Many changes brewing at CoffeeHouse

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by Maya Balakrishnan

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According to Will Rice College sophomore Rusty Holleman, a CoffeeHouse manager, the new competition has not impacted business noticeably.

"It's still too early in the semester to tell," he said.

Although Starbucks is available in Sammy's right behind the CoffeeHouse, "business is booming, and we're rushing to keep up," Christa Robbins, a Baker College senior and assistant manager, said.

Holleman has not noticed if faculty favor Sammy's offerings over the CoffeeHouse's.

"There are a fair number of faculty who will continue to come to the CoffeeHouse," he said.

Some students, too, continue to buy from the CoffeeHouse, not tempted by the Starbucks alternative. Sid Richardson College freshman Katie Newman favors the CoffeeHouse "because of the kind and wonderful staff, the wide variety of coffees, because it's closer, and because it plays better music."

Another customer remains loyal to the CoffeeHouse for two reasons: "One, it's student-run. No. 2, because [Sammy's] addition of Starbucks seemed to fly in the face of the relationship between the students and the CoffeeHouse -- basically, it's because of my allegience to a student-run CoffeeHouse."

The addition of Starbucks by Sammy's brought with it a number of rumors. Some suspected that because the CoffeeHouse was cutting into Sammy's profits, it introduced Starbucks to get that part of their customers back.

Such rumors "got me and others working at the CoffeeHouse a little riled up at first. But I think that it is not true. Sammy's is above that," Holleman said.

Thad Coffey is Sammy's late-night supervisor. Coffey did not know the details of how Starbucks came to be offered at Sammy's.

"All I know is that there was some representative here, then one night, I came in, and it was here," Coffey said.

"People like it better, because it's stronger and tastes better [than Sammy's previous coffee]. We have more coffee buyers than we did before."

According to Coffey, competing with the CoffeeHouse was not Sammy's motive.

"Our main goal has always been to give students a variety of better products."

There have been many additions to the CoffeeHouse recently, including new equipment and menu items. According to managers, the greatest increase in business came as a result of the card reader installation at the beginning of the year, though other equipment make the workplace more pleasant.

"This past Friday, we got a new cash register," Brown College sophomore Stephanie Taylor said. "And we got the coffee grinder last spring so we can buy our own beans and grind them ourselves."

The CoffeeHouse also offers a CoffeeCard, available in $5 and $10 amounts.

When a customer purchases something with the card, the cost is deducted from the card in increments of 50 cents, rounding up to the nearest half-dollar.

"We initial the card when a purchase is made, and you get your money back for the difference [after rounding]," Taylor said. "I believe the card was started this summer to make it more convenient for our regular customers, so they don't have to carry around cash and change."

Of all the new offerings, the most successful by far have been the Rice Cakes, Taylor said. The proceeds from the sale of Rice Cakes go to a different non-profit organization every day, and the cakes are baked by students.

The CoffeeHouse mugs are also popular.

"The mugs have been carried since last school year. They're $5, and you get a free cup of coffee with purchase," Taylor said.

Also, the CoffeeHouse offers a 10-cent discount on all its drinks if customers supply their own container.

"Those sell quite well, but I haven't personally encountered them coming back often. They're more of a phenomenon among professors," Taylor said.

This item appeared in the News section of the January 31, 1997 issue.

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