With some clubs having difficulty making ends meet nowadays. We here at YCR have decided to compile some things that may just help you put some more money in your pocket.
Let me start by saying that if you manage a club and you don't know how many oz are in a keg of beer, or a 750 ml bottle of spirits, you better start looking into it. If your an officer, and you ask the manager this, you may want to ..........well you get my point. The days of easy money and unlimited gambling revenue is over for now. With the enforcement of the current laws, we will see what separates the "men from the boys" or women from the girls" when it comes to managing.
I will try to stay with just facts on this page with a splash of opinion. Just remember , don't feel guilty because your club makes money. The people that complain are the same people that don't care if the walls fall around them , as long as they get their cheap beer. Sad but true.
One of the first things you should do is go around to local pub,taverns, other clubs and see what they are charging. How big are their glasses and what are they charging for food, spirits, draft beer, bottles/cans. Grab a menu on the way out. if you can. It doesn't make much sense if you are selling a draft for $.75 and everyone else is at $.95. That's called leaving money on the table!! O , and if you are the one leading the price increase, the others, when they find out will be soon to follow. It's economics 101.
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Helpful Hint #1
ReplyDeleteRaise your prices! Yeah, I know its a club, and people are always saying , this is a club, it's suppose to be cheap! Who says, and is it a "club" when there are things to do around there? I've always liked the phone companies philosophy. They can raise the price of 20 million customers $.23 each and generate incredible revenue overnight. How many people are going to complain about $.23 extra each month? Even if they do, they will only complain about a month or two. Bottom line , if you secure a little from a lot , you will not hear much moaning over it and if you do it wont last long.
In the example below , lets say you have 10 oz glasses. Also, you will have to do the math of pitchers as well. I'm going to try and use round numbers here.
1984 oz in a keg
minus spillage and a head = 1900 oz
1900 oz divided by 10oz glass is 190 drafts.
If your charging $.90 a draft , thats about $170.00 of income from that keg. You can figue out what the keg costs to get your Gross Profit Margin ( GPM ) .
Now if you raise the price $.10 , you just put about $20.00 in your club, not to mention the barmaids dont have to bring the change.haha
Now multiply that by how many kegs you go through in a week, times 52 weeks. Ill bet you can pick up a few thousand dollars right there. I bet if you have not raised your prices in a while your making less money now when you figure in fuel surcharges , price increases, etc.
Helpfil Hint #3
ReplyDeleteOK, I know your all going to laugh at me about this one, but here goes. Recently, after looking over some finances of a club I was helping out, I was surprised to see what the cost was for a company to come out and replace mats, towels, toilet paper, etc. The biggest cost was $1200.00 a year just for paper towels in only two bathrooms. I did a little research ( ok, I visited some bars one Saturday afternoon ) and discovered that a few were using a hand dryer called "The Excelerator". I ran some numbers and determined that this will cost about $60.00 a year for each dryer. It's on a lot of "LEEDS" jobs that are being done in the country so that alone is a good reason to use it. You will also benefit from more storage, less of a chance of some clown lighting the trash can on fire, less work for the staff to empty trash, and having to fill the thing in the middle of a rush is the worst. Why is it only 4 people know how to fill that thing? Anyhow the cost of the dryer is about $350.00. O, and take my word for it. This thing is not like the old blowers in that you would still need to wipe your hands on your pants. It truly does dry your hands in 10 seconds, pretty unreal. In closing , the club I looked at was a relatively smaller club. I would recommend asking your supplier of the towels what you spend and go from there. I think it's easy money. That's just a start, check out what you pay for other services you have coming in from the outside. Delegate these few jobs to your staff and you will see a lot of savings. Buy your own toilet paper, ( dispensers are cheap if you have to remove the one that the company has, and put your own in ) show your staff how to refill it. Mats are big cost as well. Have your staff take 10 minuets at the end of the night and run a vacuum. You can pick up heavy mats at Sams Club or anywhere online. Sams Club has some of the best mats , I have found. They are great quality.
