One year after introducing $5 beers and $3 hot dogs at GFL Memorial Gardens, City Council will decide Monday whether to continue 'fan-friendly' fare.
Brent Lamming, the city's director of community services, wants to keep offering the cheap eats, which are available at select concessions and also include $3 fries and $3 popcorn, taxes included.
"Although fan-friendly options represented a small portion of total sales, they do present another lower price point option for patrons who may not have otherwise been able to enjoy in the offering," Lamming says.
Food and beverage sales totalled $992,334 in 2019, compared to record sales of $1.15 million in 2018 and $882,034 in 2017.
The 2018 record was attributed to Soo Greyhounds making it to the league final.
"The drop in sales from 2018 to 2019 corresponds with a shorter playoff run for the Greyhounds. However, this is still up $110K from 2017," Lamming said in a report to Mayor Provenzano and councillors.
New and ongoing initiatives cited by Lamming include:
- replacement of plastic plates and food containers with biodegradable containers, which continues to expand the GFL’s commitment to “green packaging” to aid with lessening the impact on the environment. This initiative is further to the introduction of paper straws that took place for the 2018-2019 season. Green packaging, also known as sustainable packaging or eco-friendly packaging, refers to packaging designs which have the lowest environmental impact possible
- GFL Memorial Gardens offers “combo pricing” and special family packages with concession discounts
- more point of sale locations in the facility than were previously in place. This initiative has maintained strong sales performance and aids in reducing long wait times.
- the variety of food stations and product offerings have expanded to include the Hot Dog House (foot-long hot dogs and sausage bar)
- the Coffee House
- Cotton Candy Station
- Cocktail Specialty Bar – South End (frozen margaritas, spiked and freshly squeezed lemonade)
- deep-fried chocolate bar, cheesecake
- Flying Saucer Pastry Deserts
- coming soon: personal pan gourmet pizza on South End Concourse
- increased operating hours at the Molson Hockey House with expanded seating
- the GFL is opening an extra hour early before every 7 p.m. game, with doors opening at 5 p.m. for restaurant service
- the increased hours are contributing to fans coming to the downtown core earlier than game time
- service delivery efficiency improved by adding pre-pour for popular draft beverages five minutes before period end
- opening of the Angelo Bumbacco Room Lounge downstairs between periods with projection big screen TV broadcasting all home games to assist with in-between period lineups and better customer service
- food service is available upon request for smaller events in the centre’s fully licensed Angelo Bumbacco Room and multi-purpose rooms
The changes have led to a food and beverage net profit of $202,692 in 2019, compared to the $182,505 budget.
Monday's City Council meeting will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m.