All hail our megapub masters!

Different business models, look at rent etc.

What does seem ridiculous about that article is the gross profit margins the Basement seems to be working on.

“As a live music venue, MrDalrymple estimates he will also spend another $30,000 each year to cover the cost of crowd control at The Basement. ”That’s another $300,000 in alcohol sales I’ve got to come up with all this to fix the problems in Civic,” MrDalrymple said.”

That means their mark-up on drinks is only 11.11% or, inversely, their gross profit margin is only 10%. Either they have the cheapest drinks in town or they’re paying more than any other bar for their liquor stock.

Most bars work on between 300-400% mark-up (so they charge 4-5 times what the serving costs to them or, inversely, they work on 75-80% gross profit. It seems remarkable the Basement could stay in business for so long on such crap profits.

They could just increase the price of their drinks by a little to cover it.

random said :

Given that the current license renewal for The Basement would be $3,161, a supposed increase of $12,000 sounds completely insane. I just wondered if it was a misquote, the government really has gone mad or what.

It’s unintended consequences. Basically, under the new laws, each venue would need a risk management plan in order to have a license. One would expect Security guards / crowd management to be a requirement of that risk management plan.

A number of venues already have guards, so their costs associated with the new license approval may not rise much at all. I note many pubs or nightclubs who already have security already have had a number of instances of violence, or are in violent areas, such as Civic.

But if you take a look at the Basement, which currently has next to no need for security guards, their license costs would increase more.

That is, peaceful venues will pay more.

Why do I think liquor licensing will require guards as part of the approval of the risk management plan? Because of their behaviour at present. Speak to local publicans and they’ll tell you the same (if they trust you aren’t from liquor licensing!).

Johnboy for the legislative assembly! Because he’s such an anarchist he’ll carefully spend his term in power not doing a thing… which should leave him with plenty of free time to dedicate to continuing his duties as RiotACT Overlord.

Srsly there’s nothing wrong with regulating pubs, even if there is a better (less killjoyish) way to go about it.

Given that the current license renewal for The Basement would be $3,161, a supposed increase of $12,000 sounds completely insane. I just wondered if it was a misquote, the government really has gone mad or what.

Ivan76 said :

Perhaps if the Basement owner and managers showed an interest in cleaning the disgusting toilet facilities properly I might take further interest in what they have to say politically. The smell is overwhelming when you go in there.

It’s a new owner. Toilets now good.

For anyone interested in light reading:
Liquor Bill 2010
Explanatory Statement for Liquor Bill 2010
Liquor Regulation 2010 Exposure Draft

Also, its Human Rights Compliant.

But there are no set fees yet, just a “To be determined by the Minister”..
I’m guessing nobody will get to know how much the fees will be until the Minister announces the Determination.

Perhaps if the Basement owner and managers showed an interest in cleaning the disgusting toilet facilities properly I might take further interest in what they have to say politically. The smell is overwhelming when you go in there.

The new fees haven’t been determined yet. Bet your bottom dollar it will be a blanket approach like the rest of the proposed laws.

Just curious, does anyone know if the new fees are online somewhere? The new liquor bill only says that they’re set by the minister.