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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRestaurant Association BID Minutes 01/22/2014 Minutes of the Newport Beach Restaurant Association Business Improvement District January 22, 2014 Muldoon’s Irish Pub-(downstairs Celtic Bar) 202 Newport Center Drive Newport Beach 949-644-7283 1) Call to Order President Jim Walker called the meeting to order at 9:35 am. 2) Roll Call Directors Present: Jim Walker The Bungalow Restaurant Thomas Giulioni Newport Dunes, Back Bay Bistro Sheri Drewry Wilma’s Patio Ali H. Zadeh Port Restaurant & Bar Cindy O’Shea Whole Foods No quorum was established. City Representatives: Mary Locey Public Information Specialist Anthony Nguyen City of Newport Beach BID Administrators: Bob Quaid Willdan Financial Services Public: Vicki Higgins Newport Beach & Company Polly Peak Newport Beach & Company Jim Mosher Newport Beach Resident Tim Brown Newport Beach Resident Peggy Fort CMC, Inc. Laurel McFarlane McFarlane Promotions Ciara Johnson McFarlane Promotions Chris Trela Newport Beach Independent 3) Public Comments on Agenda Items President Walker requested public comments. Jim Mosher commented that he had submitted written comments to Bob Quaid regarding the previous minutes and by-laws. Mr. Mosher also commented there should be a clear and separate accounting of the money being spent on Restaurant Week. 4) Approval of Minutes The Board was unable to approve the November 12, 2013 meeting minutes due to a lack of a quorum. Mr. Walker acknowledged that there were some possible corrections in the draft minutes for the November 12, 2013 meeting and that these corrections will be made as necessary. Approval of the November 12, 2013 minutes will be included on the agenda for a meeting to be scheduled in February 2014. 5) Current Business A) Chairman’s Report Mr. Walker commented that everybody was very interested in Restaurant Week updates so he proceeded directly to that agenda item. B) Restaurant Week (RW) Activities Update Laurel McFarlane of McFarlane Promotion (MP) handed out packets that included a variety of information. These packets listed all the restaurants (highlighting the new restaurants) that are participating in this year’s event. The packet also recapped the media plan, which promoted the whole area, not just the restaurants. These plans included: • Poster distribution and inserts in municipal water bill; • Magazine advertising in a large variety of local magazines; • Outdoor media including billboards, bus campaign and wrapped vehicles; • TV and Radio announcements; • Social Media including blogger reviews, Facebook, web listings. • Press releases and e-blasts Ms. McFarlane gave an update on sponsorships and RW fees stating MP got a late start on promotions but managed to secure $19,200 in RW fees in addition to restaurant gift certificates and in-kind donations. Ms. McFarlane indicated they will do a large, overall media recap once the event is over, and send surveys to the restaurants to see how thing went, what they would like to do differently, etc. Some Board member comments included: • Mr. Giulioni- Friday and Saturday lunch is way up from last year. The good weather may be a factor in the early success. • Mr. Zadeh - Too early to tell, but numbers are on par. Expect a busy weekend. • Ms. O’Shea - Restaurant has been slow, but grocery business has been phenomenal. Coming into second weekend, numbers will pick up. Second week is always better. • Mr. Walker - His restaurant is not experiencing same activity as last year. Hoping second weekend will show improvement. Sheri Drewry asked why there were no banners up promoting Restaurant Week. Mr. Walker responded that it was partly due to the conflict with the BCS banners in January and that the cost to put up banners would have been $6,000, which would not have been worth the expense due to the late start and the current BID budget situation. Mr. Walker requested that after Restaurant Week, the board would meet and recap, analyzing what factors positively or negatively affected the program this year and how it can be more effective. The budget will be included in this discussion, and Mr. Walker confirmed that there is separate accounting for Restaurant Week. C) BID Financial Reports for November and December 2013 Mr. Walker indicated that due to a lack of quorum, the Board would not be able to approve the financials at this meeting. Approval of the financials will be included on the agenda at the next meeting to be scheduled in February 2014. Mr. Quaid reviewed the November and December 2013 Financials. He presented a one- page projection of where the NBRA would be financially at the end of the fiscal year. A variety of questions and issues were presented: • At December 31, 2013, there are $102,800 in uncollected current and prior year assessments and penalties from BID members. • The decrease in revenue of nearly $4,000 between November and December was due to some receivables being determined as uncollectible mostly due to businesses that were determined by the City to be out of business and their dues are otherwise uncollectable. These amounts were written off against assessment revenue in December.. • The second (follow up) billing for the assessments has not gone out yet. The BID accountant was waiting to see if the NBRA was going to follow the lead of the CdM BID regarding amnesty. They have been advised to prepare and mail the penalty invoices. • In summary, the NBRA is projected to be short about $6,000 at the end of the fiscal year. • Mr. Guilioni stressed it is important that the Board focus on