Nevertheless, Sportscene managed to alleviate the impact of the sluggish economy on customer traffic by capitalizing on the year’s major sporting events, especially the hockey playoffs and the five boxing championships held by the subsidiary InterBox.
Sportscene’s consolidated revenues amounted to $76.6 million, compared with $81.3 million in 2009. This 5.7 per cent decrease is largely due to a slower Cage construction and renovation schedule than the previous year when Sportscene was implementing its new interior design concept. However, the decrease in revenues from restaurant operations, which accounted for 84.8 per cent of consolidated revenues, was 2.4 per cent.
The company has launched several projects during the past quarters to restore the growth of the La Cage aux Sports banner as of fiscal 2011, while further adapting its offering to consumers’s current environment. “Our reading of the economic context and recent trends in the restaurant industry leads us to believe the economic uncertainty of the last two years has brought about major changes in consumers’s habits, the effects of which could last for months,” said company president and CEO, Jean Bédard. ”At the same time, we are welcoming a new generation of customers with specific tastes and needs. Therefore, after having considerably developed and reinforced the “ambiance” component of La Cage concept over the past few years, we will now focus on reviewing, adjusting and enhancing its “menu” component to ensure our food and drink offering, along with its quality/price value, meet the expectations of today’s consumers. Meanwhile, we will also continue to capitalize on La Cage’s “Sports, Gang, Fun” ambiance by investing in the latest telecommunications technologies and by taking full advantage of the most popular sporting events among our customers, including boxing championships organized by our subsidiary InterBox.”
Resuming the physical expansion of La Cage aux Sports’s network is also on Sportscene Group’s agenda for fiscal 2011, with three new Cages to be built, one of which was opened in east Montreal in October 2010. And, one of the company’s units will be relocated to a better site.
