{"id":1557,"date":"2013-02-15T08:49:53","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T14:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/?p=1557"},"modified":"2013-02-15T08:49:55","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T14:49:55","slug":"behind-the-scenes-at-the-connections-cafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/2013\/02\/15\/behind-the-scenes-at-the-connections-cafe\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes at the Connections Cafe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most COBA students with an 8:00 class have experienced the tantalizing smell of a La Popular breakfast burrito being eaten by one of their classmates. This delicacy, which is often called \u201cthe best breakfast burrito in Abilene,\u201d is often paired with Mission Lazarus coffee. This delicious brew is made from beans grown at a plantation in Honduras that provides its farmers with fair wages.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Cafe proudly serves Mission Lazarus coffee<\/p><\/div>\n

You may be thinking to yourself, \u201cWhat wonderful institution provides this stellar breakfast combination?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer is The Connections Caf\u00e9.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Connections Caf\u00e9 is a unique entity that is run by students interested in entrepreneurship here in COBA. This organization\u2019s main purpose is to provide students with real life experience running small businesses. The thought process behind this institution is that students should learn about taking risks and making mistakes now, before their own money is on the line.<\/p>\n

Mychal Ricks, a sophomore management major, was hired as the Caf\u00e9\u2019s manager back in November. She said that during her time at the Caf\u00e9, her biggest challenge has been connecting with customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest challenge is knowing what our customers want,\u201d explained Mychal. \u201cTechnically we\u2019ll never really understand what our customer wants\u2026and so that\u2019s a really big challenge.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because the Caf\u00e9 has only been student-run for a short period of time, Mychal and her co-workers are looking into different ways to attract customers. One option is adding new products, such as cereal, to their selection. In order to aid them in their decision-making process, the Caf\u00e9 has enlisted the help of a student marketing research group here on campus. The research conducted by this team over the following semester will help Mychal and her team as they make advertising and purchasing decisions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mychal Ricks<\/p><\/div>\n

Mychal wants to go into management after she graduates, although not necessarily in the food industry. She said that running the Caf\u00e9 has made her more interested in pursuing a career in management, because it\u2019s helped her to learn the ropes of management.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest of these lessons has to do with interpersonal dynamics.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI think the biggest thing that I\u2019ve learned is how to work with people,\u201d explained Mychal. \u201c[I\u2019ve learned] how to separate my personal life from my business life and when to overlap them sometimes, because I can\u2019t just be the boss around everyone. I have to somewhat get on a personal level with everyone.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Be sure to stop by the Connections Caf\u00e9 whenever you\u2019re in COBA!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most COBA students with an 8:00 class have experienced the tantalizing smell of a La Popular breakfast burrito being eaten by one of their classmates. This delicacy, which is often called \u201cthe best breakfast burrito in Abilene,\u201d is often paired with Mission Lazarus coffee. This delicious brew is made from beans grown at a plantation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8248,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2750,2760,2751],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-students","category-entrepreneurship","category-griggs-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1557"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1569,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1557\/revisions\/1569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}