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.
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