One of several changes actualized on campus over the summer involved a change in ownership of Houghton’s frequented coffeehouse Java 101, passing into the hands of Sodexo, Houghton’s current food service contractor. Greg Bish, the head of the student programs office and the previous owner of Java 101, explained the reasons behind the transfer. “I was looking into options for a transition with Java, and in the end I just decided to close Java.” Among his reasons for the closure were his pursuit of a Ph.D. in Higher Education that would take away much of his time to run the business. “Last year I started a doctoral program that is a distance program, so I’m still here but taking classes,” explained Bish. However, this program also required him to attend two weeks of intense classes in California twice a year. Time spent outside of these classes had been balanced between his other work with the doctoral program, his duties as head of student programs, and, of course, running Java. To help with this, Bish hired Sharon Mulligan last year as manager to assist with the day-to-day tasks of running of Java 101.
However, according to Bish, Mulligan had been hired at the Center of Academic Success and Advising (CASA) with Houghton this summer and he was “looking at what [his] options were with the coffee shop” as she left her job at Java 101. In the end, he decided to close the business.
Said Dr. Robert Pool, Vice President for Student Life, “In early July, Greg announced to me and to our business reps that he was interested in selling Java 101,” having been asked, “‘Would the college be interested?’” Pool approached Tina Powers, the General Manager of Sodexo on campus, during the first week of August to see if Sodexo was interested in buying the coffee shop from Greg. After talking with the their regional cooperate office, “Sodexo came back mid-August and said they were not interested in buying. We met with Greg and explained that right now [neither] the college nor Sodexo were buyers. He had the option of continuing on this year operating Java 101, but we didn’t have a buyer,” Pool explained. Bish stated that even though there still remained a year on his lease, he felt the need to move forward and allow the college to decide what to do with the space.
“[During] the first week of preseason, the college approached us…. We had some internal conversations and then approached the college and said we’d be interested, and we went on from there,” explained James Ward, Sodexo Catering Manager. Ward said, “On the Wednesday of the first week of preseason we came to an agreement with the college that yes, we would open it up, and they gave us a go-ahead.”
Initial challenges for Sodexo included deciding on a product menu, working out the process of getting products to Houghton, and the logistics of staff and equipment. An agreement was reached that Wednesday, with ownership of the space being transferred the following Monday and the shop finally opening the next day with a limited menu for business. “Currently we are waiting on our POS register which will allow the students to use their flex dollars, Big Al Bucks, credit cards, allow[ing] us to tie right back to the meal plan database. The major piece of the puzzle is the espresso machine,” explained Ward. The register was expected to arrive this week and the espresso machine in the weeks to come.
In this transition Sodexo had already fully staffed the coffee shop with around 75 student work hours available. They will be “Proudly brewing” Starbucks’ full menu of teas, coffees, frappuccinos, cappuccinos, espresso, lattés, and mochas. They also expected that to be serving Starbucks’ seasonal and specialty drinks, as well as providing Sodexo’s fresh-baked goods and the same FANS smoothies offered at Big Al’s. Coffeehouse performances will continue as before. The new hours for the coffee shop are; Monday through Thursday 7:30 am – 11 pm, Friday 7:30 am – 12:30 am, Saturday 9 am – 12:30 am Sunday 9 am – 11 pm. A naming contest will be held in the near future to give the coffee shop an official name.