Starbucks celebrated its grand opening with a table full of samples available for all in attendance before the official ribbon cutting ceremony, signifying the formal opening of the new coffee shop. Eager baristas were already brewing drinks for new, curious customers.
Included in the design of the brand new store is a coffee belt map, displayed over the full menu offered at Starbucks. Hand-painted on site and completed in two days, the map exhibits the coffee-growing regions of the world and describes in detail what type of coffee each region is known for.
Haitham Shtaieh, executive director of hospitality services, explained that the Starbucks project had two phases in its planning.
“The first phase was about cosmetic changes. We had ‘Starbucks proudly served,’ which provided magnificent sales for us here. The second phase was to create a fully licensed store, which is what we have done,” he explained.
Shtaieh also recognized that the employees of Starbucks are almost exclusively Wright State students. “We had some students last year, but not many. This year, we decided to go a different route and 90% of our associates are now Wright State students.”
Dr. Dan Abrahamowicz, vice president for student affairs, commended the ability of all involved, including hospitality services, Chartwells and other divisions, to take student suggestions and incorporate them into the new Starbucks.
“They put their vision and focus on the best interest of our campus community and our students. They’ve been bending over backwards to address what students wanted to see in terms of hospitality services,” he said.
Clint Kernen, director of public relations for hospitality services, also spoke about meeting the requests of Wright State students.
“One of our goals in putting together the proposal was to bring updated national brands to campus, and Starbucks as well as Tim Horton’s were two of those that we wanted to bring in in the first round of updating the hospitality program on campus,” he explained.
Hours for Starbucks have been expanded to better match student habits. Starbucks will be open until 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and will open from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays.
Starbucks accepts cash, credit and all types of Wright1 payment including dining swipes, dining dollars and flex dollars. Gift cards and Starbucks Rewards are set to be accepted by next week. Students can earn rewards at the Dunbar Starbucks, but will need to visit the company stores on either side of campus to redeem free beverages.