collecting the outstanding assessments and establishing mechanisms for some consequences for non-payment. • Vicki Higgins with Newport Beach & Company (NB&Co.) clarified that the offer of a $20,000 grant was strictly for marketing and rebuilding the BID website and would not be money given to the BID but used in-house by NB&Co. Mr. Walker asked Mary Locey with the City about the additional $10,000 offered by the City Council. Ms. Locey clarified that the additional $10,000 was to be paid directly to NB&Co. for additional branding and website efforts. • Mr. Walker mentioned that last year’s RW sponsorship were close to $25,000, which was not realized during this year’s RW. • Ali Zadeh asked why the BID budget deviated so much, specifically for marketing consultation and ad campaign? Ms. Locey stated that this year there were a lot of changes including new consultants Willdan, McFarlane and NB&Co. being added part way through the fiscal year that were not included in the original budget, in addition to the CMC contract being extended through February. Mr. Walker suggested a committee of three members to work with Mr. Quaid on developing next year’s budget prior to the end of this year. Mr. Guilioni complimented Bob Quaid for a job well done on presenting the BID’s current financial situation in the materials provided. D) Marina Park RFP Meeting: Restaurant Space Operation Anthony Nguyen handed out plans for the Marina Park facility and building. The City is looking for a café or restaurant operator inside the facility. The groundbreaking ceremony for the facility is scheduled for February 11, 2014. Next week, the City should be releasing a request for proposal (RFP) for a restaurant operator and will leave the RFP open-ended looking for guidance from the proposers to ensure that the space is exactly what is desired for the project. The City is looking for something a step up from the current 24 Carrots operations in the Civic Center with a casual sit down restaurant being preferred. Beer and wine licensing would be allowed. More details will be provided in the RFP. Mr. Nguyen stated that once a restaurant operator is selected, a second RFP will be issued for a caterer that will have the first right of refusal to cater events at Marina Park. Mr. Nguyen continued to answer specific Board member questions regarding the Marina Park RFP. E) NBRA Bid By-Laws Revisions Mr. Quaid presented the proposed change to the BID by-laws, as seen in Exhibit A of the agenda packet. Certain provisions of “Officers Compensation” (item #5) have been removed to be consistent with the Corona del Mar BID in that Board Members will not receive any compensation. Mr. Walker indicated that due to a lack of quorum, the Board would not be able to take action on this item. Approval of the by-laws revision will be included on the agenda at the next meeting to be scheduled in February 2014. F) 877 Number Agreement Vicki Higgins and Polly Peak from NB&Co. discussed the 877-4NBDINE number and the reservation system. The long-term service provider of the NBRA BID reservation service connected to this number is no longer providing this service. Presently, when a guest calls the 877 number it just rings. NB&Co. has removed the number from the NBRA website, but it is still shown in the current printed version of the dining guide. NB&Co. will try to determine how to transfer the 877 number to the Visit Newport Beach concierge. Ms. Peak also stated that the reservation system received a large number of calls/month on this number. G) Certified Folder Display Agreement Ms. Peak noted that Certified Folder Display (Certified) is the company that distributes the NBRA dining guide throughout Orange County, which is currently obsolete due to the outdated 877 number that is listed on every page. There are approximately 40,500 dining guides left in inventory and the contract with Certified is expired. It would cost approximately $12,000 to renew Certified’s contract for the twelve months of calendar 2014, Certified only enters into calendar year agreements. Besides having an outdated 877 number, the dining guide has the February of 2013 restaurant list that has since changed and is now obsolete in Ms. Peak’s opinion. Mr. Guilioni recommended deferring any decision until after the BID budget subcommittee could come back with recommendations to the Board on how NB&Co should proceed with marketing efforts. Mr. Walker preferred to combine a review of marketing with the RW recap at a special Board meeting in February. NB&Co. will continue to distribute dining guides as they are requested by community members through the website or phone calls and to NBRA BID members as requested. H) FY 2014-15 Budget Subcommittee Mr. Walker suggested the formation of a Budget Advisory Subcommittee to review and recommend a budget for BID activities for FY 2014-15. This committee can combine their finance meeting with a marketing meeting with NB&Co, who is trying to figure out a marketing plan for the whole year to be presented to the Board. Polly Peak reiterated the goals of the marketing plan. Jim Walker, Thomas Giulioni, John Robinson, and Joe Campbell will form this subcommittee. The budget subcommittee needs to pursue getting budgets clarified and better understood before April 2014. 7) Public Comments on Non-Agenda Items Mr. Walker introduced Tim Brown who is currently running for the Newport Beach City Council. 8) Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 10:44 a.m. 9) Next Scheduled Meeting: The next scheduled meeting was not announced but will be a date in February to be determined by the Board President.