Operations Case Study #3
SITUATION
In 2006 The Alley, a bar / music venue, was being built at the bottom of the prestigious ACDC Lane in Melbourne. The build was almost complete when the owner offered me the role of General Manager.
The sum total of my experience in hospitality comprised 4 shifts behind a bar and 9 months waitering at a theatre restaurant. I accepted the challenge as I wanted to create something fresh in Melbourne: A hidden secret - a dimly lit red door at the end of the lane that led upstairs to clandestine, friendly, old-school funk, live music venue.
ISSUE
The clear issue was my lack of experience in an industry where bankruptcy was common. I was handed the keys when the bar was still being built, with the directive to ‘make it work’. I had no construction experience but managed the tradespeople. My hospitality experience was so limited that I had never even seen beer lines. I learned all aspects of running a venue but was still so green that I forgot to organise a till float on opening day.
I expected that people would just walk in off the street and did not realise the bar was in a precinct of ‘destination bars’ (bars where people knew exactly where they were going).
Additionally, the owner had installed cameras over each till as staff theft was normal. I assured him there would be no theft while I was in charge,
RESOLUTION
The bar was essentially empty for 3 months. I had no marketing budget, so turned to organic marketing. I employed street-cred DJs to play during the week and renowned underground street artists to extend the graffiti from ACDC Lane, into our stairwell. We hosted the International Comedy Festival, and I negotiated that The Alley become the official post performance city bar. We had a full page spread in the glossy Sunday Age magazine and were listed in the top 52 bars in Melbourne.
I worked 60 to 70 hours a week and was able to have The Alley consistently net profitable within 8 months. There was zero staff theft during this time as my team were managed with respect and honour. I wrote a manual on managing every aspect of the venue, including recruitment and leadership, and handed the venue back to the owner. I then developed and sold an app that would enable venue managers to easily calculate net profit without the need to install and configure PoS systems.