Jeremy Rowley
Jrowley1@uwyo.edu
The Gardens bar in the basement of the Wyoming Union has been implementing new business strategies following attempts last year to shut the location down.
“The Gardens financially wasn’t covering its costs,” Executive Director of the Wyoming Union Eric Webb, said. “So, as with any operation that is not covering its costs we made changes throughout the last handful of years to try and get it to a point where it would, and we got it down to a minimal amount of losses but it did operate at a loss.”
While the University of Wyoming does not need The Gardens to be a moneymaking venture, the bar must still be successful, Eric Webb, also the executive director of Residence Life & Dining Services on campus, said.
“Our goal really on any of these operations – it doesn’t really need to make money,” he said. “It needs to cover its costs, and all indications look like it’s now doing that.”
This newfound success comes from a number of calculated decisions to improve The Gardens’ income, Webb said. In addition to removing the lunch option, the bar’s schedule has undergone some changes.
“Mondays and Tuesdays were really the rougher two days of the week, logically, for an operation like that,” Webb said. “So now it’s open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and with each of those days there’s some sort of added programming feature to it. Whether that’s some sort of musical performance, some sort of event, international coffee hour or something, there’s something else going on to help draw people to that space. That programming has helped pick up traffic and raise awareness that it’s there.”
While no specific numbers were made available by press time, The Gardens has been more successful with these implemented changes, Webb said.
“It’s pretty early on – just like anything, you open with that wow factor,” Webb said. “But we think the benefit of the added programming is that it’s now covering its costs and feedbacks been good. Hopefully that’s sustainable. We’re very optimistic about that being strong through the years.”
When numerous students and faculty, like those behind the ‘Save The Gardens’ Facebook page, called for the university to give The Gardens this second chance, it came out of a love for something special, Shayne Kelly, manager at The Gardens, said.
“I honestly think that a lot of students tried to keep it because we’re one of the few campuses in the U.S. that have a bar and I think that kind of sets us apart a little bit,” Kelly said. “I think that’s something that we should not necessarily advertise for the alcohol, but just advertise because it’s a little bit different. Also it’s just a nice place where people can come and relax, and if they want to just kick back and have a beer or something it’s easy.”
Kelly, working her second year at The Gardens, said the bar’s changes were not without stumbles.
“It’s definitely varied a lot because, I think right at the beginning it was really unclear – a lot of people do think we closed. A lot of people were really surprised to find out we hadn’t,” Kelly said. “And honestly, being closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, I think it throws people off a little bit. They don’t realize we’re still going to be open later in the week.”
The closure for the first two days of the week is understandable, given their less active nature in past, Kelly said. However, there are other potential issues with the new schedule.
“I personally think that opening at four is hurting us a little bit because a lot of classes end at three and people aren’t gonna stay on campus for an extra hour to wait for us to open,” Kelly said.
“Honestly, I think it’s just a nice place in the center of campus where you can come and have a beer and relax,” Kelly said. “But also, we have a lot of events down here, especially this semester.”
