2016 Finance Subcommittee

Date: Saturday 2nd week, Michaelmas 2016 (2016-10-22)

Present: Anne Williamson (President), Cealach McKeating (Vice-President (Administrative)), Steven Rose (Secretary), Darryl Braier-Lorimer (Treasurer), Hugo Monnery (Lindsay), Zachary Leather (Foody)

Absent with apologies: Frederick Potts (Foody)

Agenda

1. Matters arising

2. Pantry [Zack]

3. Bar [Hugo]

4. JCR [Darryl]

5. AOB

Minutes

Cealach welcomed the meeting.

 

“Pantry is doing pretty well.” – Zack, 2016. He told Fexec that the numbers were not back to the high levels prior, but were improving. He noted that lunch is particularly busy. He provided Fexec with two weeks solid data, and a third week of data that he has “glanced at.” He told Fexec that there had been a revenue of around £2100 each week. He noted that last week the vending machine income was low, but pantry still had a £2150 revenue, which is better than Pantry has been doing since staff changes. He offered that the new menu was proving to be really popular, and that he was preparing a new menu for dinner.

He reported that he was working on getting freshers to dinner, but he expects it will be better next term once freshers are more aware of non-hall options for dinner. He concluded that he was not worried about Pantry revenue dipping. He suggested that if pantry lunch grows in popularity that the Foodies may have to consider hiring a member of staff and having three people on lunch shifts, or having two back student staff; however for now things were good.

He reported that there was a £200 loss in 0th week, which was a good number for 0th week, considering the expenditure that 0th week incurs. He told Fexec that Pantry had spent 80% more on food than Pantry would expect in an average week; he reported that last week saw a £60 profit.

He told Fexec that he was optimistic about this week, in that he expected a good revenue, and there was no reason to expect a particularly high expenditure. He projected Pantry losing £400 or making a profit of £400 in the term. He told the Committee that Formal Pantry made projections uncertain. Darryl wants him to not make a loss. Zack reported that there had been a loss of £50 in the last Formal Pantry and that the Formal Pantry was very nice. Fexec agreed that it was Important to aim to break even on Formal Pantry so that JCR members aren’t funding events they can’t attend due to limited ticket sales.

Zack also told Fexec that he is hoping to find more cooking people among the JCR members, as he believes this is a good extension of the philosophy that Pantry should be used as JCR members’ space; he added that he was aiming to have baking sessions set up at some point, expanding that he was hoping to set up a system of booking slots when pantry is free for two hours for groups of JCR members to use. He noted that this would require a trained person and up to three people in a group. He offered that he and Bruce will do weekly baking stations, which he believed was also good extension of student-run philosophy.

 

“Bar is fine.” – Hugo 2016. He reported to Fexec that he had a higher revenue in 0th week on the previous year, however he made less in 1st week on the previous year; he noted that he was on par for 2nd week. He added that he was not sure to what extent the comparisons are appropriate due to disagreements in different records of the accounts, that he suggested may be due to till issues.

 “Nothing very interesting has been happening.” – Hugo 2016. Apparently Tuesdays are doing quite well.

Annie suggested linking the next Tuesday barty with the MCR. Hugo agreed to follow up.

 

Darryl told Fexec that he still needs to look at the numbers, with the Trinity Term figures being finalised within the next two weeks.

He offered “good news” on the JCR loan to the Ball subcommittee, in that, the JCR no longer has to make a loan to the Ball subcommittee; he explained that the profit from the last Ball had been recovered and amounted to £6200, so the loan not needed from the JCR. He explained that this therefore makes it the case that the JCR is no longer financially liable for the Ball.

Hugo asked when TT numbers would come; Darryl replied that they should be available for the next Fexec meeting.

 

Cealach reported to Fexec that it appears that there was underspending on Freshers’ week, however she noted that the current figures are slightly depressed as the buttery hasn’t called in yet. She explained that she perceived this as a “bad thing” as it would require more spending next year. She noted that people currently were not calling in receipts for subject tea parties and whatnot. When asked by Darryl, she suggested that the cost of the subject tea parties could be projected to be around £90.

Cealach asked about how much the bar spent on the free soft drinks during Freshers’ week, noting that there was a £100 budget for it, hence if the bar needs more to cover the costs, it can receive that. Hugo says it cost more.

 

Darryl noted to Fexec that there had been a £1046 portrait levy from College in the accounts, which was subtracted from owings to College. He reported that it was explained to him as the cost of getting paintings sent off and valued, and that there would be a future payment to top up to £5000 as agreed. Fexec suggested it would be worthwhile to have this paid off as soon as possible in one payment to avoid future JCRs paying for items they did not damage, and to avoid it slipping institutional memory.

 

There were general queries about the new club night contract from Bubblegum for the new Friday night club night. Concerns were raised about point 5, which concerned exclusivity on promoting events against Bubblegum events (noting that the contract contains a separate clause on exclusivity on promoting rival Friday night club nights. There was confusion about whether this prevented promoting club nights on other nights, such as promoting Lola’s on Tuesdays.

It was noted that there had been a £1080 loss on Freshers’ week tickets due to low uptake of Lola’s Wednesday. Darryl noted that Shuffle didn’t give a bulk buy discount which they had the previous year, and hence the loss seems inflated relative to last year.

Fexec discussed whether it would be possible to run a Freshers’ Week without Shuffle, and invited suggestions for alternatives. It was speculated that it would be plausible. It was suggested that it would be possible to run a Freshers’ week with individual clubs, however Cealach expressed her belief that this would create an intolerable workload for Entz. It was suggested that it may be possible to find flexibility in deals, such as one, two or, three Shuffle nights, and other independent nights.

Hugo asked if students can get into Shuffle events without a ticket; it was responded that tickets can’t be bought on the door. Hugo clarified that moving away from Shuffle would therefore imply that Balliol freshers would not be able to go to Shuffle nights then. Cealach expressed her opinion that sticking with Shuffle is preferred option due to established relations.

 

Annie suggested putting Entz for Fexec on Trinity terms. Darryl’s in favour.

 

Hugo told the Committee that he had thought that imposing a minimum reserves figure for the bar, Pantry, and Entz would be a positive way of promoting accountability.

Cealach suggested Darryl, Hugo, and Zack start considering minimum reserves to be maintained.

 

The meeting was adjourned.