I cannot really think of ideas right now as I am very tired from two hours of traveling on the train! Anyway, I have been to almost every Quarters event so far; had fun at some and didn't enjoy other ones. I have to agree though that we (most first years) do pre-drink then go to Quarters but I think that happens with every group of first years. Oh and I am a member of SWHAT and we were told that we can turn down anyone that is drunk if we do not feel comfortable walking them. Anyway, I personally think Quarters should have more themed nights because those attract a lot more students. I have asked others about their opinion on Quarters and from what I have heard, they don't like going there because the line up is much longer, the timing of events always conflicts with midterms or they can get cheaper drinks somewhere else. Heck, most of the other students I know prefer going to Charlie West over Quarters even though it's farther. Quarters should have more promotions so that students would actually be interested in going there (cheaper drinks on some nights, group specials etc). They should take advantage of the fact that it's the most convenient location for most students. They haven't been doing so as to why students prefer other locations that have more to offer. I would emphasize more on what I am trying to say but I am hitting the sack so I'll think of something better in the morning.

Why pay for a consultant when you can get it for free?

Mac has a 1st rate Business School on campus. Leverage that! There are a number of 3rd and 4th year Marketing Courses where groups of Commerce Students get together and have to serve as Consultants for free. They come up with very long and detailed marketing reports and could make their presentation to the SRA. In addition, their Profs help them along the way so you're getting professional grade consultation for free.

Quarter's biggest problem right now, imo, is the lack of any sort of proper promotion team.

Club nights are not promoted at all. If they are, it's definitely way too subtle for me to have noticed it. Yes everyone knows that Thursdays are club nights, but promotion is still important.

First, Every Thursday night should be some sort of event. Flyers are key, even if they are just online (i.e. facebook), and there should be an official facebook event for every single week. You need to create hype, even if it's all bullshit, to get people to come out.

Second, they should really consider looking into sponsorship to not only bring money in, but also hype up club nights more. As far as I know, there is still some sort of contract with coke in place at Mac. Why not speak to their promotions team and see if we can get Monster energy drinks to sponsor one night? Lots of clubs do this. Why not also try seeking out alcohol companies to sponsor events? I've been to many parties where there are either free handouts for a limited time, i.e. a vodka company sponsors the event and free vodka drinks are given out between 10-11 while stock lasts at the bar (stock which is provided by the sponsoring company). Or, the company supplies it's own promotion team that walks around in the club and hands out free shots/beers/whatever at certain points throughout the night.

There is plently of money to be made off of corporate sponsors. Quarters is pretty much exclusively a university crowd, something that many companies would love to exploit.

They really need to rework the way the line and guestlist are run. Guestlist should not be difficult to get on, i.e. you should not have to wake up at 5 in the morning on Thursday to lineup for guestlist. They should have a proper promotion team with a guestlist quota and guestlist should be easy to get onto, i.e. via text, phonecall, email, facebook, etc. Every other proper club in Toronto and most in Hamilton operate this way.

There should not be a line when the club is empty, and yes, the club is empty a lot of the times when there is a line. This is especially true given the amount of time it takes to actually get in (i.e. name checks). Either set a time for doors where the doors will actually be opened or don't say doors are at 9 when they actually aren't going to be opened until 930 or 10.

Additionally, they should really consider making the club 19+ to avoid any bullshit. First, no money is made off of underagers besides cover which is not where the majority of their profits come from anyhow. Second, it will help remove problems associated with underage drinking and the whole young crowd vibe. I'm in fourth year, and I feel like an old creepy dude every Thursday I'm there.

Lastly, consider a senior line/line bypass to encourage older students to come. Unless my brother is bullshitting me, when he went to Mac years ago they had line bypass for upper years either at the old Jon or at Quarters. This is not difficult to incorporate (your student number starts with the year you enrolled, i.e. fourth years numbers start with 05) and will definitely attract upper years to the club.

On second thought, furrys has just explained all the points I mentioned earlier. The key idea for Quarters to be successful is promotion. However, I don't think it should just be 19+. There should be a limit on the number of underage students though. Remember, the first years go on to second year and if they do not get a chance to experience Quarters then it's more than likely that they would not go there in the future.

