JOHN COFFELTEditor

A 2023 Annual Report of the Manchester Coffee Count Conference Center presented during the Sept. 13 Manchester Public Building Authority Meeting showed the center making a gross profit higher than what was budgeted.

“The biggest thing for me was we under budget for payroll on both sides, variable labor (hourly employees) and salaried labor,” conference center General Manager Rebecca French told the board.

“That is a great trend and why we are able to stay almost $20,000 under budget,” French said.

While the gross profits listed only factor in the cost of goods sold, (food costs), the center also sees additional expenses like a total labor cost of both hourly and salary labor of $641,916.30.

Repairs and maintenance expenses came in under budget for 2023, though one HVAC unit is completely down as of the September meeting. Maintenance was budgeted at $93,414 for the year.

Conference Center sales have been improving in the years since the pandemic shut down the tourism /hospitality industry.

French said sales in 2021 were $5,956.90. In 2022 that amount climbed to $25,156.53 and then almost doubled to $42,801 in 2023. The projected sales for 2024 are anticipated to reach $47, 952.98.

According to the report, MCCCC hosted 295 event days, welcomed 27,480 visitors and generated 2,688 hotel rooms on campus. Guests who may have stayed at other hotels in the area were not counted.

The guest count did not include the victims of the Carden Estate Apartments fire who were temporarily relocated to the facility.

The report said that center events generated a reported $739,000 in gross sales. French said that $56,469 was given back to the community as in-kind donations.

A detailed look at the July 2023-June 2014 Profit and Loss Budget Performance sheet shows a total income of $739,401.95. From that amount $190,815.63 was listed as good sold for a gross profit of $548,586.12.

The city contributed $350,000 in discretionary allocations, which came in below the $500,000 request from the MPBA.

The total operating expenses for the facility is listed as $988,834.11.

“There was a lot of effort from the conference center and the PBA to improve communication, work better together and work better together with elected officials,” French said. “That wasn’t very well received or attended.”

French invited the public to attend MPBA meeting held monthly at 11:30 a.m. on the second Friday of each month where the monthly profit and loss report is discussed. It is reported that over the past year, no citizen has attended a MPBA meeting.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.