Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Originally Posted by Locke
The thing is we don't need restaurants anymore. Soon the NDP will provide all of the proletariat citizenry with our daily allotment of calories from the State Food Dispensaries. Stand in line comrades! Slurp your gruel!
I'm not complaining, I'm explaining why I have a hard time being empathetic.
No Quebec is the worst. They spend well past what their tax base can support.
Alberta would be the perfect place for a healthy middle left economy. Small wealthy population, big corporate tax base, stable(ish) medium term income from main commodity.
I think we're just seeing the consolidation of what this province can actually support at historical levels of Oil revenue and everyone is freaking. the. ####. out.
LOL. Let's see.... $10 billion x 4years x 2 terms ..mumble mumble.. logarithmic increase... plus interest...carry the one... minus the carbon taxes... comes to...$175 billion! Holly crap you are right!
Where in Kensington would you go if the parking situation was better? I'm just thinking that there's this giant multi-level parkade next to Julio's and that most things people would want to visit in Kensington are fairly close to that spot.
I have side businesses in the restaurant industry and Calgary is a city where people simply do not want to park in parkades. They will do it begrudgingly in order to go to commute to work; but nobody wants to use parkades to patronize a single business. Parking and parking perception means everything in this city and to the mentality of its millions of yop gobblers.
This is an effect you see in most commuter cities and it also partially explains the rise of power centers. People want to park directly in front of the business they want to patronize, walk in/out, and drive away. They don't want to pay to park in parkades, walk long distances, etc. If the perception is that parking is difficult, it's incredibly punitive and people will go out of their way to not come anywhere near you.
Last edited by Hack&Lube; 06-08-2016 at 08:48 AM.
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Location: Close enough to make a beer run during a TV timeout
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Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos
The owner of the restaurant said that his sales have dropped 45%. That part of of the story is obviously the overhwelmingly driving force as to why it closed.
Why did his sales drop 45%? We all know why. It wasn't because of a bike lane, it wasn't because the dishwasher got bumped to $11.20, and it wasn't because his taxes went up.
Did those factors contribute? Maybe.
I read the article in saying that it was a combination of all the contributing factors. In that sales would have dropped 40%, and the bike lane caused the drop to be 45%. He may have still been able to operate with the drop in sales, but with all the other costs going up, it was too much.
With my current household budget I could probably survive a 45% cut in income. However if other expenses were all to rise, that might push me past the point of being able to make it.
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surprises me that the bike lanes are directly related to that much of a reduction in sales. whenever I go to eat at a place downtown, Kensington, Inglewood I go there witht he expectation that i'll likely have to work a bit to find parking and I may have to walk a block.
I get that some customers have mobility issues; however, his calculated drop off seems excessive.
but I guess this is ultimately a case of it was just one more nail in the coffin and I get that there is always a tipping point.
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If I do not come back avenge my death
I'm a small-business owner in Calgary so I'm going to chime in here.
The relationship you have with your business is unique. It's an inanimate object, but it also kind of has a life of its own. It's not like your child or anything - I don't love my business - but I feel kind of paternal toward it. It's a different relationship than one you'd have with a company at which you're employed. If it's not doing well, I feel completely responsible and like I'm failing it.
I feel really bad for this dude. I'm sure it was series of consecutive bad months with expenses outweighing income. Alternating feelings of optimism and dread. Sleepless nights. Feeling like a failure. The blame game. Feeling mad. Having a great week and feeling hopeful. Then two bad weeks. Etc. He can't just walk away and start a new job. Winding down a business is a job unto itself. Basically, it's rotten.
The problem for Escoba Bistro, however, is this:
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...45 per cent reduction in sales blamed on the swooning economy...
Escalating costs are just a fact of owning a business, but losing 45% of your business would be lethal for most small businesses. And that needs to be blamed on the economy and not anything else.
COSTS IN BUSINESS ONLY GO UP. If revenue doesn't grow, you're toast. He's going to basically have his same fixed costs from when he was bringing in 45% more revenue. I doubt he was running huge enough margins to cover a 45% drop in revenue, so these other changes are irrelevant. I know if you took away 45% of my revenue I'd be out of business in a matter of months.
The only thing you can count on in business - or life, for that matter - is change. I've been at my racket for over 10 years. In that time my rent has doubled. Taxes have gone up. I have to jump through more hoops and red tape with the City for a couple of different permits I need. I buy my raw materials in US dollars and they've all gone up. The economy is crap and I can't raise my prices. These are just realities. My margins are down. Most businesses in Calgary are running lower margins.
If you had thin margins to begin with, you will not survive. That doesn't mean our municipal government doesn't have a city to run still. That doesn't mean your landlord doesn't still need to be in the black. That doesn't mean we shouldn't build bike lanes.
The problem here is a 45% loss in business. I believe that alone - independent of all other factors - would have finished him off.
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Perfectly stated Sliver.
And I expect ultimately accurate.
