings on the Manager's salary for 2006-2007, our financial performance continues to be worse than for 2005-2006. Sales are still down significantly, and net losses for the year-to-date have increased moderately.
Manager's Report:
- Trivia continues to bring in strong traffic, and our week-day traffic in general seems to be a bit better than last year. However, our weekend numbers continue to be the reason why we are not doing well financially. Fridays and Saturdays (with the exception of a strong weekend this past weekend) have continued to be significantly lower than last year.
- After talking a bit about plans for the new Pub in Trueman, we decided that it would be interesting to find out some information about what students might like to see in the new bar. We acknowledged that an official survey would go out next year, but thought that it would be good to get some initial thoughts in the coming months. The advantage of making an informal inquiry now would be that any comments we receive initially might help us when we're designing a more official survey next year.
- We talked for a while about the conceptual design, and how the new Student Centre would be split into two separate but partner venues, with the Café and Pub side-by-side.
New Business:
- No new business was tabled.
The next meeting was scheduled for Monday, March 5th, at 8pm.
Minutes from the January 15th, 2007 meeting:
Attending: Kathleen Gadd, Ali Turner, Alex Turner, Glen Jameson, Jonathan Clark, Darren Wheaton, Shane Morice, Ian Allen, Chris Grove. Regrets: Rob MacQuarrie, Michelle Strain, Kevin Estabrooks.
1. Review of minutes from the October and November meetings. Minutes were approved.
2. Chris Grove gave his Manager's report. Business has picked up significantly since the beginning of second semester, but it is not cleared whether or not this was due to a change in customers, or just because it was the start of the semester. It was noted that a significant number of customers turned 19 since the end of November, and this influx of new customers may be contributing to the higher business levels. One problem of course, with the bigger crowds (especially on Saturday nights) is that some of the Pub's chronic problems are becoming apparent again, such as long lines for drinks and at the door, not enough coat check space, people coming too late in the night and all within a fairly short time, etc. Efforts are being made to deal with these operational issues to minimize customer dissatisfaction.
3. Scooter gave the financial report. Sales were down significantly in November and December when compared to the same months of the previous year. However, cost cutting measures have been fairly effective. In November of 2006, the Pub lost approximately $1500 more than in November of 2005, but in December of 2006, the Pub lost approximately $1500 less than in December of 2005, so the net result is that overall profitability for the two months (and for the year-to-date) is very similar to last year.
4. Trivia continues to be a growing success, and an extra bartender is now being used to take advantage of high demand. There was an extended discussion about what approach would best keep people in the bar. The end result was that we would go with four rounds of twelve questions each (instead of ten), and Glen would pace the rounds to attempt to finish at approximately 12:45am, rather than racing through and trying to be done shortly after midnight. Scooter also suggested that one of the two bartenders should go around the bar and do table service with trays of draught if the lineup at the bar ever permitted, especially in the middle of a round of questions.
5. There was some discussion about what to do about other nights of the week. The consensus was that we would continue to focus efforts on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with only occasional special events on Thursdays and Fridays.
6. The Board discussed architectural plans for the new Pub in Trueman.
7. The Board discussed the possibility of doing a couple more “dry” nights this term to cater to underage students. Scooter said that he was looking into options for various events and bar configurations.
Meeting adjourned. Next meeting set for February 5th, 8pm.
Minutes from the November 13th, 2006 meeting:
Present: Ali Turner, Alex Turner, Rob MacQuarrie, Glen Jameson, Kathleen Gadd, Jonathan Clark, Chris Grove, Michelle Strain, Darren Wheaton.
Scooter presented a review of the previous month's business volumes. Sales are down very significantly from this point last year, by about 40%. Trivia night is doing very well, and the early week nights are fairly unchanged from last year, but sales on Friday and Saturday nights are down significantly, probably due to competition from Paddy O's.
Chris talked about events planned for the last few weeks of the term, and talked further about the composition of customers on various nights of the week. Chris indicated that the new draught system and draught specials for members are gradually starting to win back customers to the Pub, although this is not helping on weekends.
