A newly renovated Connections Café in the Mabee Business Building is drawing a rather large crowd.
This year, the Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy is giving business students the opportunity to learn first-hand how to plan and operate a business through a new program called Wildcat Inc. The Griggs Center leadership team decided running the Connections Café, located on the south end of the building, would be a great project to pilot the program and give students real world business experience.
The café is run by three ACU COBA students, each in charge of various positions at the café: planning, management and oversight. CEO of Wildcat Inc., Hannah Ostertag, senior management major from Clifton, Va., describes her excitement for the new café’s most “Popular” item on the menu: burritos.
“Yes, the rumors are true. La Popular makes the burritos fresh daily and delivers them to us every morning,” said Ostertag.
Throughout the semester, the café will experience many changes. The Wildcat Inc. management team is in the process of changing the cafe’s image to attract more students. ACU students are given various ways of communicating their favorite menu items through student surveys, social networking sites and direct contact with the management team. The management team wants students to feel like their opinions matter.
Keaton Tucker, a junior financial management major from Denver, Colo. plays a vital role for the Wildcats Inc. management team. He is encouraged daily by fellow ACU students on campus about the progress of the café.
“Between our opening day and today, we have had more customers,” Tucker said. “We are still expanding our food selection so that we can meet students’ needs, which is our main goal.”
A problem that the café runs into regularly is the assumption that Bean Bucks are a payment option.
“We understand that this is really inconvenient for students and we are looking for solutions,” Tucker said. “Unfortunately, it is beyond our control at this point, but we are striving to make it easier for students.”
The Connections Café will be open throughout the school year.
