The following blog post is written by guest blogger, Angela Rivas, describing how they utilize resources from within the community to create a functional student business for their life skills classroom.
"Welcome to The Teacher Grind! How can we serve you today?"
The Teacher Grind. Yes, that’s the name of our classroom coffee cart. Despite this being a student-run business I may or may not have had some say in the name. After all, I had been wanting to start a coffee cart and/or classroom business for years now. This being my first year at a new school, I finally was able to acquire the resources to start one. So I definitely wanted to have a name that would get our teachers’ and staff’s attention!
Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Angela Rivas and I’m currently in my 16th year of teaching. I teach 7th grade Resource classes at a public school, which consists mostly of students who will be diploma-bound. However, the last hour I teach is Functional Math, which is made for students who have a Cognitive Impairment. I know most of the kids in my 6th hour will likely be in the service industry when they’re adults so instead of using traditional teaching methods I figured what better way to learn real-world math than by using math in the real world? Once admin approved our venture, we were ready to start planning!
Planning the Cart
This was a class discussion. I pitched the idea of the coffee cart to my students but we all had a say as to which flavors of coffee we would offer. In addition to our own ideas, we sent out a Google Form to the staff explaining what our idea was, if they’d be interested in buying coffee from us, how much they’d be willing to pay, and what flavors/brands they liked. We eventually decided on Starbucks K-Cups. As a class, we compared costs online as well as collaborated on brands. We also had the understanding that our cart was strictly for staff. Opening it up to students would be a lot more planning, as schedules/logistics, allergies, parent permission, and other factors would need to be considered.
We also sent home a letter to parents to inform them of the project and to encourage questions or input. To be honest, I never heard anything back from parents, but we wanted to make sure they were informed regardless.
Looking for some coffee themed activities to practice with your students? Check these out below by clicking on them!
Funding the Cart
I didn’t go about funding the cart the normal way. Of course, everyone who’s interested in starting a cart will look up ideas online. However, after spending countless hours looking at other teachers’ ideas, I decided to go with a system that would be easy for the kids to use. We would be using Keurig K-Cups in different flavors as well as pop (or soda, as you non-Michiganders say), hot cocoa, and tea. I had thought about using ground coffee beans to make our own coffee, which would be more cost-efficient. In the end, I decided to opt with an easy to use system that would take minimal training to implement.
I did fund the cart initially out of pocket. I was too excited to get this going and wanted to dive right in. However, right after purchasing some items, I started a GoFundMe to help recoup some of the costs. I also applied for (and ended up winning!) a grant from my district to start up my coffee cart. In the end, with the GoFundMe donations and the grant, it ended up being just about the same amount that I spent to fund it. This is what we ended up purchasing:
- Cart
- Keurig (Facebook Marketplace)
- Electric Kettle
- 5 different coffee flavors (Vanilla, Pike Place, Hazelnut, flavor of the month (ex. Peppermint Mocha)
- Starbucks Hot Cocoa
- Marshmallows
- Whipped cream
- Creamers (French Vanilla, Hazelnut, Caramel, Pumpkin Spice)
- Napkins
- Cups/lids (8, 10, and 12 oz.)
- Tea (assortment box)
- Sugars, sweeteners, stirrers
- Honey packets
- Pop (Coke, Diet Coke, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, and eventually, Sprite)
- Red Bull
- Oat milk
Also included on the actual cart:
- A map of the school
- Menu and prices for the students to reference
- Calculator to help with giving change
- Tip “jar” (an empty box where staff could tip Falcon Cash, our school’s incentive money)
- Money bag
- Marshmallow jar and spoon
Preparing for Our First Delivery Day
Before launching our cart for the first time, we had to make sure we all knew how to do each role, so we did a practice run the day before. We each ran the Keurig, we learned how to use the electric kettle for tea, we practiced how to put on the sleeves and find the correct size cups. We also sent out a Google Form to staff to show them our “menu” and to start taking pre-orders. Payment could be made with cash or CashApp. We would use the spreadsheet generated from the Google Form to see orders and help us on Delivery Day as a class. We decided on the following roles:
- Coffee maker
- Tea maker
- Delivery
- Inventory/Stock
Once everyone felt comfortable knowing how to make the coffee and tea, where all our materials and products were, and who was going to do what, we were ready for our first day. We also had a lot of pre-orders for our first day, so we were super excited.
And it was a complete circus.
Although we all knew our roles prior, when it was time, there was urgency and a bit of panic. Students were in each others’ way as they were going back and forth, and there was a lot of chatter. I ended up writing staff names, sizes of the cup, and room numbers on the coffee sleeves and helped direct “traffic.”
Reflection:
Since we run the cart every Friday, when all deliveries are finished, we reflect on how the day went. We also do a thorough cleaning of the machine, tables, restock, and take note of items we’re running low on so I can order more. We also take turns counting the money. I let each student count the coins and dollars in the money bag and write their total on a sticky note. Then we compare totals and total it together as a class. This is great practice for them to review counting/coins/bills!
Positives:
- It was something new. Nobody had ever done this at our school.
- Staff was SUPER supportive! They were gracious tippers and loved to see our kids doing this. Many staff told me they thought this was so beneficial for them and wished we did more things like this.
- The kids have fun doing it and other kids want to join in.
- It’s teaching them real-world math, communication, problem solving, collaboration, and responsibility
- It allowed everyone to be involved. For those who were more introverted, they opted to be the water-filler-upper for our machines, to decorate our sign, or to design our flyers
- After a few weeks, the kids did all the work themselves.
Afterthoughts:
- I didn’t take into account student absences/tardies. This made us have to re-assign roles the day of, which can be a little hectic at first.
- We ended up selling 2-3 flavors regularly. We had a lot of extra coffee that wasn’t selling. I will end up selling the surplus on Facebook Marketplace.
- We learned quickly on the first day that our room’s electrical isn’t equipped to support multiple appliances in use at the same time. We blew a fuse a few times before we learned that we needed to alternate between running the Keurig and the electric kettle.
Advice for Future Cart-ers:
If you’re thinking about starting your own coffee cart, please consider the following:
- Switch up flavors every once in a while. We did a “Flavor of the Month” to keep things new.
- Depending on how your district runs, I would advise setting up a bank account for your cart. I keep only $23.00 in our money bag (two 5s, ten 1s, and $3.00 in quarters). The rest gets deposited into the account as well as any CashApp money. It makes purchasing a lot easier!
- Send out pre-order emails to staff the day before your delivery day. This will give staff a reminder and you will get more orders this way than sending out the day of. Also, it’ll give you a heads up if you need to run to the store the night before to pick up an item or two.
- Offer a punch card! It’s an incentive for staff to be return customers. We offer a free coffee/tea/hot chocolate once they purchase 9.
- Consider doing an “Employee of the Week”! This is a great way to highlight each student in a different way.
Hopefully this gave you some inspiration to start your own classroom coffee cart! It does take a bit of planning and you will run into hiccups. However, in the end you are embarking on a different and exciting way to help your students learn how math is used in the real world. And the soft skills and other job skills they will learn is completely worth it.
Good luck, and as our kids would tell our staff, “Thank you, and have a nice day!”