Financial statements were reviewed. Financial performance was extremely dismal in October, with the Pub losing a lot of money. We need to take significant steps to cut costs further, and to halt these losses. However, it was agreed that raising prices to increase margins would be detrimental, because in the past few weeks, the only reason we have had customers was because we have better drink specials. The hope is to use the drink specials for another few months to recreate customer loyalty, and then start gradually raising prices and increasing margins after Christmas.
We discussed the desire to appoint a faculty member to the Board of Directors. Several suggestions were given, and it was decided that board members would approach a few of these potential candidates to see if there was any interest.
Meeting adjourned. The next meeting was set for Sunday, December 3rd.
Minutes from the October 23rd, 2006 meeting:
Present: Ali Turner, Alex Turner, Rob MacQuarrie, Glen Jameson, Kathleen Gadd, Shane Morice, Ian Allen, Jonathan Clark, Chris Grove, Michelle Strain, Darren Wheaton.
Discussions were held to determine positions on the Board. Shane was appointed as Chairperson. Kathleen was appointed as Vice Chairperson. Alex was appointed as Secretary. Kevin was appointed as Treasurer.
Chris gave a Manager's Report from the past few weeks. Talked about the extreme negative impact of the closure due to the Norwalk virus. Talked about the success of various theme nights including trivia, bingo (less frequent), and nightly specials. Talked about the success of membership sales to date.
Scooter gave a report about the Financial Statements. Membership revenues were down slightly from last year, but only by a very small amount, and are expected to exceed last year's revenues. The number of actual memberships is down, but the higher price is making up for the shortfall.
Michelle indicated that the University was concerned about the effects of the Norwalk closure on the financial status of the Pub, and recognized that there would be a strong adverse effect on the financial statements. To compensate, the University would waive the November rent. After a brief discussion about the lost sales during the closure, reduced sales in the week after the closure, current contribution margins, and the rent reduction amount, Scooter indicated that he thought this decision by the University would almost exactly make up for the financial losses attributed to the closure.
There was a discussion about upcoming events and marketing, including the Hallowe'en party, more focus on promoting Trivia nights, the possibility of doing a speed-dating game, and upcoming live shows.
Meeting adjourned. The next meeting was set for Monday, November 13th.
Minutes from the September 18th, 2006 meeting:
Elected new board members at the AGM earlier in the evening, and that included Kathleen Gadd (alumni), Ian Allen (member at large), Darren Wheaton (member at large), Alex Turner (student), (Ali Turner (student), Rob MacQuarrie (student), Glen Jameson (student). Michelle Strain reappointed as the Administration representative.
Marketing Report:
- Keiths Crew series of events, $2.25 discount cards.
- Junior Prom being held at the Pub on October 21st.
- Dry NADP (non-alcoholic dance party) dances.
- Bingo once per month.
- Ladies' Night.
- Hip Hop concert on October 20th.
- Meeting with the SAO on Saturday to try to pin down additional live entertainment.
- Shinerama Tour.
- Members' Drive to increase membership revenues - hiring is limited to members (in most cases, all other things being equal), there is a Bacardi Rum night which will be for members only, extra specials for members during the week, and more "members only" nights.
Tantramarsh Club Board Minutes, 2005-2006
Minutes from the September 20th, 2005 meeting:
Minutes prepared by Gina Grandy
Present: Ian Allen, Josh Bragg, Jonathan Clark (Scooter), Gina Grandy, Glenn Jameson, Craig MacArthur, Rob MacQuarrie, Michelle Strain, Ali Turner, Diane Michaud.
1. Discussion of Board Positions
- Craig agreed to be Chair, Gina agreed to be Vice Chair and the Board recommended that George assume responsibilities of Secretary.
2. Approval of Minutes
- Jonathan presented the minutes from March 8, 2005. Craig raised a motion to accept the minutes and Ian seconded the motion. The motion was carried.
3. Business Arising from Minutes
- Jonathan discussed the potential impact of the low enrolment level of graduating class 2008. Josh indicated that retention was better this year than the year before.
- 1st responder certificates. Presently, no staff member has taken the course because of the dates when the courses are offered have conflicted with various other commitments of staff. This has not affected the Pub's ability to meet regulations as the campus security officer on duty has the training and thus satisfies this requirement.
4. New Business
- Jonathan indicated that sales are down this year already in comparison to last year's sales, however, membership sales are up from last year.
