Student-run coffee café comes to the Donald W. Scott College of Business

A new student-run coffee house in the Donald W. Scott College of Business will officially begin operation on Jan. 19.

And when the shop opens for business, ISU President Dan Bradley will be there at 8:30 a.m. to get one of the first cups of coffee served.

ISU business students put together the business plan for the new Executive Express coffee café, and continued daily operation will be managed by students. In addition to coffee, a variety of drinks and pre-packaged food will also be sold.

It's the only such food business on campus, and it comes with the blessing of ISU's exclusive food service provider - Sodexo.

Last semester, Sodexo Regional District Manager Sue Sluyter helped students in Assistant Professor of management David Robinson's senior business experience class to lay the foundation for this coffee café.

"We thought if anyone's going to start a business to fill that niche, why not have it be us," Robinson said. "I thought it would be a good test of our skills to actually see if we could do a startup."

Robinson's students took on the responsibility of surveying more than 200 campus consumers to determine their food and drink preferences. In addition, the business students chose the products Executive Express will serve, completed site renovations, created a marketing plan and convinced Bradley to loan them $6,000 for startup costs.

"I applaud the students who have worked very diligently to create this new business and wish them all the best," Bradley said. "It's exciting that we will have another experiential learning lab of this nature on our campus."

Oversight of the daily operation of Executive Express is ultimately will the responsibility of Sycamore Business Advisors - the senior experience course Robinson teaches.

The Executive Express is located on the first floor of the Scott College of Business with hours of operation Monday through Friday operation from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Contact: David Robinson, assistant professor of management, Scott College of Business, Indiana State University at 812-237-8829, or david.robinson@indstate.edu.

Writer: Rachel Wedding McClelland, assistant director of media relations, Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University at 812-237-3790 or rachel.mcclelland@indstate.edu.