Author: deutsch

Extraordinary General Meeting: April 28

Dear Member,

At the Board of Governors’ meeting on April 6, the Board approved the convening of an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) for April 28.As we detailed at last month’s town hall, the effects of the ongoing pandemic on Club finances have been deep. But this period has provided us with an opportunity to examine a number of issues and to create a plan to place the Club on a fiscally sustainable footing.This plan addresses both our urgent, short-term challenges and longer-term cash requirements in a balanced and equitable manner, sharing the responsibility amongst all Club stakeholders.

At this EGM, we are asking Members to vote on a Board-endorsed proposal with two components:

• To increase monthly membership dues, fees for vacant Company memberships and Life membership daily fees, and to enable up to 500 Members to prepay three years of monthly membership dues and biannual seasonal assessments at their current rate in advance of the proposed dues increase.

• To establish a monthly building maintenance assessment and to eliminate the biannual seasonal assessment by incorporating it equally into 12 months of monthly dues.

We will be providing full details on the proposal above in the coming days. Before the EGM, Club leaders will host a Q&A on Club finances and the proposal to be voted on. Additionally,

I am available to answer any related questions and can be reached at @tac-club.org.

EGM Timeline • April 12 (6pm): Club Finances Q&A•

April 13 (12pm): Online voting registration deadline •

April 13 (evening): Advance online voting opens•

April 21 (10pm): Voting registration deadline•

April 27 (10pm): Advance voting closes•

April 28 (6:30pm): Extraordinary General Meeting

If you are not registered as a Voting Member, I urge you to do so in the next few days. You can find details on how to register on the Club website.

The landmark launch of Tokyo American Club Nihonbashi last week demonstrates what can be achieved even during such challenging times. While our community is well positioned to bounce back from the impact of the pandemic, the strength of our recovery depends upon our collaborative ability to establish a firm financial foundation for the future.

Thank you for your continued support.

Michael Benner Representative Governor Tokyo American Club

Email from new Mike…apparently installed by the old Mike. (Typos corrected in message)

Keeping Your Club Safe: Traders’ and Vista Hours

Dear Member,

Earlier this week, the Tokyo government requested restaurants serving alcohol to shorten their hours in an effort to contain the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the capital.

The Board of Governors has decided to comply with the request and will introduce an earlier closing time at Traders’ Bar and Vista from November 27 to December 17.

Both venues will close at 10pm instead of 11pm on weekdays. To help lessen the impact to Members, last orders for both food (selected menu items) and drinks will be 30 minutes before closure and Happy Hour will be extended by 30 minutes to finish at 7:30pm on weekdays.

Thank you for your understanding as we continue to do our part to keep our community and that of the wider Tokyo population safe.

Michael Benner
Representative Governor
Tokyo American Club

With COVID, it’s been a tough year for many businesses. The Tokyo American Club is not considered a business, but in fact it does have a P&L (profit and loss) to report. Sometimes, budgets get shifted around to hide funds and the committee system slows things down. But all in all, TAC members have been happy with what they are paying for…

Unfortunately, many active members believe that closing the club for 2 months was a huge mistake by the current board of governors/representative governor. Members had no say in the matter other than pay their monthly membership and bear it. Coming back to the TAC hasn’t been a great experience for both members and employees of the club. Questionable decisions have continued.. This begs the question,

Where’s the fun of being an American Club Member gone?
American club members are classy
We’ve got a great facility and location
TAC gives us a connection to our community

Believe or not, there is better food outside of the club. TAC members are there for the social side.

What do you miss about TAC? What will bring back the benefit of being a TAC member?

As one of the other members recently wrote (read here), TAC committee chairs are approved by the representative governor. For a corporation he/she owns, this is fine but as the TAC is supposed to be ‘member managed’ this is not democratic. TAC management requires diversity, ideas, and innovation. These things are tantamount in these trying times.

Several hotel/hospitality owners as well as famous hospitality brands populate the TAC membership roster. One of the Making a Better TAC (MABT) team shared a written comment from a large hotel brand that described the TAC COVID response as

I think TAC has mismanaged the situation, financially and operationally. They could have easily reached out to [our chain] or our colleagues of [hotel chain B] and or [hotel chain C] as we could have given some good advise. After all, we are having their problem times 30!!

Thankfully, many members have stepped up to the plate to try to help get some positive member action and attitude back into our club. Members in varying fields with experience managing people and large businesses (including medical) that could really help bring the TAC back to life. Some of those members expressed interest, while others have been recommended multiple times. Great news, right? Many were recommended to the nominating committee and all were rejected by the nominating committee chairperson. Why?

