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NFL punter plays host in Vancouver

NFL punter plays host in Vancouver

From the Globe and Mail, Thursday, Jan 28, 2010

At the time of Expo 86, Mitch Berger was just another teenager pumping quarters into arcade video games in downtown Vancouver, one more 14-year-old kid missing out on the citywide party.

Things will be a little different this time around. For a start, Berger is a celebrated National Football League athlete, a punter with the Denver Broncos. He plans to enjoy the 2010 Games while promoting the stable of restaurants of which he's part owner.

"I'll be in Vancouver to enjoy it, and definitely be spreading the word about our restaurants," said the 37-year-old football player, who hints that he may do so with a few teammates in tow.

The celebrity factor gives those restaurants - most notably the Players Chophouse locations in Vancouver and Whistler - a big lead in the great scramble among Vancouver restaurants to earn Olympian profits.

That lead is fortified when you add in the prime locations that the Points West Restaurant Group has secured during the past three years as it built toward this Olympic season. Points West's expansion strategy saw it open three restaurants specifically targeting Games-related revenues and, all told, Points West will be serving upward of 10,000 meals at its restaurants in Whistler and Metro Vancouver.

Prime among those is the Players Chophouse in the heart of Vancouver, just 50 metres from BC Place, where the opening, closing and nightly victory ceremonies will be held. The previous tenant ran into financial difficulties, but Players Chophouse has had much better luck, said Rob Ward, principal at Points West. "As soon as we started doing work, we had knocks on the door," he said.

That early interest quickly gelled into a lucrative deal with Olympic sponsor Bell Canada. Not only has Bell paid for use of the entire restaurant for the early part of each Olympic evening (the PCH, as it's known, will likely open to the public after 10 p.m.), but the company has assembled an entertainment lineup to rival the opening ceremonies of the Games. Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, Colin James and Paul Brandt will all be performing at the restaurant.

What will be a hot spot during the Olympics has been a bit out of the way in the runup to the Games: the restaurant has lost money the last two years. "But the carrot that's dangling in front of us is the Olympics," Ward said.

Unlike its namesake in Vancouver, the PCH in Whistler did not secure that one big deal. "No one was banging down our door," Ward said - but they certainly have the benefit of a prime location. Without the safety net of a big contract, he says the key to success in Whistler will be hustle.

The PCH in Whistler opened a year ago, with the Olympics seen as a launching pad for a long-term business. Less certain is the future of Points West's newest addition, PCH Prime Tapas Bar, right at the foot of the Creekside gondola in Whistler. Ward said the restaurant cost $150,000 to set up, but he expects to recoup that investment - and quite a bit more - in five months. "I think we'll see a good return on that money."

Profits are far from guaranteed, he said. There will be a flood of customers, but payroll and other costs could easily spiral out of control. "It's real easy to get caught up in how busy you are."

But that kind of failure could be an opportunity, with Ward already thinking about the Olympic aftermath. If the tapas concept, with relatively low overhead, proves to be popular, Points West aims to set up a similar eatery in Vancouver.

Points West is expecting there will be bargain leases up for grabs - courtesy of restaurants that failed to turn Olympic volume into profits.