But you can't discount all other externalities,that suck the final gasps from it. And suck the life out of the business owner. So out of frustration at your own failure and your failure on behalf of your employees, you vent. And they write about it in the paper. I expect there are 100 more businesses and 1000 more employees who have/are facing exactly the same thing, or will. And the reaction is some of what we have seen here?
The owner of the restaurant said that his sales have dropped 45%. That part of of the story is obviously the overhwelmingly driving force as to why it closed.
Why did his sales drop 45%? We all know why. It wasn't because of a bike lane, it wasn't because the dishwasher got bumped to $11.20, and it wasn't because his taxes went up.
Did those factors contribute? Maybe. Sounds like the tax increase made him throw his hands up in the air, and that was a bad move on the city's part, but still, we all know the reason, and his massive drop in sales can't be blamed on the dishwasher, or the tax hike, or losing a couple parking spots.
I listened to this guy on the CBC yesterday, and the main thing he was criticizing was the city's new property tax policy that charges for the footprint. As a single-story building, he gets nailed the same as a multi-story building, but he can't sublease the other space the way restaurants that own multi-story buildings can. He also pointed out the property valuations were based on sales that happened before the downturn really hit home.
As for the losing revenue, I suspect many restaurants downtown have seen sales drop 40-50 per cent in the last year. The owner said he can handle the drop in revenue, and has been putting $10K a month into the restaurant to keep it afloat until the economy picks up. You don't run a successful restaurant in this city for 20 years without having business savvy and the capital to make it through recessions.
The main issue seems to be a property tax regime that isn't flexible enough to quickly adapt to major downturns.
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
Last edited by CliffFletcher; 06-08-2016 at 09:43 AM.
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I also find it funny how people here are criticizing a small business owner for complaining about his business failing. Why is that less sympathetic than someone who gets laid off?
What happens if, god forfend, a bunch of teachers or city employees get laid off in this downturn? Will we see the same people scoffing at union reps going to the media and calling for their jobs to be saved? Telling them to put their big boy pants on, shut their mouths, and just suck it up?
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
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The question isn't what caused Escoba to fail. We know business is down and falling across the board. We know several new policies are causing large increases to business related expenses. The real question is whether now, this exact time and condition, is a good time to do it. It wasn't a good time to get our fair share from oil royalties.
I think people really under estimate the value of parking to a business. For fun, go park in front of Fishmans dry cleaning on 17th ave and then go get a sub at Thai Tai. That guy will drag you out of Thai Tai with a spray bottle of dry cleaning chemicals pointed at your temple and make you move your car.
It's really an unfortunate situation. Small businesses are being squeezed from all sides right now and it's disheartening to see the lack of empathy that some posters have for this. The property tax increase this year has been quite substantial for commercial asset classes.
Most of his business is the lunch crowd, and I'd imagine 95% of those are walk in, not driving down to Escoba for lunch. I just can't see parking having that big an effect.
Most of his business is the lunch crowd, and I'd imagine 95% of those are walk in, not driving down to Escoba for lunch. I just can't see parking having that big an effect.
His big complaint is property tax, but you incorrect in saying parking doesn't effect his business.
Parking has nothing to do with the lunch crowd, you are correct. The place is still decently busy at lunch. It's the night crowd that is the big problem. Customers are non-existent. You used to not be able to get in there without a reservation, now you walk in there and it's empty.
Is this due to the price of oil? Absolutely, but to tack all their other crap on top of that is too much for a small business. The guy has a legitimate complaint, and for people to sit there and say "It's a restaurant, this happens all the time", "Suck it up, shouldn't be in business if you can't afford higher minimum wages and property taxes", etc. is absolutely ridiculous.
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I listened to this guy on the CBC yesterday, and the main thing he was criticizing was the city's new property tax policy that charges for the footprint. As a single-story building, he gets nailed the same as a multi-story building, but he can't sublease the other space the way restaurants that own multi-story buildings can. He also pointed out the property valuations were based on sales that happened before the downturn really hit home.
As for the losing revenue, I suspect many restaurants downtown have seen sales drop 40-50 per cent in the last year. The owner said he can handle the drop in revenue, and has been putting $10K a month into the restaurant to keep it afloat until the economy picks up. You don't run a successful restaurant in this city for 20 years without having business savvy and the capital to make it through recessions.
The main issue seems to be a property tax regime that isn't flexible enough to quickly adapt to major downturns.
It's almost like the media took many of his information out of context to make the story more divisive and drive debate about the issues on forums such as this...
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I also find it funny how people here are criticizing a small business owner for complaining about his business failing. Why is that less sympathetic than someone who gets laid off?
What happens if, god forfend, a bunch of teachers or city employees get laid off in this downturn? Will we see the same people scoffing at union reps going to the media and calling for their jobs to be saved? Telling them to put their big boy pants on, shut their mouths, and just suck it up?
I don't see them laying teacher and city employees off, but I can certainly see them being given salary roll backs like everyone else has taken. I can see this being a big election issue with the Wildrose/PCs attacking the NDP for protecting their union base while all other Albertans have been bearing the brunt of the sacrifices. My wife works for the government, and if the price of oil remains low I can see the next election results being very unfriendly towards her income.