- Jonathan indicated that he has been engaging in approximately 15 hours of marketing each week, but it does not appear to be having much effect. There is a trend towards more students staying at home and drinking before coming out or simply staying in.
- Jonathan presented several options as means through which to increase sales, including, relaxing screening policy at door, linking to SAC license to permit underage consumers into pub with dry stamps, and moving into larger facilities at McConnell. He and the Board did not see the first option as a viable path for the club. The last option will not be possible in the short term, thus Jonathan will investigate if and how the Pub can draw upon the SAC's license for wet and dry events within present facilities.
- There was a discussion about line-ups starting later than previous years on business nights, thus supporting Jonathan's concern about more students staying at home to consume alcohol prior to going out.
- Diane emphasized the negative financial position of the club and indicated that if sales / profits didn't improve, the future of the Pub was dismal.
- There was a lengthy discussion about possible alternatives to boost sales, profits and attendance levels of the Pub. Ideas regarding a campaign to 'save the Pub', focus groups, more aggressive advertising and promotion on key Pub nights (e.g., in town, in residences), linking with resident presidents, bucket nights, and shooter staff on busy nights were raised. The unique selling point of the Pub was discussed and how the Pub tried to and wanted to position itself relative to competitors. It was decided that board members would think through some of the ideas and come back in two weeks (Oct 4 @ 8 pm) to discuss future directions.
- Craig also mentioned that throughout the year board members usually volunteered at the Pub for an evening to get a better feel for operations.
5. Adjournment of Meeting
- Josh raised a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:40 pm.
Minutes from the February 7th, 2006 meeting:
Present: Scooter, Rob MacQuarrie, Ali Turner, Glen Jameson, Josh Bragg, Ian Allen.
Meeting was called to order, with Scooter chairing the meeting.
Accounting Report: Sales were down significantly in January compared to last year. There was a total decrease of approximately $12,000. All types of alcohol revenue have decreased significantly and by approximately the same percentages. However, cover charge and membership revenues have not decreased by much. The cost of goods sold took a correspondingly large decrease to offset losses of revenue. Entertainment expense, cleaning expense, wages, travel expense, and security have all shown decreases. For the month, we lost approximately $5,600, compared to a $2,100 loss in January of 2005.
On a broader scale, our cash in the bank is still healthy. Our losses for the year are not out of line with expectations to date, although second term obviously is a less profitable time of year for us than first term, due to decreased spending by students, and lack of large amounts of membership revenue. At present, Scooter estimates that our net loss for the year will be approximately $20,000, compared to a net loss of $28,000 in 2004-2005. Due to the amount of depreciation and amortization currently being written off on a regular basis, our cash flow impact to our current account should be significantly less than $20,000.
Manager's Report: January was a very quiet month for us, and Scooter expects February to be even worse. Sales decreases continue to be a major concern. It appears that competition downtown is taking some business away from us, but even allowing for that factor, it appears that the overall market is declining from year to year.
Scooter has been in discussions with campus bar managers at a number of other universities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Ontario, and it sounds like declining sales are a problem affecting the majority of university bars across the country. Scooter pointed out that far more worrying than local competition is the changing demographics. With no grade 13 coming in from Ontario, a much lesser number of first-year students are 19 than in previous years. That, coupled with the reduced size of the class of 2008, and trends from significant alcohol consumption by a greater proportion of university residents, means that there is a much smaller number of viable target customers than there has been in past years.
On a positive note, there were no significant security incidents in January. There were two more inspections by the liquor board in January. Both times, everything was good. On one occasion, the liquor inspectors stated that they are becoming increasingly concerned with over-intoxication at licensed venues in the area, but admitted that they had not seen any problems with that at the Pub.
Tantramarsh Club Board Minutes, 2004-2005
Minutes from the March 8th, 2005 meeting:
Meeting was called to order.
Present: Jonathan Clark (Scooter), Michelle Strain, Matt Smith, Andrew LeBlanc, Robin Coombs, Ian Allen, and George Woodburn.
Motion for the approval of the minutes from February 15th, 2005, Ian (George). Approved.