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

-As someone mentioned below quarters needs to lose the subliminal image of being a "nightclub". It should be more of a campus bar/pub where people actually "hang out" and hence spend money. Looking at the number of people who hang around at random places(Mills, Student centre), Quarters could possibly be another one to the list. I think though the presidential candidates have covered it

- The food definitely needs to improve ALOT! It has been "rubbish"(For the lack of better word) every time! And that is coming from a person who has grown up in a third world country!

- Quarters could turn into a hub for local musicians! If they allow local/Mac bands to play on random evenings(7-9 or 9-11) when there are no "campus events" events going on. This model has been used by a number of other pubs.

These are amazing ideas! The hangout idea? Perfect! I mean, my friends and I have to literally fight people to sit places, especially in the student's center. Setting up more chairs, tables and especially couches in Quarters would help solve the 'space crisis' and help bring more money in...the only problem would be moving things around for when the 'dance floor/big open space' is needed.

But couches alone won't draw people in... a change in atmosphere is needed too. Offering more 'lunchy' selections, better food and occasional live bands on some nights would seal the deal.

Think less club and more cafe...

Originally Posted by furrys

Why not also try seeking out alcohol companies to sponsor events? I've been to many parties where there are either free handouts for a limited time, i.e. a vodka company sponsors the event and free vodka drinks are given out between 10-11 while stock lasts at the bar (stock which is provided by the sponsoring company). Or, the company supplies it's own promotion team that walks around in the club and hands out free shots/beers/whatever at certain points throughout the night.

Although I think corporate sponsorship is a good idea, I don't think that a school establishment is allowed to give away free alcohol. I am sure there would be liability with this.

actually Quarters does have corporate sponsorships..

because of the Coke Contract, Quarters has gotten all the fridges and beverage system free of charge.

there are also deals in place for alcohol. it's why we have jager all over the place, budwesier signage all over the place etc. they pay to get in there.

the problem with 19+ is that it isn't sustainable. look at this year. first year's dont really go to quarters unless they know upper years because Charlie West seems to turn a blind eye to underage drinking, and so we have things like Whidden Wednesdays. We need to have it 18+ so that people get used to the fact that they go to Quarters. I for one have been going to Quarters just about every thursday in the past 3 years because for the year before that (my first year) I was always there.

on the same token, hearing people's complaints is great because it shows that there is some real miscommunication happening.

for one, Quarters does actually put up posters for just about everything they do, and they do have a facebook profile that puts on a facebook event all the time: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pr...04 255&ref=ts and a group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/gr...d=9788365 010

but of course, the lack of people in the group, and friending the profile is obviously a problem.

anyways, here are my thoughts after going through a lot of people's ideas.

Rohan's Thoughts!

1) Quarters is badly laid out. Half the time there are too many people, the other half there are too few. I personally think this is because there pub side holds too few people, and the dance floor side holds too many. If that middle wall is not load-bearing, we need to rip it down, and expand the restaurant side with more seating to make it more lounge-like.

2) There needs to be a dedicated promotions team at Quarters. Having the managers deal with that stuff themselves is a waste of their time, when there could be better things for them to do.

3) We need to reattract all the people who have gone there once and never gone back. As far as I am concerned, the Thursday nights are not the problem, but those moments when there is nobody in the place, with a full wait staff are. It is also not as simple as cutting a staff member early in their shift either, because I've seen the place go from empty as hell, to packed, within 10 minutes, and the staff is laid out such that they can handle the rush.

4) More incentives for people to come back during the week, other than Thursdays. I'm in Quarters a LOT of the time, and the people I see there are all pretty familiar. We need more than just the regulars to show up there. This means that the kitchen needs to stop slacking so people don't have a reason to go elsewhere.

5) More deals. As far as I know, people come into the place for the weekly deals: wing night on Mondays, nachos and beer tuesdays, rib wednesdays, appy hour thursdays. We should do more of that, just like Phoenix does.

