The AMS is hopeful its businesses will bounce back to profitability after the pandemic and hiring and supply issues compounded to squash AMS businesses’ revenue to a quarter of what it was three years ago.
The student society is projecting $372,000 in business revenue this year, compared to the $1.34 million made from its businesses in 2019/20. AMS President Eshana Bhangu told The Ubyssey in September that the society’s $1.25 million deficit is largely due to the AMS’s businesses' weak performance. The AMS’s businesses include The Pit, Grand Noodle Emporium, The Gallery, Porch, Blue Chip Cafe, Honour Roll, Flavour Lab and Conferences and Catering.
$372,000 was, at one point, looking like it could be out of reach, Bhangu said. “That's not where I wish for the AMS to be.”
The AMS’s report on the first quarter of the fiscal year paints a bleak picture — only two of the AMS’s businesses reported a net revenue (Blue Chip and The Pit) — but Bhangu said the businesses are in recovery, and doing better since students returned to campus.
Hiring issues and supply chain issues have impacted businesses Canada-wide and the AMS.
Getting more permanent full-time workers is tough, Bhangu said, due to UBC’s isolated location from the rest of the Lower Mainland. Slight wage increases for hourly staff passed at the beginning of 2022 helped, Bhangu said, but they’re looking at creative ways to lure in new staff.
One way could be hiring through the Government of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program — Bhangu said the AMS has gotten approval for four positions.
As for supply chain issues, Bhangu said it comes down to “negotiating” with suppliers and vendors. In the VP finance by-election debate, candidate and current AMS Strategy & Governance Lead Kamil Kanji suggested a “supply chain audit” for the AMS’s businesses. Bhangu said that could help.
“Quite frankly, [supply chain issues are] just a challenge we have to deal with for the moment.”
Another challenge is new competition — several new food outlets have opened on University Boulevard in the last few years, with Brown’s emerging as a direct competitor with the AMS’s Gallery Lounge & Patio.
Bhangu downplayed the impact, saying the lack of directly-competing businesses should dampen the blow. But as for The Gallery, she said the AMS has been investing in it through renovation and changes to its menu.
“We are trying to come up with things to deal with that competition and make [our businesses] more attractive to students,” she said. “At the end of the day, we are also cheaper than other places on campus. So hopefully that'll help as well.”
Bhangu said the AMS is trying to do targeted reports and social media engagement to try to raise awareness of their businesses.
Other solutions include a Blue Chip relocation — the AMS is planning to move Blue Chip into the old Pie “R” Squared location, and open two new food outlets where Blue Chip currently stands next academic year.
“We are trying to maximize opportunity within the spaces in the building,” she said. “The Blue Chip relocation is quite ambitious. I’m quite sure it will work out. Even opening the food outlet is a big opportunity to introduce food that isn’t there on campus. “
The AMS has also been expanding its on-campus catering to try to deal with lower revenues. Bhangu said that UBC’s catering business, Scholars, recently shut down, allowing the AMS to have a bit more available business on campus.
However, returning businesses to profitability requires a balancing act with the society’s commitment to affordability, Bhangu said.
“It's really important that we're continuing to balance our mission as a student union — that we're providing affordable options on campus, and still generating enough revenue to be able to support the rest of society with that.”