Life Lessons: St. Joseph’s Academy

In between the brewing and steaming, the frothing and sipping, St. Joseph’s Academy students are learning some very valuable things. Their new cafe—Cup of Joe—opened recently and is teaching students, in real time, the nuts and bolts of business management. Overseen by business teacher Megan Hackmann, a group of 11 student managers runs the cafe, organizing shifts, ordering stock, handling budgets and anything else that’s required in the daily operation of a coffee shop. “We wanted this to be a true, student-run enterprise,” says Hackmann, who has taught a class in entrepreneurship for the last seven years.

Hackmann says start-up funds for the cafe came from the school’s yearly raffle, which usually raises capital for “less glamorous things” like chapel roof repairs. “We wanted to use the money for something the students would feel excited about,” she explains, adding that the project also received a donation from a school family. Cup of Joe partners with Kaldi’s Coffee, which provides the beans and syrups, and trained the girls at its midtown Kaldi Roastery in the summer. Kaylen Rice, a junior, is one of the managers who attended the training and got a behind-the-scenes look at the St. Louis coffee company. She captures the benefits of this entrepreneurial program for St. Joe’s girls. “It’s so exciting to realize that I am actually helping to run a real business,” Rice says, adding that she also is a “huge coffee drinker.” There’s so much interest among the students that the 11 managers have interviewed and hired 10 more girls to help out. “This is hands-on learning in action,” Hackmann says. “Interviewing, cash handling, advertising, inventory control: they’re doing it all.”

In addition to acquiring general business skills, the students are thinking philanthropically, researching organizations they’d like to support when the time comes to cut a check from profits. Hackmann says some of the profits eventually will provide scholarships. Cup of Joe takes in about $350 on a busy day, Rice reports. But initial costs—which, of course, included the purchase of a hefty espresso machine—were high.

The coffee shop was fashioned from an existing space that had served as a senior hangout. “It feels very coffee bar-ish,” Hackmann says. “Gray and green for school colors, stools, tables and comfy chairs.” And the bill of fare is very similar to any Kaldi’s around town—espresso drinks, frappes and fruit smoothies. “It’s nice because the whole school now smells of coffee,” Hackmann says. Cup of Joe is open before and after school, and on special occasions.

While Hackmann says they do serve decaf, there’s not much demand for it among the student body. “That’s for us teachers,” she says. “The hard stuff’s for the kids!”

Photo: Cup of Joe Cafe
Photo: Colin Miller of Strauss Peyton Photography

St. Joseph’s Academy is a private, all-girls, Roman Catholic, college preparatory high school. Pictured on the cover, students learn entrepreneurial skills through a student-run coffee shop. For more information, call 314.394.4321.
Cover design by Julie Streiler | Photo by Colin Miller of Strauss Peyton Photography.