Losing money on beer......

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/inde...ellin.html

To be fair, the start of alcohol programs almost always lose money because equipment purchases, the cost of getting government approval, and the purchase of stock. I'm not sure if any mid major that sells alcohol broke even day one.

(09-29-2015 10:11 AM)Love and Honor Wrote:  To be fair, the start of alcohol programs almost always lose money because equipment purchases, the cost of getting government approval, and the purchase of stock. I'm not sure if any mid major that sells alcohol broke even day one.

Yea there are some sunk cost around equipment, licensing, and permit/insurance issues. The test will be what are they doing in three more games.

From my understanding they just brought in a beer truck and extra security. From the model they were suing, they were expecting to make money day one. There were no recoverable costs like equipment as far as I know so they said they will not do it again.

(09-29-2015 12:23 PM)T4C8 Wrote:  From my understanding they just brought in a beer truck and extra security. From the model they were suing, they were expecting to make money day one. There were no recoverable costs like equipment as far as I know so they said they will not do it again.

The tarps apparently didn't buy any beer...

"Only this could happen to EMU"

This didn't happen "to" EMU. This situation "is" EMU. In fact, I really cannot think of anything that sums up Eastern Michigan football better than a 28-17 home loss to Ball State with 12.53% of 4,463 "people in the stands" consuming one 16 ounce beer, each.

Quote:To be fair, the start of alcohol programs almost always lose money because equipment purchases, the cost of getting government approval, and the purchase of stock. I'm not sure if any mid major that sells alcohol broke even day one.

Since it was a pilot project, I don't think they bought anything, but probably rented. If they bought a bunch of stuff, it wouldn't be a pilot, and they would have had two analyses based on with startup cost VS isolated for the game without startup cost (maybe wear & tear usage of it before future replacement, etc).

Half their fans are Pepsi cans... so I dunno if Pepsi cans drink beer.

All kidding aside, they can't expect just to have beer there on day 1 and have it take off. Would need a lot of Umph + time to get the word out, etc. I would have set it up so the college doles it out and has their own stand and just buys a few kegs (it's an EMU game; do you need more than 3 kegs?) -- and dole them out in paper cups.

They can't even get a kegger right!

Say $120 a keg on average (cheap beer, mid-range beer, and nice beer) x 6 = $720
2 Beer Dispensing Dudes in non-student sections = $15/hr x2 x4hrs = $120 [Gets it known and bought]
5 People manning station/tent, pouring, serving, etc = $15/hr x5 x5hrs = $375
Shirts, Cups, Napkins, Ice, Cheesy+Simple Tent/Folding Table Usage, etc = $200
= ~$1,420 (and could be done cheaper)

$4-5 beers in 16oz cups (say $4.50 on average; NOT over-priced - this isn't Ann Arbor, it's Emoo-land)

Each Keg has 1984 ounces. Getting rid of head, not clearing out the WHOLE thing with bits left, giving away a few, spills, etc. -- Let's say 1600oz (100 16 oz cups) using them Liberally
= 450 x 5 = $1,800 Revenue

Even if you didn't use the 6th keg.

Many, many other things could happen to EMU....

At least they made an effort by providing good beer, Arbor Brewing Company.

Quote:At least they made an effort by providing good beer, Arbor Brewing Company.

Not an excuse though. There's no Way one should come up with a noticeable deficit. They played it out like EMU football. Their mindset shouldn't be "let local companies make money".

It'd be like EMU going to some town fair and setting up a tent to sell beer, but somehow losing out on money... and to blame it on the fact that it's not a fair where beer's normally sold. If some rich guy said "I'll bet/give you $1 million if you could set up serving beer, even at an EMU game, and NOT lose money," would ya say "Oh. It's an EMU game. Impossible. Nope, can't do it. I'd do it for fun that I'd surely lose, but I told my GF I'd go to her daugher's school ballet around that time."? Heck no! It wouldn't be rocket science by any means!

(09-29-2015 04:23 PM)Rocket A Wrote:  At least they made an effort by providing good beer, Arbor Brewing Company.

This. They could have loaded up with miller light and probably made some money, but they reached out to a local brewery and tried to create an experience. Bummer they lost money but kudos to them for trying to improve the game day experience.

(09-29-2015 06:45 PM)Ubish Wrote:  

(09-29-2015 04:23 PM)Rocket A Wrote:  At least they made an effort by providing good beer, Arbor Brewing Company.

This. They could have loaded up with miller light and probably made some money, but they reached out to a local brewery and tried to create an experience. Bummer they lost money but kudos to them for trying to improve the game day experience.

A most sensible reply. Cheers.
EMU is trying. But it is a pretty tough sell when you have had 20 straight losing seasons.

I don't know how much money they have but it might be worth trying again.

back in the day we used to drive out to the Miller Distribution Center and buy a keg of Old Milwaukee's Best for $45 with a $10 deposit and charge people $3 at the door. We'd grab a sleeve of Miller Lite cups and nobody noticed that they were really drinking The Beast and we'd always cover our expenses and make a nice little profit too.

EMU needs to turn their beer sells over to some broke undergrads, they'll make it work.

(09-30-2015 03:39 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  EMU needs to turn their beer sells over to some broke undergrads, they'll make it work.

First 30 women get free beer and admission to the party game. No groups of all dudes. Once the beer is out, getdafuckout of my house.