We should also expand on the taps we have and get other beers in. IMO the lineup should be:

Domestic: Canadian, Coors, Blue
Premium: Keith's, Rickard's Red, Rickard's White, Apricot Ale, Waterloo Dark
Imports: Strongbow, Stella, Guinness

+ 1 Rotating tap with something new each month for beer drinkers who want to experiment.

6) Improve the pub staples - every time I order nachos I have to specify that I want them with lots of real cheese, jalapenos, and no lettuce. The waitresses are happy to oblige and the kitchen does a great job with this direction. I am not sure of how many other people try this.

Pretty much, if we get rid of the Cheese Whiz shit they use, and cut the soggy ass lettuce out of the nachos, and irish nachos, I'm sure more people would buy them. Case in point: Phoenix Fries, or West End Fries.

The Quarters Burgers are also pretty decent. We just need a bit more diversity with toppings. Aka BBQ Sauce, bacon etc.

7) Half-price appetizers after 9PM. Look at Snooty Fox. Their biggest clientele flood is around 12PM for appetizers. We should use this model, but since Quarters generally runs until 11PM, we can capitalize on the earlier 9-11 time shift. This would mean busting out a new kitchen menu for those times with super cheap, and super easy stuff -> garlic bread, proper bruschetta, spinach dip, chicken bites. Stuff that can be made with pretty basic, and cheap ingredients, and that are tasty and popular.

8) IMPROVING WINGS. With the exception of my gf, just about everyone loves wings. Quarters wings are lacking for many reasons.

a) Inconsistency. I have no idea what to order on any given day because there is no consistency on spice. At any other place I would order hot wings, but I ordered a medium the other day at Quarters and couldn't eat it because it was insanely spicy. I gave a wing to Vishal (Mr. President-Elect) who also found it really hot, and all summer he was a Hell's Kitchen Afficionado.

b) OVER SAUCING. The other day my wings were swimming in sauce. I hate this. Wings, while needing flavour, should never look like they have a damn curry of hot sauce.

HOWEVER. on the plus side, Quarters wings are pretty nicely sized, and you get a ton of them. We should use this to our advantage.

Things that have changed/Things I am seeing changing - FOR THE BETTER!

First off, most of the employees are awesome. I've seen far fewer inattentive employees, and most of the ones who work there at this point in time are far faster and more helpful than any in my past 3 years at Mac.

Yes, there are some waitresses who are slow as hell, and the kitchen staff makes mistakes a lot, but from my experiences in the past few months, the shift supervisors always spring into action as soon as they know something is going on, and the great waitresses (and waiter hahahaha) easily make up for the bad ones. With that said, I do avoid certain ones.

(Small tip, on really busy days, go to the bar. The bartenders are pretty much always on the ball with food orders and stuff because they have less distance to travel).

The addition of DJ Krumbles is awesome. I only hope someone can take over in September who is equally good. From the 5 Thursdays this semester, I think it's safe to say that there is a resurgence in popularity of the Quarters Thursdays. There have been insane crowds for Ian's Whiteout Party (First Thurs), and a massive one on this previous one as well. The ones in between have also been solid, and even though last week's was less nuts than the rest, the staff only had one bar going (thus cutting down wage costs.)

Quarters is changing for the better, and it needs one final big push in terms of restaurant quality before I believe we will feel content about the place.

Originally Posted by deadpool

actually Quarters does have corporate sponsorships..

because of the Coke Contract, Quarters has gotten all the fridges and beverage system free of charge.

there are also deals in place for alcohol. it's why we have jager all over the place, budwesier signage all over the place etc. they pay to get in there.

i didn't know this, glad they are taking advantage. however, i don't feel like it's advertised too well (in respect to these drink deals) as this is the first time i've heard about it. granted, quarters already has really cheap drinks so maybe that's why it went over my head.

Originally Posted by deadpool

the problem with 19+ is that it isn't sustainable. look at this year. first year's dont really go to quarters unless they know upper years because Charlie West seems to turn a blind eye to underage drinking, and so we have things like Whidden Wednesdays. We need to have it 18+ so that people get used to the fact that they go to Quarters. I for one have been going to Quarters just about every thursday in the past 3 years because for the year before that (my first year) I was always there.

i feel this, and all age events are a good idea, but quarter's staple night is thursdays and if it's a fun party that is promoted well, people are going to want to go when they turn 19. maybe i wrote what i was trying to say poorly earlier, but i think that the thursday club night should be 19+ rather than every event or whatever.