The best deal I found for the Excelerator was on Ebay , see below:
Dries Hands in 10 to 15 Seconds
• Uses 80% Less Energy
• 95% Cost Savings vs. Paper Towels
• GREENSPEC® Approved and LEED® Rated
Dries Hands in 10 to 15 Seconds
• Uses 80% Less Energy
• 95% Cost Savings vs. Paper Towels
• GREENSPEC® Approved and LEED® Rated
• Source Reduction Alternative
• Promotes Hygiene
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 11 3/4" LG. X 12 11/16" HIGH X 6 11/16" DEEP
(298 MM LG. X 322 MM HIGH X 170 MM DEEP)
Weight:16 LBS. (7.3 KGS.)
HELPFUL HINT #4
ReplyDeleteI received this from a member of this site
First I want to thank this site for finally getting the clubs of Pennsylvania together. I have gained many things from this site and check it daily for updates and important information. I just wanted to say that I crunched some numbers and was really surprised how much we were spending on food. We buy from a large chain food distributor and we thought we were getting a good deal. We spend about $60,000 a year on food. I found that if I went to Sams I could have saved 31%. I took each item and broke it down my the ounce so the portion size was not an issue. We still buy from the chain distributor, but only what we can't get something from Sams. I use the click and pull system with Sams. It's a great system they have where I can email them my order and they pull it and have it ready the next day. Its all ready rung up , so I just give my card and go. If I need something additionally, I can just add it when IM there. I also use the Sams business card. They way IM going IM looking at getting a rebate of $600.00 back at the end of the year. Our Sams is 21 miles away. I can pay someone $50.00 a week to run there, and still be ahead of the game. IM hoping to save about $18,000 this year , just on food!!
HELPFUL HINT #5
ReplyDeleteI have heard lots of talk in the last few years about cameras. I have also installed a few systems over the last few months, and I have to say , I enjoy it. I viewed some shocking footage of a club that caught two people stealing from the canteen. They were telling me that they pressed charges on both and won. One of the crooks had to pay back about $5000.00 ! They proceeded to tell me that the system costs them about $600.00 and was eight years old. After they discovered the thefts, they updated their system to include the outside of the building along with hallways and a lobby.
If anyone is interested in a camera system, I will respond with any questions you may have. The cost really is not all that much considering the return. You can figure, for a top end system you looking at about $1200.00 and $100.00 per camera after that. So if your looking at a 16 camera system , your looking at $2800.00. The system would be able to keep recordings for two weeks or more and support up to 16 cameras. I know people that have bought the system and added a few cameras as they got the money. I have tested a lot of cameras and came to the conclusion that what camera you chose for each application is very important. Trust me, if you install cameras , people will behave, food wont walk out the back door, and people will not cheat. If anyone is interested in my opinion about this idea, shoot me an email at yourclubsrights@yourclubsrights.com and Ill be happy to help you.
HELPFUL HINT #6
ReplyDeleteLet's talk web site. If you don't have a web site , chances are you are afraid of price or afraid it's too confusing. I have this web site and pay about $120.00 a year for it. Yep , that's it $120.00 a year. This is my third web site so I am not an expert and in my opinion this site pretty much covers everything we need. I have used three different companies for the web site and have determined in my opinion Godaddy.com is the best. They have the best customer service and are very easy to work with. The best thing about a web site is the fact that it's a great portal of information for a very low price. A lot of clubs send out a newsletters or have a sign of some sort advertising upcoming events. News letters can be costly with the printing and postage and the sign is just to small for the details of the event. This is where a web site is great. Put the newsletter online, send one final postcard out , directing everyone to the web site to read the newsletter. In that postcard mention the price of printing and rising cost that contributes to this decision. Ok , your going to hear about the people who don't have a computer and how its not fair to them that they don't get a newsletter. Here is a simple fix. IF you want to cater to them. You can do two things. The first is to list on the post card that if you still want to receive a newsletter to check the box that says " I want to continue receiving my newsletter through mail" and make them pay the postage back. The second option is to just print out the newsletter and post it at your club so that members can come in to read it. I know of a club that sent out 1200 postcards and got four back.
If you have a sign that you put upcoming information, you know by now there is only so much room on that sign. Now you can put your web site address on it and advertise more information with less details. This will get people in the habit of using your site while distributing information more efficiently.
Also, have a calendar of events is important as well. I would recommend using www.localendar.com for this. It's a free site that you can link from your web site. It does have a few extra features that you can pay for which is about $5.00 a month I think , but go free for a while and see how it works. For a club the free version is more than likely enough. Click here to see a screen shot of a very creative calendar someone created. It is VERY simple to update.
