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Creating a Campus Coffee Shop |
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By Ashley Symons, Marketing Writer
Two freshmen at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas decided their college was missing something – a place for students to gather and hang out.
Bethel is a residential college, with about 300 students living on campus in three residence halls. "Bethel College has the ability to be a very tight knit community because it is such a small school," Lisa said. "But the community areas are barely, if ever, utilized."
So, Lisa and Seth Dunn, both from Fresno, Calif., began mulling over the idea of starting up a café in their dorm, in hopes of pulling people out of their dorm rooms by creating a space for people to gather and connect. "Both Lisa and I really love the community atmosphere of a local coffee shop. And really would love to bring and have a place like that here at Bethel," Seth said.
On Jan. 25, after getting approval from the campus Student Life and investing their own money in supplies, Lisa and Seth began selling coffee from a table in a common area of their dorm. The BC Coffee Shop, as it is currently being called, was officially in business.
'Doing fair business'
Lisa and Seth decided to purchase Equal Exchange coffee, tea, and cocoa from the local Ten Thousand Villages store. "We have both known about Ten Thousand Villages our entire lives," Seth said. "Both of us have had family who has volunteered there."
Ten Thousand Villages has long been a retailer of Equal Exchange fairly traded products. "We chose Fair Trade coffee because we like the idea of supporting local farms and doing fair business," Seth said. They also felt a community like Bethel, which preaches social justice and equality, would connect to the ideas behind Fair Trade.
"Fair Trade is important because it helps the farmers get what they deserve and it helps us realize that those farmers exist," Lisa said. "The bags of coffee and boxes of tea give us faces. Fair Trade makes us think about where our coffee and tea came from."
Although they had a passion for good coffee, prior to opening the coffee shop, neither one had experience as baristas. They quickly taught themselves the skills, staying up late one night taste-testing drinks to decide what would make the menu.
'Fifty-Fifty'
The café is open Mon.-Thurs. 8-11 p.m., and Sun. 8 p.m.-midnight – staffed entirely by Lisa and Seth. "We share all the duties and we do all the work together, including shopping, working, cleaning up, brainstorming and working with the school," Seth said. "We still have not made back all of our money, so the money we do make goes toward supplies. Once we do start making a profit, we will share it fifty-fifty."
Right now, they are breaking even once costs are factored. To make minimum wage, they have to sell 40 cups of coffee each night. "Some days we have a good rush of people and sometimes we sell four cups of coffee the entire night," Seth said. "We would love to be making an income since we are working more than 15 hours a week." Neither one has another job, so they are really hoping business picks up.
'Everything has changed'
Since Lisa and Seth spend most of their evenings at the coffee shop – their only time off is on Fridays and Saturdays – they've had to shift their regular after-class activities, like eating, homework, and sleeping.
"Everything has changed - our eating, sleeping and study habits," Lisa said. "But we are getting more of a social life. We have met new people who have stopped by the coffee shop and we appreciate when our friends stop by to chat for 30 minutes."
When the shop closes at 11 p.m., Lisa and Seth still have homework to tackle. "Since we stay up late, we tend to get hungry so our eating schedule is thrown off, as is our sleeping schedule. We often have to take naps in the afternoon in order to function." But so far, despite all the schedule shuffling, it's worth it.
'More established'
The campus is starting to take notice of the makeshift café. "Tonight a Resident Assistant had a hall function in the coffee shop," Lisa said. "They provided coffee for everyone. The students stayed for about an hour or so talking and doing homework."
And to Lisa and Seth's excitement, the Student Senate recently voted on renovating the area to give it a more coffee shop feel, which includes knocking a wall down, repainting and getting new furniture.
"We are slowly getting the feeling that groups like Senate are starting to appreciate what we are doing," Seth said. "We hope that this continues, and we hope these renovations will help us to become more established."
While they hope the college will ultimately take over the coffee shop's expenses and operations, for now Seth and Lisa are enjoying their small business, knowing that they are helping create community on campus - with each Fair Trade coffee they serve.
Bethel College is a four-year liberal arts college affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. Founded in 1887, it is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel is known for its academic excellence and was the only Kansas private college to be ranked in Forbes.com's listing of "America's Best Colleges" for 2008 and one of only two Kansas colleges listed in Colleges of Distinction 2008-09. For more information, see the Bethel Web site at www.bethelks.edu
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