Business dispute with St. Pat’s and March Madness

COLUMBIA, SC — Businesses are working hard this weekend to appeal to both the St. Patrick’s Festival crowds and March Madness fans.

Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint general manager Maz Cotran said his team spent months preparing for the biggest weekend of the year. The store is on Harden Street and in the midst of St Patrick’s celebrations.

“I definitely expect an increase of 30-50%. Last year we were only open for a month and already had a decent percentage increase in sales,” said Cotran. “Now we have a year under our belt”

According to the Five Points Association, more than 30,000 to 40,000 people will attend the event on Saturday, which will coincide with the start of college basketball games across the country.

Thomas Buges is general manager at Cotton Gin and said this weekend is about capitalizing on a different business strategy for them

“We have televisions, we will let the games play,” he said. “We’re usually more of a nightclub with a dance atmosphere, so hopefully we’ll get some playtime and people will watch the games.”

Micheal Duagianer is the owner of Boku in The Vista and Publico in Five Points and Bull Street. He said it takes a full staff and even a built-in hour-long break in the middle of the day to withstand the onslaught.

“We turn it off and say, ‘Okay, everyone, we’re going to regroup, clean up.’ And then we switch it around for dinner, even though the menu is available all day, everyone wants to eat.”

Cotran said Jack Browns is also fully staffed and even with staff shortages, a big game weekend and festival are things his team is trained for.

“We’ve had big game days, the Georgia-Tennessee Games. That’s nothing new, we had college football while also having a full capacity bar and slinging beers,” he said. “I’m very confident that we will sell a lot of green beer while watching Lady Gamecocks and a crazy March Madness.”

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