Originally Posted by deadpool

for one, Quarters does actually put up posters for just about everything they do, and they do have a facebook profile that puts on a facebook event all the time: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pr...04 255&ref=ts and a group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/gr...d=9788365 010

but of course, the lack of people in the group, and friending the profile is obviously a problem.

unless i'm mistaken, i don't recall any promotion for their regular thursday night. i've seen plenty of promotion for concerts, events, the odd saturday, and stuff campus events throws, but besides the whiteout party (which was promoted really, really well), i've never seen any sort of promotion on facebook or otherwise for thursday nights. something that i think really needs to change. the facebook group has only about 400 members whereas the campus events group has something like 2500+. campus events promotes like crazy, is active, and interacts with students. on the other hand, the quarters is group is pretty much dead.

i think quarters has a really unique vibe that can be taken advantage of in many fun and interesting ways. however, i think this is something that really needs creative promoter(s) who are not only concerned about bringing people in, but also creating a really fun atmosphere and party.

anyhow, i agree with many of the suggestions you made and i'd also like to reiterate that the bar staff at quarters is a hell of a lot better than the bar staff i've experienced in many other clubs/pubs throughout hamilton. as far as bouncers go, i've heard stories, but have never had problems myself. that said, everyone has bouncer stories for every bar so i can't really take what is i've heard too seriously.

The deals aren't explicitly stated, but as you said, the cheapness of drinks is an indication. We pay $5.25 for jager bombs, whereas other bars would charge you upwards of $7. In Hess it climbs to the $10 mark.

As for promotion, yeah, I totally see your point with the White-Out party and concerts vs. regular nights. The biggest difference is that the concerts and other events are put on by Campus Events which has a dedicated events team for that purpose. The White-Out promotion was handled by Ian Finlay with help from me, and we pushed hard on Frost Week to get people out. That sort of promotion is needed for bigger nights that happen at Quarters.

I also find the bouncers to be completely fine compared to the bouncers at some other bars I've been to. I've never been ejected from Quarters without reason (unlike Hess), I've never been assaulted by bartenders etc.

I think a lot of the stories coming out of there come from kids with mouths that are too big. In my time I have seen countless fights between patrons, and the difference with Quarters bouncers and other bars is that Quarters bouncers have to drag people out in front of the line etc, and so people complain of mistreatement and get 40 others agreeing.

The problem is that people are generalizing too much, and the good employees' actions are outshone by the few weak employees, and then people decide that Quarters isn't a good place for them.

Originally Posted by Alex McColl

Why pay for a consultant when you can get it for free?

Mac has a 1st rate Business School on campus. Leverage that! There are a number of 3rd and 4th year Marketing Courses where groups of Commerce Students get together and have to serve as Consultants for free. They come up with very long and detailed marketing reports and could make their presentation to the SRA. In addition, their Profs help them along the way so you're getting professional grade consultation for free.

Level Nightclub... lol.

Hi all, great thread Matt! I've taken the time to go through everyone's posts and I'll try and summarize some of the big ideas that have been presented by some of our users. Thanks for your input so far everyone, it's great to see ideas and feedback being bounced around, and I'll be sure to forward these ideas on to the Ismael, the Quarter's General Manager.


Marketing/Promotion/Events

• Better Promotion / A Quarters Promo Team
  Better marketing of Quarters events not run by the MSU Campus Events department. As noted, Quarters does have a Facebook group and a website, though not utilized to full potential. (Suggestion by AndrewC, second furrys, deadpool)
  (Note: Campus Events promotes their own events - concerts, etc. - through their own Promotions Team and from the feedback here, they are doing a good job at promoting those events. Disclaimer: I am a staff member of MSU Campus Events. Matt Wright - thread starter - is also MSU Campus Events Staff).
• Varsity Sports
  More events incorporating Varsity Sports (Suggestion by AndrewC)
• Utilize Business Students
  Utilize the business school students who are in Marketing to come up with a plan to better market quarters (Suggestion by Alex McColl).
• Screen MLB/NBA/NFL and European Soccer Live Events
  Suggestion by huzaifa47
  
