Minimum bar spend not met

Moosk21 · 1 October 2016 at 7:56PM

I recently organised a school reunion. The initial response I got was very positive therefore chose a venue fitting for the purpose. The venue had a £2,000 minimum spend policy and based on my responses and acceptances, I wasn't too concerned. However, only a small fraction of guests turned out and at the end we didn't come close to the minimum spend. £1,400 short to be exact.

I signed a contract and i'm now not sure how I'm going to pay this balance as I can't afford it. What will the venue do to reclaim the money from me??

Any advice would be appreciated.

determined_new_ms · 1 October 2016 at 8:21PM

I think you should contact everyone - those who attended and those who didn't and ask them to all contribute

sourcrates · 1 October 2016 at 8:37PM

When we had a recent school reunion we all paid upfront so it was all done and dusted beforehand no matter who turned up.

You should not of signed anything until you had the money in your hand, I fear you did not organise this very well at all.

There really is no limit to what they could do to recover there losses, depends how far there willing to take it.

You should really try to come to some arrangement with them.

Helvetica_Van_Buren · 2 October 2016 at 8:26AM

Moosk21 wrote: »

I recently organised a school reunion. The initial response I got was very positive therefore chose a venue fitting for the purpose. The venue had a £2,000 minimum spend policy and based on my responses and acceptances, I wasn't too concerned. However, only a small fraction of guests turned out and at the end we didn't come close to the minimum spend. £1,400 short to be exact.

I signed a contract and i'm now not sure how I'm going to pay this balance as I can't afford it. What will the venue do to reclaim the money from me??

Any advice would be appreciated.

It's regrettable that your event wasn't the success you hoped it would be but that's the nature of signing contracts - you agreed to do something which you didn't do. Imagine if it was the other way round and you were asking for advice because the venue had not fulfilled one of their responsibilities.

As a small-business owner it's frustrating when people do not fulfill their side of an agreement - whatever the reason or excuse may be. The venue will have costs for putting the night on: electricity bill, gas bill, staff wages, drinks bought, business rates, possibly rent.

My primary advice would be don't sign a contract where you don't have a great deal of direct control over the outcome of the situation.

With regards to the suggestion that you could ask the people that did (and/or did not) attend: you can try this but I think we all know you aren't going to get an over-whelming wave of positive responses.

If you wanted to stick to your side of the deal you could ask them to consider reducing the amount owed and/or offer a payment plan.

If you don't want to pay any of it, the venue will be within in their rights to issue a county court claim (after all the debt-chasing letters they'll likely issue) which - if they've got their paperwork in order - will likely be found in their favour and then you'll have to pay the bill anyway but with court fees added on.

If you still choose not to pay it at that stage, they can instruct bailiffs to attempt to recover the debt - which adds more cost on.

Having said this, there's a chance they might cease pursuing it at any of these stages and then you'll have got out of paying.

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob · 2 October 2016 at 10:32AM

Try talking to the bar. See if you can come to an arrangement.

If you get a negative response, then im afraid that might give you your answer.

Wimbrel · 2 October 2016 at 11:57AM

Is there a Facebook Group for your School Reunion ? If so I'd suggest posting to explain the situation then setting up a "Just Giving" page or similar so that people can chip in to help. If there's not such a page I'd set up a donations page anyway and send an email and a link to all the people you contacted about the reunion.People can donate what they want, be named or anonymous and you may well find that you get at least some way towards clearing the debt.
Meanwhile talk to the bar. You may well be able to negotiate a compromise and a payment plan.

Sorry you find yourself in such a situation.

geoffken · 2 October 2016 at 12:01PM

Find out how much "profit" they think they have lost and suggest you pay that.
After all if you had "spent" £2000 behind the bar they would have had all the "costs" of the drinks etc.
They would still have staff costs but not materials cost.

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob · 2 October 2016 at 7:15PM

You could always try the papers, whilst you have signed a contract you never know they might write a story and off you get

Moosk21 · 2 October 2016 at 9:34PM

Thanks for the responses guys. I did set up the event in facebook so I will ask if people are willing to contribute for damage limitation. I've emailed the bar telling them the situation so see what they say. Bar in question is Dukes92 in Castlefield, Manchester. I hired a room upstairs for a small fee but they have a huge downstairs area which was packed out that night.

boliston · 2 October 2016 at 10:01PM

Perhaps there were more people who had to drive than you expected?
If I'm not driving I'll normally have a couple of pints so that's a good 7 or 8 quid but if driving I'll probably have a pint at most then move on to soda water as there is no way i'd pay almost as much for a pint of coke as a pint of beer!

19lottie82 · 2 October 2016 at 11:37PM

£2000 is a LOT to take in one night!for a small ish pub, not to mention a private party.

I worked in a bar about 5 years ago and if it was really busy we'd prob only take £1200 from 6-12!

If they rent out this smaller room regularly, I really can't imagine the crowd hitting the minimum spend target all that often...... how many does the room hold?

TBH I can't imagine a load of folk who, let's face it, you prob won't see again, be willing to chip in for this.

Your best bet would be to speak to the bar and try and reach an agreement. Tell them what you can afford to pay and if they don't like it they can take you to court. Will they? I doubt it. And even if they do, and they are successful, a judge is only likely to award them what they actually lost, not some whimsical figure pulled out of thin air and stuck on a (most likely unenforceable) contract.

Minimum bar spend not met

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