2018 Finance Subcommittee

Date: Sunday 2nd week, Hilary 2018 (2018-01-21)

Present: Leah Mitchell (President), Charlotte Lee (Vice-President (Administrative)), Beth Thomas (Secretary), Henrique Aguiar (Treasurer), Gregory Brinkworth (Lindsay)

Agenda

1. Matters Arising

• Pantry updates
• Entz updates
• Bar updates

2. AOB

Minutes

1. Matters Arising

Pantry 

Thomas reported pantry as being in a stable condition. However there is slight concern over the fact fresher’s aren’t using it as much as previous years. Thomas is planning on doing lots of events in the upcoming year to help bring up profits.

Leah suggested pursuing an idea that’s been raised before - to open pantry at 6.15pm for dinner in case people want to eat before hall opens.

Charlotte mentioned plans to make the pantry door a chalkboard so there is no need to spend a lot getting a sturdy one.

 

Entz

Jamie reported that the last two bops have made very good revenue. He mentioned that the stock take hasn’t been done recently so can’t be taken into account yet to work out the exact profits.

Charlotte requested a stock take to be done soon to help work out bop finances more clearly.

There was also discussion over the fact the Sky subscription is paid out of the Entz revenues. Charlotte questioned whether it could instead come out of the JCR funds. 

 

Bar

Greg reported that the bar benefitted this term from opening slightly earlier than usual - on the Sunday of 0th week.

He discussed his plans to organise lots of social events this term to encourage greater use.

Henrique suggested the idea of bar stash and Balliol shot glasses for an extra source of revenue.

Jamie mentioned his plans to sell club tickets in the bar to encourage people to come down.

Charlotte said she had an idea for a boatclub event in the Summer that the bar could help provide drinks for.

Charlotte also suggested consideration of greater collaboration between bar and pantry - for instance a pantry burns night themed dinner followed by themed drinks in the bar.

Greg also said he will consider sending round more emails or putting up posters to advertise any events the bar holds.

There was also discussion of whether a bar levy would be a good idea - it was concluded it was unlikely to be passed.

Charlotte suggested Greg could look at different stock suppliers in order to reduce costs. However Greg said that supplier they currently use is very convenient as it has a local branch.

It was decided there should be greater promotion of the fact that people are allowed to bring food into the bar as a lot of students are currently unaware of this. Ideas were shared over the potential role of the dumbwaiter in assisting collaboration between bar and pantry.

For instance, it was suggested that food could be ordered from pantry through the bar or drinks from the bar ordered through pantry. It was suggested that this could be challenging to carry out - particular the latter option as spillages are likely to occur with the dumbwaiter.

It was thought however that a one night only event could be a good idea to trial the idea of ordering pantry through the bar.

Jamie suggested the idea of allowing crew dates to be hosted in the bar. It was decided that this could cause to much mess but that other types of social events would work. Charlotte suggested emailing all the Balliol societies to say that they can host events there - the bar could even order pizza and do a deal on selling pizza with a drink.

Greg also mentioned his plans to host quiz nights on Sundays as they are usually fairly quiet in the bar. Other ideas included doing speed dating on Valentine’s day and having pool and table football tournaments.

There was discussion over whether it would be worth buying the table football table and pool table as they are currently rented from an external company. However Greg said that it was useful to have someone responsible for the maintenance of them in case of damage.

Greg mentioned they were also considering a way to improve the speaker system - for instance so you can play music from your phone through them, which would be useful for social events being hosted in the bar.

There was further discussion over getting a card reader for the bar - Greg said the best deal he could find required paying on a 48 month contract. Charlotte suggested before investing in such a commitment it would be good to check whether it was something that college could provide, and also that it would be a good idea to speak to other college bars that are predominantly student run like St Peter’s to see how they have financed their card readers.

 

2. AOB