To compliment the wide variety of dining services already available on campus, Aramark has recently opened a Starbucks coffee shop in the South Paw dining facility. The new coffee shop opened on Jan. 9 and was met with much enthusiasm and excitement.
“The new Starbucks was very well received by the students,” Aramark Dining Services Director Santel Frazier said. “Everything is running smoothly.”
The official grand opening for the new Starbucks location was held yesterday. Prizes and drinks were given away throughout the day to students who came by for the celebration. Though the shop is already open, it is not yet fully staffed and is always looking for new student workers.
“Of course we hire a lot of students to work in all of our dining facilities,” Frazier said. “If students are interested in working for us, they can come by our offices and pick up an application.”
Aramark currently has no other new projects in progress, but the university has many ideas up for consideration when campus coordinators meet later this spring.
“We’re looking at building a new dining facility much like Belvin and another C3 type facility,” Frazier said. “We’re also looking at putting in a Panda Express. But everything is still in the works right now. We won’t know anything for sure until later this spring.” Aramark frequently conducts surveys to get student feedback on current facilities and learn what new services students want most. They also compare services offered here at SHSU to what other universities are offering in order to maintain comparable facilities.
“Generally, we look at the market place and see what the trends are when we decide what to bring in,” Frazier said. “We also try to consider what other universities are doing.”
The new Starbucks is the second of its kind in Huntsville but the first to be put on campus. There is also another coffee shop, Java City, which is located in the Paw Print. Students are able to use Bearkat Bucks at the Starbucks in the same way as other facilities across campus.