• "Random" Mac Musician / Open Mic nights
  Suggestion by huzaifa47
  
• Themed Nights
  Suggestion by nino
• Focus on running more events for student clubs
  Actively partner with MSU Student Clubs to hold their events, which would, in theory, be self-promoted by the club and bring in more clientel (suggestion by Alex McColl)
• More Weekly Deals
  "People come into the place for the weekly deals: wing night on Mondays, nachos and beer tuesdays, rib wednesdays, appy hour thursdays. We should do more of that, just like Phoenix does". (Suggestion by deadpool)

Target Age Group / Underagers

• 19+ only, and/or Mature/Upper-year Only Night(s)
  Discontent with clashing between young, underage student vibe and the older, upper-year student vibe. Suggestion for line for upper years only. (Suggested by DavidR - Second by kokosas, RoyK, furrys)

Atmosphere

• More focus on 'lounge' area during day
  This is one I've been pushing for a while and think is important. Take advantage of the seating problems in the Student Centre during the day and open up more lounge seating in Quarters pub and/or club dance floor area with couches and moveable chairs for students to 'hang out' and ultimately purchase food/drinks while they are there. Furniture would be moved to open up club/dance area when needed. Suggestion of a cafe-style lounge during the day. Suggestion: have coffee served in morning to lounge area, use coffee from Union Market. Difficulty is with having no set 'image' for the Quarters Brand, as cafe-style (like Williams) is completely different than campus pub/bar image - and would require some rebranding (Suggestions by huzaifa47, c.erl, Chad).
• Classier Attire - New Outfits and/or Dress Code for Quarters Staff
  Having staff adhere to a strict dress code, something including a collared shirt minimum. Following London Tap House as an example. Classier staff, in theory, would help improve the Quarters brand as being more classier and less 'shady' with the v-necks. (Suggested by Matt Wright, Second by lorend, kokosemara)
• Mac Spirit
  More McMaster branding and graphics inside to feel more like a campus pub and show Mac spirit (Suggestion by user Phoenix, Second by AndrewC)
• Better Daytime Lighting
  Better lighting in pub/bar area to make it more inviting and easier to see (Suggestion by kokosemara)
• Removal of Obtrusive Ad Boxes
  Removal of large advertising boxes in the front hall (Suggestion by kokosemara)
• Focus on club 'monopoly' on campus
  Take advantage of being the only club on campus by making it the big focus rather than the image of being a bar/pub (Suggestion by Alex McColl)
• Smelly Odour
  I'll agree with this one, Quarters has an odour. Whether it's a good or bad one, most students who have replied here don't like the smell and think it should be improved. (Suggested by adrian, Second by kokosemara)
• Break down wall/barrier between bar and club area
  Break it down to open up the area and make the pub side bigger, and the club side smaller. Easier flow between sections. (Suggestion by deadpool)

Bouncers

• Zero Tollerance Policy
  Stricter policies put in place to (a) eliminate bribe acceptance, (b) have much stricter security at the 'alternative' entrances to stop students from entering the exits, (c) eliminate 'harrasing' of customers (the students) who are trying to get into the club to just enjoy themselves. Breaking of this policy results in immediate firing of employee. (Suggestions by jesus and Alex McColl, second Matt Wright)

Service

• Overall Faster Service
  Increase the speed of service. (Suggestion by Alex McColl)

