Fourteen years ago, Washburn Rural High School (WRHS) partnered with PT’s Coffee and Roasting Company to open a student-operated coffee shop called Common Grounds. Their mission statement is to provide high-quality drinks and superior customer service to Washburn Rural students, staff, and community. Student baristas who work at the shop are enrolled in Marketing Management as juniors and seniors. This application-level course expands students’ marketing skills, emphasizing business management and entrepreneurship. Students manage and operate Common Grounds, gaining experience with customer/human relations, inventory, sales, promotion, product development, and other 21st- Century business skills.
Common Grounds is open before school from 7:00-7:55 a.m. and during lunch from 12:00-1:15 p.m. on school days as well as during enrollment, parent-teacher conferences, and occasional basketball games. Students apply to become a part of the morning crew or lunch crew and are required to have
taken two business classes prior to applying. Common Grounds prepares these students for the workforce and is commonly their first job. Common Grounds obtained an interest-free, $23,000 loan from the Auburn-Washburn Foundation to pay for equipment and other starting expenses. The WRHS Bank partnered with Common Grounds to help keep track of loan payments and the coffee shop bank account. At the closing of the 2014-2015 school year, the loan was paid in full. Common Grounds also keeps track of finances through the accounting website, WAVE and Square, which generates the financial statements. All profits from the coffee shop go towards equipment repairs, marketing projects, scholarships for business students, and travel expenses related to DECA events.
To adjust to new health guidelines, Common Grounds uses sugar-free syrups and sauces, as well as 1% milk, reducing all drink calorie counts to 300 calories or less. 100% fruit smoothies were also introduced in 2014 as a healthy alternative to previous drink mixes. Common Grounds drinks are typically served to students and staff at WRHS, so all drinks are priced at $4.00 or less to accommodate their average income
levels.
A major emphasis of Common Grounds is promotion, so all of the advertisements and social media pages are created and run by students. To reach out to our student target market, Common Grounds created Instagram and Twitter pages that offer coupons and other special deals to our followers. Common Grounds also holds a Customer Appreciation Week every November to tell our customers how much we appreciate them through giveaways and special coupons. Blend 437, a coffee blend created and
designed by Common Grounds staff, is also a product we sell at our local grocery store,
Hy-Vee, as a way to broaden our market to the community