Manager's Report (Scooter)
February was extra quiet, people left early for spring break and returned late. The first week back was busy with the Saturday line up at the bar being too long. This was worse than most weeks, partly because the regular Saturday bartender sprained her ankle that evening and a less experienced bartender had to fill in.
There are a bunch of up-coming events that should make this month better than March of 2004. These include a draw for snow jam tickets, the Sackville Movie Project reception, the Grad Banquet, St. Patrick's Day, and an ACE poker tournament. The plan for St. Patty's day is to open at 7pm and start BINGO at 7:30. Scooter is sending out an email encouraging students to invite staff and faculty out that night.
Scooter mentioned that in the email that went out to students, he did not address the effects of most first years being underage. That is another unknown factor that may affect things next year.
Scooter read a letter which he sent to the VP's and President, addressing the problems with facilities and voicing his support for improvements in this area.
Financial Report (Scooter)
Revenue dropped by 20%. The bright side of this is that costs are down by 30% over last year which may partially off set this decline. Cleaning costs are down, and so are wages by $1000, while rent is up. Scooter had to reorder a bunch of glassware so that expense is also up. To date we are down $14,000 this year. Hopefully March will be better.
Business arising from the minutes
Memberships: Feedback about switching the membership fee to be included in SAC fees has been mixed. Some people feel it is a good idea as it done by other groups within the university. Other people felt it was inappropriate to charge people if they are underage and can't get in to the Pub. Scooter suggested that while the idea has merit overall, it simply would not be feasible at the present time, until our facilities are sufficiently developed to be able to provide services to underage students. He only envisions this being possible when we have moved into MacConnell and possibly have access to a second room in which dry events can be held for the underage students.
Michelle realizes that the financial position of the Pub is difficult, but she reiterated that the Pub must turn business around on its own, and cannot simply wait to move into the new building and hope things get better.
New business
Incident: There was an incident involving an alumnus last Wednesday. The alumna bought a membership and then skied down the hill outside hitting his head, losing a tooth and getting 29 stitches. The RCMP flagged down a town truck to clean up some blood after the Pub staff had washed it off the sidewalk. The Pub doesn't really have a policy for dealing with cleaning up blood as it happens on such a rare occasion. The university is responsible for snow removal though Pub staff will occasionally clear the steps.
First Aid: The new staff being hired for next year have been told that as a condition of employment, they must take and maintain basic first aid training. The Pub is going to pay for one or two senior staff members to have the "first responder" certification, which is a lot more involved than the simple basic first aid course that regular staff members will be required to get. Training lasts for two years, which is the approximate length of time most staff work at the Pub before graduating. With increasing first aid regulations this is important. All campus police also have first aid training.
Board of Directors: A new faculty member is needed now that Rob has left. Some candidates were discussed. Does anyone know a faculty member that they feel would be good and they could approach?
Motion to make Andrew LeBlanc new Vice Chair. Robin (George). Approved.
ASCARS: After-party may be held at Pub. Scooter is going to look into opening.
Alumni: A small group of alumni are thinking about coming to the Pub for a DUSTED event in June: "Drinking Unsuspecting Small-Town Establishment Dry." This is a planned event to boost summer revenues for the Pub for a weekend.
Next meeting set for Tuesday, April 5th, 2005, at 8pm at the Pub.
Motion to adjourn. Robin (Ian). Approved.
Minutes from the January 11th, 2005 meeting:
Meeting was called to order.
Motion for the approval of the agenda, Andrew (Ian). Approved.
Present: Jonathan Clark (Scooter), Rob MacQuarrie, Trisha Parsons, Michelle Strain, Matt Smith, Andrew LeBlanc, Robin Coombs, Ian Allen, Craig MacArthur, Diane Michaud, and George Woodburn.
Corrections to the wording of the minutes from the previous month: 'current cash machine can only dispense 50 bills per transaction.'' Advertising of liquor prices is not allowed on campus'
Motion for the approval of the minutes from December 1st, 2004, Robin (Trisha). Approved.
Manager's Report (Scooter)
December was good. The Pub managed to hold its own and sales were up from last year. During exams, sales were weak, but that was to be expected. This year the Pub was closed on New Years due to a lack of demand. The month of December mostly consisted of cost-cutting measures.
