The bottom line for this year’s crop of AMS services is a mixed bag, with a final loss of $43,000.
Large services such as Alfie’s and the Queen’s Entertainment Agency (QEA) faced significant fiscal losses, while smaller services such as the P&CC and Walkhome had a financially lucrative year.
Yearbook and Convocation Services is leading the pack with an estimated profit of $60,000. Alfie’s is estimated to lose more money than any other service with a loss of $154,000.
Adam Perry, AMS services director, said the losses incurred by the services in his portfolio, Alfie’s, QEA, QP, Common Ground, AMS Food Bank, Student Constables and QCollege are readily explainable.
“There is no mystery to how we lost money,” Perry said.
The Alfie’s loss is one of the bigger disappointments of the year, Perry said. “While it was open, Alfie’s was one of the most exciting aspects of the job,” he said. “Our closure was a recognition that more was wrong than just people not coming.
“We were far below expectations with respect to the level of professionalism and operating strategies,” Perry said.
Erik Gaustad, AMS vice-president of operations, said he believes Alfie’s financial loss is a natural reflection of the decision made by the AMS Board of Directors to close the service down.
Alfie’s did not generate any substantive revenue to offset its fixed costs, he said.
QEA is scheduled to lose more than $60,000.
Nicolas Petraglia, head manager of QEA, said that while this year’s concerts were excellent, the marketing suffered.
“The artists were great, and we featured bands with big names. including Billy Talent and Matthew Good,” he said. “Our troubles this year involved the marketing team, which was not up to par, and because of this, our workload was greater.”
He added that the quality of marketing improved after October.
Perry, who will be taking over QEA as head manager next year, said he intends to try different strategies to generate student .
“This year QEA was an entertainment financier—next year it will be an entertainment coordinator,” Perry said. “To give students options, QEA can throw events as opposed to only concerts, working with pubs, clubs, and student groups, to make sure the events reflect the interests of students.”
Petraglia said the QEA’s lack of visibility is a problem.
“Unlike other AMS services, QEA is not a tangible service, and when students attend a show, they tend to associate the show with its venue instead of the service,” Petraglia said.
“For example, if a show takes place at Clark Hall Pub, the majority of students tend to associate the show with Clark Hall and not QEA.”
The QP is predicted to lose approximately $30,000, which Perry believes can be attributed to various human resource issues and multiple repair costs, as well as its two-week closure.
The Common Ground will incur a predicted loss of $20,000, which is $10,000 less than expected.
Perry believes the Common Ground is one of the most recognizable AMS services on campus.
“Students identify most with Common Ground as an AMS service,” he said. “They have done some amazing things this year, including the use of fair trade coffee.
“Their marketing has been excellent, [and] their higher quality products as well as customer service has improved,” Perry said.
Andrew Graham, marketing and entertainment manager for the Common Ground, said this has been an exciting year for the service.
“We’ve had the privilege of hosting a diversity of events in our lounge while promoting student art on our walls,” he said. “Our sales are up 40 per cent and we currently serve one out of 10 students every day.” The AMS Food Bank is predicted to incur a loss of $1,000.
“Significantly increased usage of the Food Bank has put the manager, volunteers and physical facilities of the Food Bank under considerable pressure,” Gaustad said.
“The Food Bank remains one of the most valuable services that we are able to provide to the community.”
In its first year of service, QCollege is expected to lose approximately $8,000, Perry said.
“Bartending [continues] to be the most popular course,” he said. “However, we are looking to expand our horizons.”
Perry said the Queen’s Student Constables have had a successful year, generating a net surplus of $10,000. “At the beginning of the year, they encountered financial difficulties with the closing of Alfie’s, but by working on more external events [and] all-ages events they managed to generate a profit,” Perry said.
Amanda O’Boyle, AMS media and services director, said she felt most of the services in her portfolio were profitable, including the UBS, Yearbook and Convocation Services, Walkhome and the P&CC.
The Journal, After Hours Childcare and Studio Q have incurred losses, while CFRC is likely to break even, O’Boyle said.
O’Boyle said the UBS will probably generate approximately $50,000 in profit.
“They have done better than expected, mainly because of the Tricolour ticket sales,” she said.
Gaustad said the UBS exceeded expectations this year, and remains an integral service to Queen’s.
Yearbook and Convocation Services is also having a successful year, and is almost $30,000 ahead of the figure they budgeted for this point in the year, O’Boyle said.
“They had an increase in the opt-in rates by students, and are probably going to make a profit of approximately $60,000,” she said.
Walkhome is expected to make a profit this year, and is $13,000 ahead of their budget. The service’s profit of $69,000 does not include the expenses from the minimum wage increase.
“One reason could be that there were more student fees this year, as compared to last year, due to the greater number of students,” O’Boyle said. “The staff costs were low, although they have had more walks and generally a lower wait time.”
Gaustad said Walkhome was well-managed.
“More efficient scheduling and sound management this year has helped Walkhome provide better service than ever before, with significantly improved financial performance and increased staff morale,” he said.
The P&CC is also expected to make a profit of approximately $70,000 dollars, O’Boyle said. She said course package revenues went up this year, which contributed to this profit.
“Without increasing prices, the management team at the P&CC will be able to look back on a year with record high profits caused by sound management, a dedicated staff and an increase in the use of P&CC course package[s],” Gaustad said.
O’Boyle said the service still made a profit even after spending money on new photocopiers.
According to O’Boyle, the Journal is projected to lose $20,000, a bigger loss than last year.
The loss is a result of unexpected declines in campus advertising revenue, the loss of tobacco advertising [and] a rise in printing costs. After Hours Childcare is also predicted to incur a loss of $4,000, which is approximately $5,000 better than expected, O’Boyle said.
Studio Q will likely lose close to $5,000 because the revenue from the video factory was less than expected, O’Boyle said.
“The costs were kept efficient, but the revenue is lacking,” O’Boyle said.
“Plagued by equipment breakdown, Studio Q has had a slightly challenging financial year,” Gaustad said. O’Boyle said CFRC has kept costs down and will likely break even this year. The CFRC became part of the AMS this year and Gaustad said there were challenges involved in making that transition.
“Although the managers, staff and volunteers have undoubtedly found the AMS’ comprehensive system of paperwork challenging at times, I feel confident that even though we have only had a few months, CFRC is well on its way to reclaiming its position as a focal point of campus life,” he said.
“Sarah Miller, Steve Birek and Stu Mills have all done a phenomenal job this year getting the station back on a track that is even more relevant to students and the broader community.” O’Boyle said the focus this year has been on purchasing things needed by AMS services while being fiscally responsible.
“We were not afraid to invest in things that [will] help us in the long run; we were investing in the future,” O’Boyle said. Gaustad said he has confidence in the incoming AMS vice-president of operations, Kelly Steele, who he said will have a busy and eventful year.
“With the planning phase of the Queen’s Centre moving ahead quickly [and] ongoing challenges with insurance and the creation of the new hospitality services already on her agenda, she is going to have an exceptionally busy year, and being able to prioritize will be the key to success,” he said.
“Having had the privilege of working with [Steele] since the election, I have no doubt that she’ll do an absolutely spectacular job.”
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