Trinity Irish Pub – C-VILLE Weekly

Slower but steady: Cornering the summer market

By Caroline Eastham

During the summer, the UVA student population dwindles from near 25,000 to around 4,000. Despite this significant decrease, it’s business as usual for many Corner restaurants and stores, which have learned over the years to use this time as an opportunity to cater to different crowds and to improve overall customer experience.

Cal Mincer, vice president at Mincer’s, says staying afloat is not a concern for the sportswear store, especially with recent national championships for UVA men’s basketball and lacrosse. “This summer we are definitely summer-proof,” he says. “With two championships back to back…business is as good as it’s ever been.”

Summer events like sports camps and reunions also contribute to expected annual business surges, he says. “We definitely have slow periods in most summers without the students, but we also have some of our busiest weekends in the summer.”

At Corner Juice, the summer offers a time to reset and consider aspects that may get overlooked during the hectic school year, says Willem van Dijk, director of operations. “The nice thing about the summer is that there’s time to rethink your menu and rethink the experience. You get to really have a conversation with people and make sure that they are getting the best experience possible.”

Corner Juice tweaks its hours during the warm months. “It works better to have concentrated hours in which you want your customers to come for those breakfast and lunch times,” says van Dijk. During the school year, he says the restaurant can have a line out the door for hours at a time. “You don’t get that when there’s 20,000 people missing, but we cope.” The juicery is using the summer to open a second location on the Downtown Mall.

Other Corner establishments offer deals or special menu items to sustain customer traffic. Brittany Knouse, Trinity Irish Pub general manager, says the bar has specials to boost business. “We want to offer something to people who work at the hospital and around the Corner and keep them coming back,” she says.

Similarly, at Roots Natural Kitchen, assistant crew leader Lisa Oktayuren says the UVA hospital and Charlottesville families serve as some of its biggest customer groups during the summer. “The knowledge of students being gone brings out all the other people,” she says. “People like to have a cleared Corner versus a crowded Corner. Summer isn’t an obstacle, it’s just a different perspective.”

Trinity vs. ABC: Bar allegedly serves drunk people, too dark

Trinity Irish Pub on the Corner, a favorite destination for UVA students, has previously made headlines for being a weekend hot spot for those of legal drinking age and their underage friends. But in a September 28 court hearing with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, underage possession of alcohol or fake ID usage weren’t discussed.

The violations in question come from a citation written by ABC agent Jared Miller in the late hours of November 22, 2014, when he and agent John Cielakie observed a Trinity bartender serving alcohol to someone whom they say was already obviously drunk, and also for not adequately illuminating the premises.

Agents Miller and Cielakie are also named in the case against former UVA student Martese Johnson, who was turned away from Trinity on St. Patrick’s Day two years ago and tackled to the ground by ABC enforcers. Photos and videos of his bloody arrest went viral, and he is currently involved in a federal lawsuit with his alleged assailants.

In court, Midlothian attorney Paul Buckwalter, who represented Trinity, said the pub’s bartender may not have known how intoxicated one patron was when he served him a beer. He says the agents described the man as having “glazed eyes” and an “unsteady gait,” when he was escorted from the top floor of the bar and off the premises by a bouncer. Though agents reported later seeing the same man ordering a drink from the bottom floor of the bar, Buckwalter argued that “the new server [downstairs] can’t be expected to know what he did upstairs.”

As for the improper illumination, the ABC’s hearing officer who heard the violation case said in her summary that Trinity was so dark inside that agents needed flashlights to see the ground, though Buckwalter argues the transcript does not reflect that. Instead, he says the agents recounted using the lights to identify themselves as officers to patrons. And at no point, he says, did they ask Trinity management to turn on the lights.

“I don’t know what to tell the client to do so it doesn’t happen again,” Buckwalter told Judge Richard Moore, who said he needed more time to review the appeal.

The ABC intends to charge $2,500 in fines, or suspend Trinity’s mixed beverage and wine and beer licenses for 25 days.

In January 2011, the bar was cited for misrepresenting a brand of beer and was fined $1,000 with a 10-day license suspension. Two years later, Trinity was nailed for advertising its happy hour, but the charge was dismissed, according to ABC records. While these are administrative charges, ABC spokesperson Kathleen Shaw says the bar’s license history shows approximately 30 criminal charges, which may have been made against patrons.

Area business ABC violations since July 2015

Underage buyer: 6

Failure to timely submit mixed beverage annual review: 2

Failure to comply with the operation of its government store: 1

Qualifications: 1

Ratio: 1

Licensee cannot demonstrate financial responsibility sufficient to meet requirements: 1