Cleaning expenses have stayed the same as last year, which is good.
Wednesday nights are a disaster with almost no sales. Scooter is working to pump up Wednesday night sales. DJ and country nights will be occurring on Wednesdays. Monday night sales are down since trivia is now on Tuesdays, so Scooter may close the Pub Monday nights. Over spring break Scooter is planning to play hockey DVD's to please crowds who are missing hockey due to the NHL strike.
The bank machine switched to $10 bills and so far this hasn't caused any problems.
The first Saturday of January, which is typically very busy, ran smoothly.
Financial Report (Diane)
Diane was talking with liquor store person and sales there are not down from previous years. This suggests students are still drinking in residences. She wrote the check for the insurance company which was $15,000, but which has not come out of our account yet. The $5000 cleaning expense has also not been paid. Scooter is projecting we will run at a loss of around $12,000 for the year, based on current information.
Business arising from the minutes
Three new dumpsters have been installed, providing lots of extra space.
Rob Inglis arrived. Motion to go in camera, Andrew (Trish). Approved.
Motion to go out of camera. Andrew (Trish). Approved.
Viability of summer: A decision must be made whether it is worthwhile to remain open for the summer, and if so, for how long. There are some costs which are incurred because the Pub is open and others which will occur anyways. Whatever money can be made will decrease the loss over this period.
By staying open until con weekend the Pub is projected to realize about $4900 in contribution margin to offset fixed costs.
By staying open until the end of spring session the Pub is projected to realize about $10,500 in contribution margin to offset fixed costs.
By staying open the whole summer the Pub is projected to realize about $9000 in contribution margin to offset fixed costs.
The fixed costs are the problem. Some costs, such as depreciation, rent, insurance, etc., do not change whether or not we are open or closed. These expenses don't suddenly stop just because it is summer. Our goal is to see if we can open for part of the summer and make enough contribution margin to offset a portion of the fixed costs.
Staying open does have some advantages. It keeps other bars from developing a student base, and provides a venue for student activities. The advantage to closing, however, is that it may boost September sales as students are happy to see the Pub open again, and presents less of a risk of having regulatory or other problems. Scooter is going to weigh the options and make a decision before the March meeting.
Next meeting set for Tuesday, February 8th, 2005, at 8pm at the Pub.
Motion to adjourn. Trisha (Robin). Approved.
Minutes from the December 1st, 2004 meeting:
Meeting was called to order.
Motion for the approval of the agenda, Craig (Andrew). Approved.
Present: Scooter, Rob MacQuarrie, Trisha Parsons, Andrew LeBlanc, Robin Coombs, Ian Allen, Craig MacArthur, Diane Michaud, Rob Inglis, and George Woodburn.
Motion for the approval of the minutes from November 9th, 2004, Ian (Craig). Approved.
Business arising from the minutes
Garbage: Garbage is still overflowing. The university will be informed by Scooter.
Manager's Report (Scooter)
November went well, with the notable exception of Remembrance Day weekend over which sales were abysmal. It has been a rough month with a number of pieces of equipment breaking. The cooler broke necessitating a new water bath. Service was poor from existing refrigeration service company, so Scooter found a new company that could fix the problem immediately.
The Canadian government passed a bill that all ATMs must be able to dispense $400 per transaction if the customer so desires. Our machine dispenses $5 bills and can only hold 50 bills, which is insufficient. The Pub may need to switch to $20 or $10 bills, or get a new machine. $10 bills are known to be dirty and cause the ATM to jam, but we might be able to arrange to get new ones from the bank. Switching to $20 bills may be problematic as not everyone has $20 to take out of their account. Over fifty percent of all transactions first term were for amounts of less than $20. Scooter will email members to find out which they prefer.
Scooter launched a 1-2-3-4-5 promotion to drive up membership sales which are down from last year. These nights will not make money but will hopefully break even.
SOCAN, a licensing fee for music played at the Pub has gone up. This change, passed by the federal government, is retroactive for a six year period since the bill was originally tabled. This has resulted in a large one-time charge of a couple thousand dollars to make up for that retroactive change. Luckily, the fees from this point going forward have also been reduced compared to the past couple of years.