MABT is not sure but we did discuss that the nominating committee chairperson seems to be a long time business partner of the representative governor. The chairperson is not too socially involved at the club. Would they want to cross the Representative Governor that placed them there?

But not to worry! If you have a passion to help the club, you can get 30 signatures from voting club members (which is a quite small and hard to guess who they are) to get your name on the ballot. Challenge- You are not allowed to electioneer or you will be disqualified. By whom? The nominating committee head, who is connected with whomever our representative governor is at the time.

In other words, a representative governor can stamp out membership diversity of thought and innovation because he/she approves all the committee chairs who make decisions to submit back to the representative governor. Could results be manipulated in this case?

You decide. 😉 Might be an area to fix so it cannot be questioned in the future.

COMING SOON- VOTERS GUIDE– We are getting member feedback from the Representative Governors approved list of proxies and other candidates for the upcoming TAC election announced this week.

The 2006 Referendum Brochure — a Roadmap for TAC`s Recovery?

I just happened to look at the 2006 Brochure that decided the fate of the 34 year old debt-free TAC buildings, forever wiping out member legacy value. One page displays the P&L forecasts for a new TAC (see photo). Surprisingly, the Impaired (worse case) Revenue forecast is strikingly similar to TAC`s 2020 Budget (see photo). When compared: Total Revenue for both is Y50 Oku; Dues & Ent. are Y 2.3 Oku vs. Y2.5 Oku; F&Bs are Y22 Oku vs. 18 Oku for the 2020 Budget.

On the Expense side: Payroll is Y20.1 Oku vs. Y25.8 Oku for the 2020 Budget, an eye-opening difference. As a % of OR this translates to 48% vs. 59%. As regards F&B COGs, 42% vs. 32% for the 2020 Budget, a big gap.

The 2006 Brochure  Impaired Case forecast can and maybe should serve as a guide for payroll and F&B metrics. Payroll would fall below 50% of OR and F&B COGs at 42% would bring TAC back to the historic early 1980s COGs and maybe spark consumption.

It is no easy or pleasant task to reduce payroll by 5 or 6 Oku. But that is the reality and challenge. In 2010 at the temporary Club the payroll was Y20 Oku. A large club like TAC should reap economies of scale. TAC has not but now must. 

Outsourcing and reducing dept. expenses is important. The Repairs & Main. Dept. is a big target and its  Y3 Oku payroll seems excessive. It should be Outsourced which it once was. Ditto for IT. 

All the above must be validated in the marketplace and by benchmarking the Reciprocal Club network, an unmined resource. This can be done by one-to-one agreements, if required. Disintermediate by not involving the CMAA et. al. Direct is best just like a Swiss trade agreement. I suggest benchmarking with 4 recip. clubs: HK American and HK LRC; Sing. Amer. and Sing. Tanglin. 

I am an absent member of the LRC. It has about 2000 dues paying members who are a close profile match to TAC, albeit half the size which I believe is capped. Its 2018  F&B COGs were 46%, there is a min. spend policy, per member sales are similar to TAC about Y350,000. Banquet sales are neglible at 5%, payroll at 53% of OR, staff:member ratio 1:10.

It appears that TAC dues are in line with clubs in the region. However, elite H Kong clubs have high entrance fees of $50,000+.  Amer. Club $65,000 ( Americans get low fee) LRC is $ 52,000. TAC should consider Y3 million and Y6 million for Japanese.

New TAC went big on Banquet space and ended up going outside to non members for over 40% of its business. At old TAC the self-service Mixed Grille Buffet became the go-to outlet, hitting the American Room hard. New TAC did not replicate that success story although there are salad bars.

According to Reuters, the majority of Japanese companies are cutting pay, costs and staff.

Perhaps the biggest unmined/under-promoted asset, (staff excepted) the Club has is the Reciprocal Club network. This resource can yield gems if not gold for management and for member — join one (TAC) and get 200 free. Apropos, thousands of Life members can be a source of ongoing income: the LRC H Kong two years ago introduced a service charge for Life members. Louis XIV`s minister Jean Baptiste Colbert, famously declared that “the art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose so as to obtain the maximum amount of feathers with the minimum amount of hissing.”

Recently I went to the membership office to cancel the membership for my wife. We decided to change our membership just to me as the TAC is fundamentally still closed. We can’t use the facilities freely, we can’t bring guests, and we are under threat of raising dues and loans that we don’t see the necessity for.

When I visited membership, the line was 5-6 members deep. Everyone there at that time was there to cut costs. It was very discouraging to see what was once a great place to enjoy as a part of our social experience since we moved back from Europe, has no become useless. As I am getting charged for service I can’t use, it would seem obvious that our club president needs to fix this ASAP.

