For many students at BHS, the school’s on-campus coffee shop, School Grounds, is the best way to get an easy meal at a low price. Many students, and even staff members, relied on the simple and affordable goods that came from School Grounds. Yet, one question that everyone seems to be curious about is, why did it close this semester, and will it open again?
“School Grounds was unable to open this semester due to a shortage of staff available to run the Coffee Shop,” special education Christine Dimas teacher said.
Dimas also expressed that she is upset that School Grounds wasn’t able to open this semester.
“It makes me sad we couldn’t be open this semester, as I know how many students enjoyed ordering beverages in the morning,” Dimas said.
A student who worked for School Grounds, Ramiro Perez Adame, also expressed his feelings towards School Grounds closing.
“Yeah, I miss it because it’s fun and you get to work as a team with your friends,” Perez Adame said.
Even though there is a shortage of staff for the cafe, School Grounds is opening next semester. Yet, there will be one big change that will affect customers of School Grounds.
“School Grounds will only be open for the first hour next semester,” Dimas said.
However, customers say they are already excited for it to open again.
“I don’t wake up early enough to make breakfast in the morning, so I go to Kwik Trip like every morning to get something to eat. And it makes me a little upset because it’s obviously a little more expensive, and then I’m late and I always feel silly for coming to school late with food,” senior Veda Jecevicus said.
Jecevicus also explained how ordering from School Grounds in the morning with her friends was a highlight of her day.
“I ordered from School Grounds almost every day in the first hour, at least the first semester. Because I had my friends there, we would all get bagels in the morning,” Jecevicus said.
Dimas says she doesn’t expect the menu to change much.
“I would assume we would offer much of the same as we did last year. I am hoping to add more. A lot of it depends on our school health and wellness policy and what can be ordered based on sugar, fat, and calorie content,” Dimas said.
Dimas also addressed price increases and how that may affect the affordability of items.
“I am unsure about price increases. I am hopeful we can keep prices the same, but since the cost of pretty much everything has gone up, we will have to wait and see,” Dimas said.
Another change coming to School Grounds is the new collaboration with business teacher Lindsey Rost and School Grounds.
“School Grounds will be teaming up with Mrs. Rost and her Marketing class to hopefully offer some new advertising and ideas,” Dimas said.
Dimas has recommendations on how students can get involved with School Grounds.
“Students are not able to apply for a School Grounds position right now. The best way to be involved currently is to be signed up for Mrs. Rost’s first hour Marketing class next semester,” Dimas said.
Rost says that she is ready for this new project with her students. She hopes that through this new collaboration with School Grounds, her students will get even more experience working with businesses and learning how to use strategic and good marketing.
“Just for more real-life applications for my marketing and business classes, kind of putting things into actual real-life scenarios for them. I’m all for helping anybody, like the FFA and the musical, so it’s another outlet for us to kind of put things into practice,” Rost said.
Rost also says that through these advertisements, she hopes to get people who don’t know about School Grounds to get invested and hopefully become a loyal customer of the school’s coffee shop.
“Obviously, we will use posters and flyers, which are very traditional, but even sending things to emails and utilizing different Instagram accounts and social media accounts will get them a little bit more exposure,” Rost said.
Students can expect to see new advertising closer to the end of the semester,
“Since they’re not opening until the second semester, I think we’ll start working on it towards the end of the semester,” Rost said.
