Today: Mar 28, 2024

‘Proudly brewing Starbucks’

Sandra Gomez-Aceves & Katherine G. Krajcik – Special to the Southern News

The first day of the spring semester was already underway when students received an email announcing the opening of the “Starbucks” in the Buley Library Café.

Though the email announced “Starbucks” was open, it is not a fully licensed Starbucks store and the official name of the Library Cafe is still being discussed amongst administrators, according to Brad Crerar, the director of the Student Center.

“It’s actually called ‘Proudly Brewing Starbucks’ right now,” said Juan Dominguez, resident district manager of Chartwells Residential Dining.

“It is a fancy bagel wagon,” said Domiguez of the current unlicensed location.

Brad Crerar said, “President Papazian wants a student competition to name the place. We’re just trying to figure out who’s going to run that competition.”

Crerar explained that Starbucks offers five different levels of licensing with level five being a completely licensed Starbucks, not only serving only Starbucks approved products but approved machinery and physical appearance.

The name indecisiveness of the “level four” Starbucks the café has didn’t interrupt services offered on opening day.

“Believe it or not, the most popular items yesterday“ said Dominguez of the opening day, “were Chai and iced tea with lemon. I almost ran out of product. I had to do an expedited order of product for the next day.”

“One of the things we are looking to add immediately are blenders for the frappuccino.” Said Dominguez. “We are also looking into the possibility of adding another espresso machine.”

Dominguez also referred to his plan on keeping the traffic moving and allowing students speedy and quality service.

“If a person wants just a coffee, a runner will go and do it,” he said.

This comes from Dominguez hearing a student’s concerns on having to stand in line for the “most simple thing” because once the coffee is poured the customer  then prepares it to his or her liking.

Dominguez said he is open to all customers’ feedback and is planning on placing a comment box at the location to better accommodate needs.

Freshman psychology major Anastasia Sloss mentioned the service was quick and the staff was friendly when she ordered an iced coffee.

The noise factor of a café in the library didn’t seem like an issue to Sloss, who mentioned the staff and students in the café had “kept it down” the few hours she had been there.

Of the initial noise concerns, Dominguez recalled being asked to not have music or volume on the TVs in the café, which he mentioned are digital screens without an actual television function.

“I’ll probably be here a lot,” said Katie Chevalier, a senior French major who also doesn’t think noise in the café is a concern to others in the library.

Chevalier said it’s more convenient for her to have Starbucks now than Dunkin Donuts because she spends more time at Buley Library than at the “noisy student center. “

The official name of the Starbucks location in the café is expected to be finalized by mid February, Dominguez said.

The new café has also had an impact on the library’s hours of operation, which have been changed, as of Jan. 25, to opening a half hour earlier. The café and library will now be open at 7:30 a.m. Mondays to Fridays.

Photo Credit: Tyler Korponai – Photo Editor

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