Financial Report (Diane)
Net income is down $17.17 instead of up $15,124.81 at this point last year. A large portion of this loss was over the summer.
Diane heard back from Scott about insurance and it does not look like there are any companies offering better rates. Diane will not buy another GIC because there is not enough cash for that and covering several upcoming payments.
New Business
Rob is going to be leaving the Board of Directors, as he is no longer a faculty member after the end of December. He will, however, still be around to help if needed. Craig will be taking his place as chairperson. Craig has enjoyed his time on the Board so far and feels it is a good organization to be a part of.
Custodian: The Pub's custodian is finishing up working in the STUD, and will be relocating to a different building at MTA. Motion was made to publicly thank her in some way. Robin (Ian). Approved. Scooter said he could take care of this.
Motion was made to go in camera. Robin (Andrew). Approved.
Motion was made to go out of camera. Craig (Andrew). Approved.
Conduct Becoming: Ian has been put in charge of monitoring printing costs and signing off on them.
Advertising Policy: Other bars have been advertising pricing of liquor publicly through posters, which is not allowed by the university's liquor policy rules & regulations. The Pub does not advertise prices on posters. Emails are considered to be personal communication and prices can be included in such messages.
Next meeting set for Tuesday, January 11th, 2005, at 8pm at the Pub.
Motion to adjourn. Ian (Craig). Approved.
Minutes from the October 5th, 2004 meeting:
Meeting was called to order
Approval of the agenda
Present: Scooter, Matt Smith, Rob MacQuarrie, Trisha Parsons, Andrew LeBlanc, Robin Coombs, Ian Allen, Craig MacArthur, Michelle Strain, Rob Inglis, and George Woodburn
Approval of the minutes from September 23rd, 2004
Business arising from the minutes
Website Links: Pulse Productions is not linked. Scooter is writing up advertising policy. Website run through MTA server so Pub can't accept money for advertising. Scooter is going to talk to Jill Innis (webmaster) about links. All external links pop up in another window.
Photos: Permission for photos is usually given verbally to staff. Have only ever had 2 requests to have a picture removed from website which was done immediately. Pictures are updated Tuesday and most alumni check on Wednesday during the day. Brings daily hits from 400-500 to 800 on Wednesdays. Big events like homecoming have 1500 hits a day. Most pictures are taken on Saturdays because of the crowd and sometimes on busy nights during the week if staff members have time. Of the 200 or so taken 40-50 are fixed up in photoshop and posted. Photo editing usually takes 2-3hrs week.
Rock DJ series: What has been happening this year is Grover plays rock music on Thursdays till after BINGO.
Manager's Report (Scooter)
Security: Was good for September; he has not had to go to Judicial yet. Scooter works Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. If there is a fight they usually kick the person out, get statements from staff and will check security camera tapes if needed. The Pub uses the guidelines posted on their website. Scooter sends the person a letter and CCs pub staff, security, Charlie Hunter, and Rob. Only exempted from judicial if it is a minor first time offense. Sanctions range from 1 week ban up to a year.
Marketing: Classes started early this Sept which helped sales. However sales were down as a result of sales dropping after Homecoming which was held in the second week of school this year, earlier then usual. Things that helped sales were 5/4 club, women's hockey and Trivia. Tuesdays are down, but the guest DJ series is just starting up. Thursday BINGO is doing well, and weekends are on par with last year.
TV advertising: Plans to increase revenue include setting up TVs for advertising slots. It will advertise local businesses, student organizations and events, weekly advertising, and in house specials. For students it would be 3 weeks for $20, for businesses it would be $400 for the year. Things excluded from advertising would be direct competitors, businesses the Pub has previously had problems with, and tobacco industries.
Membership sales were good this year. They were put on sale at a discounted rate to encourage people to come on days with cover.
Sales were down $5000, but so were wage expenditures by canceling assistant manager and daytime bartender positions. This staffing cut was compensated for by nighttime staff doing some of the previously “daytime work”.
New Business
How do we prevent drunk drivers: Pub staff do their best to keep people from driving. They do not approach people unless they have reason to suspect the person is driving. They do not take peoples keys but will get friends of the person to take away car keys. Pub staff have called police in the past and have taken money from till to send people home in cabs.
