The main strengths and weaknesses of The Pub

Business Goals

The Pub, officially known as the Tantramarsh Club, was located in the basement of the University Center at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. The Pub operates as a separate nonprofit organization from the university, but it must comply with the university’s lease agreement and “not create an adverse reflection of the university”. The 15-17 members of the Board of Directors for the Pub include students, administrators, alumni, faculty, and other university representatives. The pub employed two full time managers and the remaining 20 staff members are part-time student employees.

The Board meeting of April 2008 presented manager Jonathan Clark with two challenging tasks. The Pub was going to be relocated to a new University Center closer to downtown Sackville in August 2008 and Clark needed to present the Board with the design plans for the Pub’s interior layout and a new business model for operating. The Pub had been operating at a loss for the past five years and was heading toward bankruptcy. The University was going to be responsible for construction of the new University Center and costs related to relocating the Pub. However, the Pub would be given loan by the university to buy new equipment and furniture.

S.W.O.T. Analysis

The following SWOT analysis captures the key strengths and weaknesses within the company and describes the opportunities and threats facing the Tantramarsh Club.

Strengths

• Customer Base - Available customer base due to location on campus. The Pub had a special connection with the students as the campus pub and was a symbol of tradition on campus for both current students and alumni (p. 49 & 51).

• Clear Hierarchy with an organic management structure- The hierarchy of The Pub was clearly understood by all employees and worked really well. Seniority and experience played a large role (p. 53). Most employees moved between positions depending on what needed to get done, “roles are not entrenched or established within contracts or job descriptions” (p. 52-53).

• Manager - Jonathan Clark, known as Scooter, was the manager since 1993. He graduated from the commerce program at Mount Allison, had strong ties to the community, owned and operated a local restaurant in town, and had a “pleasant disposition”. He endeared himself to the students and alumni (p 54).

• Diverse Staff - The Pub was the “most social workplace on campus” and employed all students except the manager and the doorman. The staff included students from different areas of education focus, teams/groups, bilingual and international students, and also students with diverse sexual orientations (p. 52).

• Revenues and Competitive Advantage - 80-90% of revenue earned on Friday and Saturday nights when dance parties are held. Tuesday “Trivia Nights” were successful, too. The Pub offered the lowest prices on alcoholic beverages in town (p. 59).

Weaknesses

• Financial Difficulties - The Pub had experience financial difficulties over the past several years and the likelihood of it becoming profitable in the future was unclear (p. 49). The Pub’s expected financial statement for 2008 is based on a 44.3% increased growth in revenues which had never been achieved between 1992-2007 (max growth was 24.6% in 1995) (p. 57-58).

• Employee Retention - Retaining employees created a problem due to high turnover as most employees were part-time students (p. 53).

• Lack of Management in Summer - Student manager operated the Pub during the summer time and was less consistent in operating the Pub. Jonathan Clark was out of town during the summer months (p. 54).

• The Pub’s current physical condition – The current physical condition of The Pub was run-down. (p. 51-52). The dilapidated conditions of the Pub are driving away business, especially alumni and summer conference attendees.

• Restricted Capacity- Due to fire regulations, capacity was 175 patrons; and customers often complained about waiting in line to enter the Pub in its current location. The new Pub would be 500 square feet smaller (from 3300 to 2800 sq. ft.) and according to fire regulations hold 25 less people at maximum capacity (from 175 to 150).

• Advertising –No profit is generated from the VIP membership program which offered coupons and other perks (p. 55). There is no signage on the building (p. 51). The Argosy offered free ads, but Pub never did ads. Competing bars were allowed to advertise prices, however, the Pub was not allowed to due to university policy (p. 59).

Opportunities

• Opportunity to Reinvent their concept – The Pub has the unique opportunity to reinvent their image. Strain described the space saying, “the university designed a space that was as flexible as possible, so that The Pub can be anything it wants to be” (p. 62).

• New Construction and Modern Technologies –The Pub can save money on repairs, can shed its “run down,” image and can potentially allow access to students with disabilities (p. 62). The University Centre would house all non-academic services including the Pub, the campus radio station, the bookstore, café, and registrar’s office. This would potentially allow for more traffic and customers for The Pub and make it easy for students to be able to find The Pub (p. 52).

• Partnerships on Campus - Opportunity for partnership with student café which would be located directly across from the Pub in the University Center. By offering food, The Pub could increase the weekday traffic during usually slow time (p. 63). Active community at Mount Allison which have conducted joint events with the Pub. There are over 140 clubs and societies.

• Advertising potential is high - New construction may allow for signage to be placed on the exterior, the school newspaper, the Argosy, has offered free advertising for the Pub, and opportunities to place ads/coupons on campus wide events and summer conferences could be explored.

• Competitor Closed - The closure of one bar in town could increase the number of customers coming to The Pub (p. 59).

Threats

• More competition could potentially arise in the new location – Downtown location placed the Pub closer to the three existing competitors. The manager of The Pub estimated that each competitor took away about 10% of potential sales and revenue from The Pub and affected its contribution margin by $15,000. The local liquor store was approximately one kilometer from The Pub (p.

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