At this point I have to say I am extremely disappointed. My visit to membership showed I am definitely not a minority. Sadly, if this doesn’t get fixed soon I am seriously considering dropping my membership. The value is not there. If I am thinking this; it’s clear that others are too. Wake up TAC now or you may be putting the club asleep permanently.

I hope to be saying HELLO again soon, not auf Wiedersehen

According to the latest stats, there have been 947 deaths due to Wuhan Corona virus in Japan. In the 2018/2019 flu season there were 3,400 deaths. Wuhan Corona hasn’t even hit one third.

Those who are fearful avoid the actual numbers. They just talk about infections, of whom most recover, and try to suck others into their darkness. They also also seem to be too fearful to use their real names on comments like the rest the members on our forum. Just seem to troll, spout negativity, and hold everyone else back.

As other writers have posted, we agree that face masks are politicized for the fearful and this virus fear really is a ‘phantom virus’ like others posted. In Japan, it’s there but not as big as people blow it up to be. In fact, the best test is to ask a fellow member “How many people do you know in Japan directly, that got infected with the virus?” You will have a difficult time finding anyone.

Time to move on. If a member is fearful they should definitely stay home. Don’t let the fearful pull club and it’s majority of bright people down.

Event was mostly a financial discussion to pave the way for the elected board members suggestions of how to financially fix the damages on the club and the changes in revenue forecasting for 2020. Below is an aggregated list put tougher by four members in virtual attendance based on questions and comments from the membership.

1. We learned that the decisions to close the TAC were made by three volunteer currently elected board members
2. Many members are unhappy with the closing of the club
3. Considerable research is being made to ‘bench mark’ the club for salaries, best practice, and operations
4. The family membership is more expensive than any other club in the world
5. Since members have been locked out of the club there may be an exodus of people giving up their membership
6. Members were not happy about the dictatorial approach about how decisions are made by the top three governors
7. Surveys are being sent out to the various 200 volunteer members of the club regarding closing but not to the general paying membership. Purpose was to gauge members opinion
8. Members were upset about being charged for parking they cannot use
9. Members do not agree with forced wearing of masks
10. Banquet and food income is down due to the virus fears and decision to shut down the club
11. Comment was made that it is easier to shut down the club than it is to restart it.
12. Despite being the American Club, decisions are being made to match loose or gray Tokyo government or CDC suggestions
13. Members do not want to be charged for dues while he locked out of their club
14. Members are angry about the reservations system to use the gym/REC areas, locker rooms, and pool
15. Members commented, TAC is not being run like a business but more like a hospital with staff and no patients
16. Members would like the freedom to use the club if they are expected to pay, fearful members are suggested to stay home.
17. Due to decision to not reopen the club and GM and finance volunteer leader meeting with bank about getting loans
18. Volunteer board recommending dues increase due to cover decision to close club and continued refusal to allow members to freely use the club.
19. Some members recommending members wanting to fully open club should sign indemnity agreement and be allowed to freely use club if full membership dues continue to be charged.
20. Members found little differences between ‘phases of reopening’
21. Division exists between fearful members moving towards tanking the club and members frequently using club.
22. Elderly member wanted exclusion from volunteer three member board’s ‘recommendation’ to raise dues on membership.
23. Despite being the American Club, decisions are being made to match loose or gray Tokyo government or CDC suggestions
24. Members do not want to be charged for dues while locked out of their club
25. Members are angry about the reservations system to use the gym/REC areas, locker rooms, and pool
26. The club membership is now 50% local Japanese nationals.
27. Decision to limit gym usage and usage masks based on local association that TAC is not a member of.
28. No discussions about virus and if there were an outbreak at this meeting

Conclusion so far- Due to the large turn out at the Townhall and online, members are very concerned about the decisions being made. Of course, if the club will continue to restrict use, members will not come, membership will not grow, and revenue will continue to tank.

It is unclear why the current elected leaders have opted to follow these strict guidelines. Is it to get a bailout? Is it to avoid getting shut down by local government if a member caught the flu?

Did our group miss anything? Please add to comments and one of us will edit or add.

Most importantly, please share the MABT (Making A Better TAC) site with other positive, concerned members. After all, we are all ‘owners’ of the club. We hope the people making the decisions, will listen to those who are not fearful but those who want the Club to prosper and grow.

Today, TAC members received the annual additional invoices for ‘bonuses to employees’. Would it be a good idea to defer this additional billing until the TAC is fully accessible to the club membership?