Before his teaching career, social science teacher Oly Norris owned a few skate and surf shops. Now, he is bringing his knowledge of business to the classroom through a proposed course next year that would operate a café in the Mustang Center.
According to Norris, the class will teach students all aspects of business management and how to build a business from the ground up. Additionally, the coursework will entail working outside of class, both individually and at the planned café.
This student-run café, which is based on a popular one already at Canyon Crest Academy, will be the main focus of the class. It will replace the current cafeteria in the Mustang Center while keeping all the services that are currently offered at the cafeteria such as prepaid lunch accounts, Norris said.
The CCA café, The Nest, is well established. “It’s really great. The food is good and it’s really well decorated,” said CCA freshman, Carly Rassmusen.
Sophomore Matt Friedman added, “It has a good vibe.”
Jeannie Chufo, teacher and director of CCA’s Business Essentials class, said The Nest was popular the first day it opened: “We were absolutely slammed with customers.”
Opened in 2004, The Nest now has a line out the door every day. Chufo said that the customer count is “probably around a few hundred between breakfast and lunch” and that the café earns “between 500 and 700 dollars per day.”
The idea for the class came from CCA after the creation of The Nest. Norris said they decided to bring it to SDA but the class will be different from CCA in order to meet the needs of students at SDA.
Norris reiterated that the class will be about the students. He also stated that the class will not only benefit the students taking the class but also the entire student body
Norris also said that “the class will take the ‘teria’ out of cafeteria,” meaning it will still offer many of the services and food that the cafeteria has but will make some new and innovative changes. One of these changes is to the food. Looking to expand the choices of the cafeteria, the new café will focus on providing a wide variety of foods.
The culinary arts class might contribute to the café by making food to sell, Norris said. The café will work closely with other school electives and clubs as well. Possible ideas suggested by Norris include selling shirts produced in Screen Printing, advertising with The Mustang, and displaying art and photos from various visual art electives. Norris also said that any school club with something to sell could possibly sell their goods in the new café. Additionally, the café will have a retail end to it, selling student spirit wear and eventually replacing the Student Store.
At this time, the curriculum of the class and ideas for the café are in the creative and planning stage. Construction will start over the summer and the café will be open first semester next year. Norris hopes to start opening the café every couple of Wednesday lunches and slowly build up from there, eventually with the café open every day at lunch.
Norris said the money will come from money already set aside for new classes as well as grants and other forms of funding he intends on looking into next year.