Menu

• Increased Food Quality
  Increasing the quality of the pub fare to more expensive quality ingredients/choices. Theoretically students are willing to pay more for better food and would prefer slightly higher priced higher quality pub fare (eg. The Pheonix) over very cheap but lower quality food. (Suggested by kokosas, Second by huzaifa47, lorend, Chad)
• More Beer Selection
  Expand on the taps we have and get other beers in. IMO the lineup should be:
  Domestic: Canadian, Coors, Blue
  Premium: Keith's, Rickard's Red, Rickard's White, Apricot Ale, Waterloo Dark
  Imports: Strongbow, Stella, Guinness
  + 1 Rotating tap with something new each month for beer drinkers who want to experiment. (Suggestion by deadpool)
• Make the nachos with REAL CHEESE!
  I have to agree with Rohan on this one. "Improve the pub staples - every time I order nachos I have to specify that I want them with lots of real cheese, jalapenos, and no lettuce. The waitresses are happy to oblige and the kitchen does a great job with this direction. I am not sure of how many other people try this. Pretty much, if we get rid of the Cheese Whiz shit they use, and cut the soggy ass lettuce out of the nachos, and irish nachos, I'm sure more people would buy them. Case in point: Phoenix Fries, or West End Fries." (Suggestion by deadpool)
• More choice for burger toppings
  "more diversity with toppings. Aka BBQ Sauce, bacon etc." (Suggestion by deadpool)
• Half-price appetizers past a certain time
  "Half-price appetizers after 9PM. Look at Snooty Fox. Their biggest clientele flood is around 12PM for appetizers. We should use this model, but since Quarters generally runs until 11PM, we can capitalize on the earlier 9-11 time shift. This would mean busting out a new kitchen menu for those times with super cheap, and super easy stuff -> garlic bread, proper bruschetta, spinach dip, chicken bites. Stuff that can be made with pretty basic, and cheap ingredients, and that are tasty and popular." (Suggestion by deadpool)
• More consistency with wings
  Increase consistency in the spices of sauses used on wings. DON'T OVER SAUCE! (Suggestion by deadpool)

Other

• Professional Consultant Report (Expertice in Restaurant Management)
  Have a professional consultant come in who is an expert in restaurant management to put together a report of suggestions on how to improve the Quarters brand and the daily operations of the venue. Provide these suggestions to both Quarters Management and the SRA/MSU B.O.D. (Suggested by owenadam)
• Removal of the "Quarters Line Bypass" cards for MSU/SRA staff until Quarters is a profitable business
  (Suggested by Alex McColl)
• Stop Line Holding
  Stop purposely holding up the line while the club is not full. Line should only be long if club is nearing capacity, otherwise line should move fast and not be long. Possibly have two lines, one for 19+ and one for 18 yr olds/underage. (Suggestions by Alex McColl and Matt Wright, Second furrys).
• Sheesha Lounge
  Suggested by huzaifa47
• Make Guestlist easier to get onto
  Options to e-mail, call, Facebook, text, etc. (Suggestion by furrys)
• Better promote SHWAT services
  Better promoting the walk-home program to students needing to walk home from Quarters late at night (those who are sober). (Suggestion by Alex McColl)

Any other ideas? I will forward these on to the Quarters General Manager and see if we can get a reply for MacInsiders users.

Hey Chad its a great Idea to summarize our points and actually SEND it to the manager of Quarters. However I think One point I would highly recommend you to add is to have a volunteer survey/discussion session with the International/Exchange students who might have a different outlook as to what's wrong with Quarters and how the bars/pubs at their university are succesful(assuming). Remember they have only been here for 6 months or so and whatever they do or say is pure observation.
You could get in touch with the international students centre/department, they do send me(Being an international student) regular emails regarding events, surveys, volunteer oppurtunites on campus. They could easily send one regarding Quarters.

Digressing slightly...how does removing the courtesy cards of the SRA/some MSU PTMs make Quarters more profitable? They're for line by-pass...which doesn't include the cost of cover...

Originally Posted by lorend

Digressing slightly...how does removing the courtesy cards of the SRA/some MSU PTMs make Quarters more profitable? They're for line by-pass...which doesn't include the cost of cover...

Well it wouldn't be an Alex McColl post with some jab or the other at the SRA who didn't elect him.

After days of contemplation the only possible answer for that is: The SRA/PTM members get to stand in a line for a long period of time(Even when as someone mentioned the floor/club itself is empty) and in doing so develop some form of "empathy" for the experience regular patrons go through :S

Probably could be backed up by some obsure historical reference to Roman/Ottoman emperors who sneaked into the daily life of "commoners/peasants" to see things first hand

But that's just a long long shot! The cynical side of me would side with Rohan's theory maybe.