In closing , don't be afraid of a web site. If you need help making one I will help out the best I can , Shoot me an email for more information at yourclubsrights@yourclubsrights.com. Just for the record , I put THIS website together in about 2 hours.
Helpful Hint #7
ReplyDeleteStealing . That dirty word that pops up at each club sooner or later. I have my own view on stealing. Now this article may be long and drawn out , so I would recommend printing it out or making some time for it. So sit back , pour a cup of coffee and enjoy, because I'm going to be all over the place on this one.
Now there are going to be two different people reading this. Those of you who steal and those of you who don't. I've visited many clubs who asked me to do a sort of snapshot audit of their books. Bringing in an outside source without any bias usually ruffles a few feathers. I'm not saying it's like the movie "Roadhouse", but there is defiantly a ripple in the pond. I have seen many managers/officers/employees of clubs get very defensive for no reason at all other than they know that their "additional side income" is about to come to an end.
If you are reading this as an officer of your club, ask your manager this. "Can you assure me without a doubt there is no stealing going in my club"? If the manager responds with a trace doubt, you have a problem. Most times he/she knows there is stealing but does not know how to stop it. They also feel because this they will lose their job and be looked at as incompetent. If they respond with a no-doubt response, Id ask them a few questions just to see if they know what they are talking about. Ask them what sort of gross profit margins you make off of boards/tickets, what are the monthly income to payout's on the gambling. The manager should be able to rattle this off in his/her sleep. Look, don't think I'm out to get those managers out there. IM not, I just think that many are just collecting a salary and usually pretty good ones from what I have seen and lack managerial skills. This, at the same time does not mean they are thieves.
Stealing is pretty easy to diagnose, finding the culprit is a different story that I will get into a little later. Running a club is economics 101. Try to follow this crude example. If I buy 1000 hot dogs for $1.00 each and sell them for $2.00, I should have a total of $2000.00. If I buy 10 games of chance that should payout a certain amount of money , when those tickets/boards are gone, you should have that pre-determined amount.
Think of it as having a Czar for each consumable in your post. One for spirits, one for beer, one for food, one for gambling, etc. Now don't drive yourself crazy looking for those 4 cans of soda that are unaccountable for. Its trivial and you will be stepping over a dime to pick up a penny.
If you want to try a little mini version of this plan you can make a check registry type form. When food is bought ( or brought in the kitchen ) it would go in the "payment" column. At the end of the night , the total food sales are put in the "deposit" column. Just like running your check book. Now if there is something fishy going on, and depending on your inventory you won't see this for a few months or until you deplete your existing , non-record able inventory. You will see plain as the nose on your face just what the food sales are for that month, and what sort of profits your looking at. What sort of profit margin should you have? That's up to you and has many more factors that I cannot really get into now. You can do this with , all your consumables coming in and going out of your club. O , by the way, if you start this, make sure you are the one looking at the receipts and the tapes as well. Chances are when you start this, people will start looking for jobs if there is any funny business going on. I've seen it in almost all the clubs I have audited. People are creatures of habit and no different in this case. See below.
I've also seen many clubs who have great accountants. They give great reports, break down numbers, and produce any information that you could ask for. Except one thing, they only input the information you give them. They don't understand gambling, they don't know what your margins should be or what you want them to be.
The second half of all of this is what to do if you know there is stealing going on but you don't know how it's happening. First off, don't tell anyone you suspect this. As I stated earlier in this article , many officers and managers don't know how to catch people, let alone discover how they are stealing.
In closing , if you know someone is stealing and you don't know how to stop it, it's time to ask for help. Asking from within could be a problem because of leaks or corruption. If you have any questions, please email me with your situation. I have been doing this a long time and trust me, I have seen it all. I pretty much can guarantee there is nothing I have not seen. A club I visited two months ago to perform an audit , was short over $45,000 in the past year. The female barmaid that was suspected quit as soon as she heard there was an audit/investigation going on. It was unfortunate that the club brought this site up in their stated meeting which threw up some flags, and eventually she found out, and beat feet. Since that , the profits have gone up substantially. I would have loved to have caught her and made quite an example out of her. I hate stealing and have no sympathy for those who do.
I hope this little article has helped you and I encourage you to email me with any questions you may have.