Received email about ambulances: Pub usually calls an ambulance 2-3 times per year. Questions about this expense were raised. It cost $180 every time an ambulance is called even if the person refuses to take ambulance. Decision was made to ere on the side of caution and call ambulances if staff feel it may be needed.
Next meeting was set for November 9th at 8pm, meeting adjourned.
Minutes from the February 15th, 2005 meeting:
Meeting was called to order.
Present: Jonathan Clark (Scooter), Rob MacQuarrie, Trish Parsons, Michelle Strain, Matt Smith, Robin Coombs, Ian Allen, Craig MacArthur, and George Woodburn.
Motion for the approval of the minutes from January 11th, 2005, Craig (Ian). Approved.
Manager's Report (Scooter)
January was a month where the Pub was just trying not to fall behind. The first week was poor, and then the rest was okay.
For the year we are down from sales by $20,000, and another $10,000 from door and membership revenue. Sales are down mostly in draft and beer revenue, however, liquor revenue has increased quite strongly as a percentage of sales, and the higher profit margins on hard liquor are what are keeping this year from being a complete disaster.
The Pub traffic is shifting away from weekend and toward weeknights, as a result of Trivia and other events. In many ways this helps because of the overwhelming traffic and overcrowding the Pub had been experiencing on weekends.
There are several things hurting the Pub including: 1. Paddy O's (minor problem). 2. Decreased student enrolment (very major problem). 3. Insurance costs (major problem).
As far as cash goes we are down to $22,000, from $49,000 at same point last year.
Pub memberships: Question was raised as to whether Pub memberships should be mandatory for students, same as CHMA, and Argosy memberships. A commerce group is going to be doing a study on whether or not including the Pub membership in student fees would be beneficial. If this was decided in a referendum some year, it would be students who would be of legal drinking age the following September that would be voting and not the underage incoming first-year students who would still be in high school during a vote. This sort of a major change would decrease revenue from door charges, though there would still be cover from outside guests and the switch may increase traffic and sales. The problem is that there are underage students who couldn't enter and “dry” events, held for these students would make no money. Currently the Pub is not set up properly to be able to host simultaneous wet and dry events, because there is only one room making separation impossible. The change would probably be a lot easier if we were in the MacConnell location, as we could provide separate dry and wet events so as to be able to benefit a greater portion of the student body.
Michelle pointed out that The Pub has to prove itself profitable for the university to be willing to make the commitment of renovating space in the new STUD in Trueman. The University is interested in providing entertainment to underage students and is planning to open up the meal hall next year as a night time hang-out for them. They are installing a stage and big screen TV for this purpose. The repercussion of this change on the Pub and on downtown businesses was discussed. This will probably hurt other establishments that offer food more then it will hurt the Pub. The feasibility of the Pub offering food was discussed. At this point there is not the physical space to make this possible. When both The Golden A and The Pub move to new space in Trueman it may be possible to merge these two operations and start offering food. The Pub's Board of Directors will ask around to find out what people think of memberships being included in student fees.
Rob Inglis arrived. Motion to go in camera, Robin (George). Approved.
Motion to go out of camera. Craig (Trish). Approved.
Business arising from the minutes
Scooter is redrafting the summer manager's contract. The current plan is to stay open until the end of spring semester. There may be the option of opening a few additional nights throughout the summer.
Scooter is developing new system for how money will be handled in the summer, with more participation by the accountant rather than just the summer manager. The summer manager will have a smaller role in this and future years, as job responsibilities are divided up, and also since the Pub probably will not be open all summer due to the large losses last year.
Scooter will be sending out an email telling people about the 1972 hockey series and why it was important.
New business
Trish proposed additional country nights be held on nights available to non-members.
Robin asked about lowering prices of Happy hour pitchers to get people in earlier so they spend more money. Problem is that people will continue to drink beer after and profit margin is less on bottles of beer then on hard liquor which may not benefit Pub.
Lower traffic has decreased required number of custodial shifts. This will save The Pub about $3000 over the previous year, although that is still only a fraction of the savings that we need to get back to a break-even point.
Next meeting set for Tuesday, March 8th, 2005, at 8pm at the Pub.
Motion to adjourn. Trisha (Robin). Approved.
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