As you will see from our heading, yesterday’s Queen Victoria
Market Advisory Committee meeting covered a broad range of issues which we will
attempt to summarise here.
The meeting was attended by members of QVM Management and
all Trader Representatives except Ben Vitalone. Apologies were received from Matt
Ryan and Board Members, Paul Sheahan and Jane Fenton.
1.Joanne Wandel – Renewal Program Director
was introduced to the group and she gave us a brief rundown on the following
matters.
Munro’s
Construction on Therry St. – submissions for the building to be constructed
on the Munro site have been received from some high profile developers
including CBUS the superannuation giant. Submissions are being worked through
at present with a number of advisers contributing to the assessment. Final bids
are expected to be in by the end of April with a decision hoped for mid-year.
Renewal
Implementation Plan – the project team is preparing for the
immense task of construction sequencing and timing. Joanne hopes to have some
initial thoughts ready by April/May although contact from traders is welcome at
anytime.
2. New CEO Appointment Update – a shortlist
for the role of QVM CEO is expected by the end of January with interviews
during February and hopefully an announcement by the end of March.
3. Proposed 2016 Trading Calendar – The
changing Christmas calendar brings with it decisions on when traders will trade.
In 2016 (Christmas falls on a Sunday) do we trade on the Wednesday before
Christmas? The Tuesday after Christmas is a public holiday but do we trade?
What about Grand Final Friday 2016 and Australia Day 2017 which falls on a
Thursday?
It was agreed that all relevant dates
would be advertised in the next Trader’s Bulletin with an invitation for
traders to express their views.
4. Green Cabs – this is a new concept of
bicycle power taxis. QVM has given approval for the market to be placed on the
Green Cabs stopover options and the market will be supporting advertising on
some of the cabs.
5. Chinese New Year – The City of
Melbourne have upped the involvement in Chinese New Year this year and QVM will
be a key part. See our article - http://www.victraders.com/2016/01/chinese-new-year-festival-lights-up-qvm.html
Traders are asked to monitor the impact of the
Chinese New Year celebrations and the effect on their businesses. This feedback
will be used for future decisions on how resources are allocated to this type
of event.
It was noted that
QVM have asked the City of Melbourne to change to name of the event next year
to Lunar New Year so as to embrace the wider Asian community.
6. Melbourne BBQ Festival - QVM’s involvement will commence Saturday
night as contestants set up their BBQ facilities prior to a Sunday cook-off.
The feature event will take place at Flemington Racecourse the following weekend.
7. Trading Ideas – Marketing Workshop. QVM
are keen to engage traders in a Tuesday afternoon workshop with next Tuesday’s
theme being creative marketing ideas for the 2016/17 business year. See separate
article.
8. Recent Power Supply Issues – this item
came from a power outage in the food halls leading up to Christmas. It would
seem that power source was the major problem with ongoing discussions with City
Power and new sub-station design in the mix. The market is also examining the
purchase of emergency power generation. The summation from management is that
much work is being done to prevent a recurrence but it is difficult to give
guarantees.
9. Market Security Measures – this issue
related to a break in at an external cool room on Christmas Day when apparently
security cameras were not working.
10. Extended Leave Letter – management have
agreed to review the wording on official letters relating to traders returning
after extended leave and the status of their stall holdings.
11. Directional Signage – this item was for
mention with consideration currently being given to the use of static signs and
the possibility of digital signage.
12. Christmas 2015 – Draft Review – Trader
Representatives were asked for feedback on the impact of Christmas promotions.
It was generally agreed that Christmas had presented robust trading conditions
and it was felt that lead up events like the market re-branding could have been
influential. The observation was made that there are many factors impacting on
sales including daily weather patterns. It was suggested that at Christmas time
in particular the lead page on the QVM website should focus on trading hours as
a customer convenience measure.
13. Trader Assessment Criteria – The last
meeting of this sub-committee was presented with a possible format which took
in a wide range of factors for assessing trader performance. This is an
important issue and it was agreed that we would seek additional traders to
participate in the sub-committee evaluation. See separate article.
14. Enforcement of Rules (Set-up and Pack-down)
– instances of late set-up and early pack-down have drawn criticism from
traders as their businesses are impacted by inconsiderate acts of a minority.
It was noted that current rules expect traders to be in position for stall
set-up by 8:00am and completed by 9:00am with aisles clear of storage boxes.
Official closing times are known to all. Traders were seeking enforcement of
these requirements by market officers with a process of communication with
offenders followed by more direct action if necessary. To be reviewed at our
next meeting.
15. Stall Spreading – given the changing
nature of vacant stalls it was agreed that this process required a complete
re-look. It was agreed that a sub-committee would be set up to examine better
ways of administering stall spreading including ease of administration for
traders and management staff, capacity of traders to achieve a professional
looking spread, and the possibility of other forms of gap-filling to maintain a
cohesive look to our market. See separate article on sub-committees.
16. Extreme Heat Policy – Trader
representatives have submitted a case for additional leave for traders 65 years
of age and over on days forecast to exceed 36 degrees C. Traders in that age
group are considered at risk by various health and statutory organisations and
representatives believe they should not be penalised when adopting good health
practice. See separate article.
Other Matters – Trader Sales Feedback –
it was agreed that a method of confidentially reporting sales data for a core
group of traders would be of immense assistance in evaluating market
performance and the impact of special promotions and events at the market.
Next Meeting – the next QVMAC meeting
is scheduled for Thursday 25th February 2016.