Oliver’s Pub & Patio will be making changes to its menu for the upcoming year after the business reported a net loss of almost $120,000 for the past academic year.
According to Blake Brooks, the manager of Oliver’s, a lot of time was spent this summer with the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) executives to find ways to make the pub more profitable. He said they have come up with ways of restructuring their food menu to increase profits.
“We are not immune to the price increases you see in your day to day purchases of food and alcohol,” Brooks said in an email. “We are impacted the same way general consumers are.”
Brooks said it is not just Oliver’s that had a bad year. The whole industry is feeling the effects as bar sales are down all over the province, he said.
David Andrews, CUSA vice-president (finance), echoed this view saying that beer and liquor sales were down in bars in Ottawa due to rising alcohol costs. Because of the rise in costs, Oliver’s was forced to raise the prices of all alcoholic drinks with the exception of pilsner beer, which stayed at $4.
More customers bought the affordable beer instead of the more profitable drinks as a result of the rising costs. This hurt Oliver’s financially, as the pub does not make as much profit from the cheaper beer compared to other alcohol sales.
The 2016-17 CUSA operational budget report shows that sales went down significantly at Oliver’s Pub this past year. Taking the biggest dive were draft beer sales, which were reported $59,000 less than the previous year.
Brooks attributed this partially to the rising costs of beer, but also stated that the decision to move Oliver’s draft beer special day from Monday to Friday had a “very significant impact” on sales.
“Our Friday business is not nearly as high traffic as a Monday might be,” Brooks said.
Brooks said Raven’s Ale, the house draft beer introduced earlier this year is a good beer and sales are “OK.” With a full year of the beer being available, it could see better sales with the right promotion, he said.
According to Brooks, Rooster’s Coffeehouse and Oliver’s Pub share a customer base, and that a shift occurred where Rooster’s may have drawn away some of the pub’s customers with their new renovations and more efficient operations.
In order to increase profits for the coming year, CUSA and Oliver’s management will make adjustments to their menu and plan to hold more events at the pub.
Andrews said that in the past they would have held three to four Thursday events, but are now planning to have as many as 11-12 events in an attempt to draw in more customers.
The changes to the menu, as indicated by Brooks, will be to reduce the daily specials and replace it with a value menu, which will consist of items priced under $5. In the past, daily specials took away sales from the regularly priced food items, hurting the pub’s profitability.
Brooks noted that Oliver’s will “keep pace” with costs but will continue to provide the best value for its customers.
“At the end of the day we still offer fair pricing and we think this year we will be able to do that and ensure we don’t lose money in the process.”
