Thank you to everyone who offered input and suggestions. For the purpose of
this HIT, I did not include anything not directly related business plan,
rules and/or regs. There is a wealth of other café-related information in
the archives.
As you will see, there are not really any formal business plans presented
here. It may be something to consider for those who have a chance to follow
through with this soon.
Here is what I learned:
pj
-------------
After Paula's post, I did some research on the federal rules about foods of
minimal nutritional value.
I have a whole lot more respect for the cafeteria workers who wade through
the rules regularly. It appears that state rules and regulations also
apply. See this website to learn how your state interprets the rules:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Governance/regulations.htm They differ.
This website
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Governance/regulations/7CFR210.pdf
has what appears to be "the manual" for the national school lunch program.
According to to part 210.11, paragraph 37, part b, it appears that other
food items may be offered at the school's discretion.
"The sale of other competitive foods may, at the discretion of the State
agency and school food authority, be allowed in the food service area during
the lunch period only if all income from the sale of such foods accrues to
the benefit of the nonprofit school food service or the school or student
organizations approved by the school."
There also appears to be a distinction about the location where the food is
provided. Food service area "means any area on school premises where meals
are served and/or eaten." I suppose that one could also argue that a coffee
shop is not serving meals and is not located in the food service area.
Anyway, to me it looks like different states interpret the rules differently
and some impose other rules on top of the federal guidelines. It looks like
the best course of action is to check how your state and individual school
system interpret these rules.
---------------
Our new high school is under construction and the library is getting
wonderful attention by the architect, designer, and admin.
The superintendent endorsed a library cafe. What was going to be a hush,
hush conference room is now going to be a cafe! Now hows is that for
flexible thinking!!! I have many cafe tables and a walk around counter in
this room, with tile on the floor. Food items and business plan are in my
thoughts. Have spoken with food services director and will coordinate with
her.
An adjacent smaller conference room is now the magazine stacks room /
graphic novels. If it remains carpetless, then foods could travel into her.
These two rooms open into the library area designated to chess and games.
All of this is carpetless around by the circ station.
The rest of the library is carpeted. Get my thoughts? If there is no
carpert, food and drink can travel. In the other areas, it is restricted.
Plan on displaying books in the cafe room and would like to have library
workers run the room, with thoughts of some profit going toward scholarships
for them.
-------------
I do one on occasion - had the grand opening and now working with reading
teachers to make it part of a reading incentive. We served Starbucks coffee
(they donated a "service pack" complete with coffee, cups, stirrers,
napkins, and cupholders). The food was homemade brownies, cookies, etc. We
charged .50 per item whether it was a cup of coffee or a snack. We call ours
Cafe Read-A-Latte (stolen with permission from another librarian). The grand
opening was an evening event and we ran out of everything - we had enough
for over 200 cups of coffee.
-------------
We tried it between Thanksgiving and Christmas but between a warm spell her
ein south Georgia (hard to sell hot beverages in 80 degree temperatures),
and the amount of trash the kids left behind (both inside and out) we
decided to discontinue the coffee shop. It didn't really impact circulation
but before I set it up, I heard from others who did so.
------------
If you need any answers (if I'm able to) you can email me and I'd be more
than glad to help. We have an actual franchised coffee shop (Java City)
instead of a student-run one.
1. Decision was a vision of my former principal's which I supported
wholeheartedly
2. The school district holds the franchise
3. the district, not the library, receives about 20% of sales.
4. Federal guidelines for food: the food stocked at java city is run by the
same company that runs the cafeteria. The only thing the district had to do
was reduce size of drinks. High school guidelines are much easier to create
a coffee shop than junior high or high school.
The foods served here are mostly sandwiches- nothing fried...all guidelines
are met.
------------
We added a cafe to our library last year and it has been a great success. It
has brought us lots of positive PR, including an article in the local
newspaper. But we have kept it very low key, opting to make it more about
the space than about food. We have a grind-and-brew vending machine which
dispenses various coffee choices including Starbuck's and a couple of latte
flavors. That's it. We don't do food. The cafe is open before school and at
lunch. During class time students are only allowed in the cafe if they have
a special pass from a teacher. This provides a reward/incentive opportunity
for teachers. We have student-created artwork on the walls for decor. We
have 2 tall tables (which were "borrowed" from the school commons) and I
bought some inexpensive bar stools from Target which the same art student
painted with stylized cafe-themed pictures. We have one Internet computer at
a table, a coffee table with a checkerboard top surrounded by low chairs and
bean bag cushions. And we have a small stage with a stool for the
occassional performance. Sometimes students will bring in guitars and
perform at lunch time. And other times we have special events such as a quiz
bowl that I ran last year. We have also had the drama class do improv
comedy. I just didn't feel like supervising a restaurant-type cafe, so we
just have the vending machine and I devote my energies to creative ways to
use the space.
--------------
Thanks again to all! From a confirmed caffeine addict,
pj
Paula Joseph-Johnson, Asst. LMS
Bristow High School Media Center (Bristow, OK)
pjohnson@bristow.k12.ok.us
Currently reading:
How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life,
by Susan Piver
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