A promotion is currently going on at The Forks for home Jets games. The deal is, visit one of the restaurants (and purchase food) at The Forks on game day, and you will receive a parking voucher for Portage Place.
With the parking rate hikes at Jets games in nearby lots, this is a pretty sweet deal. If you're going to pre-game or grab a bite to eat before the game, you might as well get free underground parking in the process, right? You won't even have to walk outside, thanks to the skywalk network.
Unfortunately all of the Restaurants don't feel the same way. Because for every Portage Place parking voucher they give out on game day, the Restaurant has to cough up $5 to Forks North Portage (FNP).
Is this supposed to be like a finders fee?
The reason why this is surprising, is because FNP controls both of these parking markets. They're the ones who give you parking tickets at The Forks. They're also the ones responsible for the award-winning underground Portage Place parking.
It's win-win for people looking to go out before a Jets game. But it's a slap in the face to business owners at The Forks, who while they might get a tiiiiny bit of extra business, have been paying for parking for years at The Forks. Their employees have been paying for parking at The Forks. And for years, they themselves and their employees have been paying parking fines/tickets at The Forks. And your CUSTOMERS have been paying for parking at The Forks.
Not like it actually costs anything for FNP. No it really doesn't. This is all bonus parking revenue. Who is shopping at Portage Place at 7pm on a weekday? The answer is nobody, because PP isn't open at 7pm on a weekday. So to throw the restaurants at The Forks a bone, offer them a promotion during the winter when pedestrian traffic is next to nil, and absorb the "cost" of the parking voucher, wouldn't be out of the question.
Hey, we control both of these parking lots, but we want you to kick us $5 for being such a great sport about you, and your employees, and your customers, paying for parking for years and years and years.
Sounds like something right out of the Downtown BIZ PR spin book. Glossy on the outside. As dark and dingy as the Portage Place parkade on the inside.
4 comments:
Not sure I understand this one, Graham.
Parking at Portage Place for Jet games is $10, so it appears FNP is splitting the cost of this promotion with the restaurants. You say the restaurants have to "cough up" $5 to FNP, but FNP is sacrificing $5 worth of revenue so that restaurants at The Forks can pick up extra business.
The Forks wouldn't be the first place most people think of for a pre-game meal (as compared to BP, E&C, 4Play), so anyone collecting on this offer is probably a customer the restaurant wouldn't have otherwise had that night.
And if someone is going out for dinner before a game, that's probably at least a table of two people, if not more. Divide that $5 a few different ways and that's not much to pay for new customers. Especially since restaurants at The Forks aren't often packed during the winter months.
So it looks like a win-win for Jets fans and restaurants to me, am I missing something? Also, are restaurants forced to participate in these promos as a condition of their lease?
1) FNP isn't sacrificing one cent of revenue, if the game is after closing time at PP. In addition to that, they are jacking the price of parking to cash in on game day. The markup on gameday parking price is pretty decent. I'd have to check what rates are at PP first to be sure.
But come on Frogger, you're saying it's a sacrifice in revenue when a) the mall is closed anyway and b) there is gameday markup and c) customers at the restaurants at the Forks might also be paying for parking at the Forks?
I guess there's no loyalty program in place here by FNP for their best customers.
2) Yes as far as I'm aware, restaurants are forced to participate in this. Because of the logic you just presented, it is like paying a groaning $5 finders fee for business they wouldn't have otherwise had. And for a modest increase in business, is it worth it?
Two people could sit down and order a small meal with a drink, pay $30, and the restaurant would have to, yes, cough up, the $5 which at a $30 bill is nearly 20% of the total bill! And how much is the restaurant profiting on that $30 bill to begin with? If it's $15, you're giving %33 to FNP.
Is that REALLY a deal for the restaurant?
FNP is giving up revenue. If I drive downtown and park my car in the Portage Place lot, then FNP pockets $10. If I go eat at The Forks first, then FNP is only banking $5 for the same space.
It's irrelevant whether Portage Place is open or busy when the game is on. Many of the stalls in that parkade aren't filled during the day by shoppers, but by downtown office workers. And if a market for paid parking exists in the evenings -- as it does when Jet games occur -- then FNP should be maximizing it's revenue opportunities.
As to your point about double dipping, who is paying for parking at The Forks before your average Jet game anyway? There's plenty of free parking down there in the evenings. Heck, there's an entire parkade that's free and rarely ever full.
And yes, do think that $5 off even a $30 bill is peanuts to attract new customers. That's just the cost of doing business. No different than spending money on advertising, distributing coupons, offering a Groupon deal or running a Happy Hour special. That $5 will also be a deductible business expense, so the real cost is something less than that.
If you were looking for a controversial angle here, then I'd flip the entire argument. Why is a government-controlled corporation kicking back incentives to a select group of private businesses? Why aren't all downtown restaurants allowed to participate in the same promotion? Why should they be at a competitive disadvantage to those establishments that are tied with FNP?
Now, I wouldn't actually go there, because I think the promotion is fine. The customer saves a few bucks and has a decent meal. The restaurant fills a few tables that would have sat empty. And the servers get to make a few more bucks in tips.
You do have a point on "flipping the argument" and I also totally agree with that sentiment.
But on the other hand, there is no way you're going to convince me that it "costs" FNP anything for a stall that is otherwise empty on account of the mall being closed. It is 100% bonus revenue.
Here, I'll compromise my position with you. How about FNP charges the restaurants the evening rate for the time of the Jets game, instead of half of the inflated game-day price? That, seems more reasonable.
That's $1 per half hour, to a maximum of $10. If you park for 3 hours, that's $6. The markup is $4, which means FNP is charging Forks restaurants MORE than the markup!
So what's the deal with charging restaurants at the Forks 83% of the - actual - cost to park at Portage Place for 3 hours?
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