By Grant Terwilliger
As a new semester starts and Tim Hortons is now closed, the Cardinal Cafe on campus adapts to having to serve a larger number of students and training of new employees contributing to inconsistency and efficiency issues.
The Market Cafe on campus is still very new to campus with this being the second semester of it being open. Students feel that the Market Cafe is conveniently located, but doesn’t compare very well to corporate Starbucks locations.
“The only thing is convenience. If you’re walking to class, and you only have 20 or 30 minutes it doesn’t make sense at all to go off campus,” First year Khadeejah Memon said. “I went to Starbucks once and then I found out that they didn’t have the app. So, then I didn’t even order from there.”
Daniel Leatherman is the new Resident District Manager for dining services on campus. This semester with CAS he has been working to elevate food menus on campus and has brought back the popular option to order any grande beverage for a meal swipe at the market. Leatherman acknowledges that students are always looking for ways to save money and earn points with Starbucks.
“We know that many students love Starbucks Rewards and we hear how important it is to you. Because our campus café is a licensed Starbucks ‘We Proudly Serve’ location and not a corporate store, we aren’t able to participate in the Starbucks Rewards program,” Leatherman said. “We’re always exploring other ways to bring value and perks to our guests right here on campus.”
The prices at the market have also been a concern for students on campus with everything becoming more expensive as a result of inflation and convenience.
“I feel like the prices are kind of wildly high, but I feel like it’s just college; they’re high everywhere on campus,” Memon said.
The Market Cafe has faced obstacles with their food not being consistently made well. Some students have reported there being less amount on bagels and have noted that the workers are not always efficient.
“It’s never the same. Sometimes I get a spoonful of cream cheese. Other times they put half a brick on it. Like, are they not trained to put a certain amount of cream cheese on a bagel,” Libbie Pecora said. “They are not trained, you can tell by the quality and the consistency of the product,” Pecora said.
This doesn’t necessarily mean though that every worker at the Market Cafe is inconsistent. Some workers go the extra mile for students.
“Jose is the best. He always makes my coffee, and when they didn’t train him on how to make them, he went to YouTube and watched videos on how to make all the Starbucks drinks, and he makes them perfectly,” Pecora said.
According to Leatherman Chartwells associates are trained for a week and then are expected to continue their training on the job.
“At a minimum, Chartwells associates undergo a week of onsite onboarding. They are paired with a mentor who guides them through their daily tasks using a structured onboarding plan. Additionally, we have introduced a proprietary internal app this semester that extends their learning experience throughout their career with us,” Leatherman said.
As new employees get acclimated into working at the cafe employees with more experience find themselves having to constantly watch the new employees while working.
“The newer employees that are working there, the older ones with more experience tell them what to do as they’re going, they just walk around so confused,” Pecora said.
