S. Klevansky (Coffee House)

Coffee House: A Real-Life Project

“Coffee House: A Real-Life Project”

Academy Of Hospitality and Tourism

Boca Raton , FL

Palm Beach County

susan.klevansky@palmbeachschools.org#NAFNext2014

WHO ARE WE?Olympic Heights Community High School

Race %

White 48.5%Black 16.0%Hispanic 31.5%Asian 3.5%Mixed race

0.8%

Our students (I mean stats)

#NAFNext2014

Total Student Population- 2049 Economically disadvantaged: 33.8% *Take what you will from these statistics.

School Grade (WWDD)What would Dewey Do?…Probably eliminate the school grades!

Susan Klevansky-26 total yrs teaching, 9 yrs teaching Hospitality

Unconventional Teaching Methods: Ex. Expresso Machine

My principal once said in referring to me “ In my next life, I want to come back as a Hospitality Teacher”

•Run School Bookstore (items: various clothing items, school supplies, snack food and ICED Coffees)•Key Club Sponsor (Includes a Spring Talent Show-many performers consistent w/ those in Coffee House)•Hospitality Club Sponsor•EF Tour Representative (Trips Abroad)•The Boca Raton Chamber Commerce Tourism Committee

Allows me to network with (local business) members who have become business partners. It’s a people industry and networking is KEY!

Some FYI’s

•Business Partnerships: YES, for Job Shadowing and advisory board membership. 20+ area hotels, restaurants, country clubs, movie theaters, WPB airport and Town Center Mall in Boca Raton

•# Students in Program: 100

•Course names: Intro Hospitality, Lodging Principles, Lodging Applications, Event Planning &/or Senior Exec Internship.

•No GPA requirement for this Academy

•Current Industry Certification used: Serve Safe

FYI’s Continued…

What is Coffee House?Our version of an open-mic night under the stars.

•Singers•Rappers•Instrumentals•Dancers (ALL KINDS INCL BELLY DANCING)

•Poetry Readings•Karaoke•Bands•Talented teachers have performed

#NAFNext2014

$1 donation to charity

Refreshments for Sale

WHY?...Rather why not?

We began in 2006 with a patio furniture donated from a business partner…The Boca Raton Resort and Beach Club. We had outdoor patio space in the middle of our academy building. ( A concrete slab of nothing. ) Now used by others as well.

INTENDED GOALS:• Interest in creating self-

sustaining ($) academies.• Provide students with a real

“hands-on experience” in event planning, service and hospitality

• Parallels curriculum Fundamentals of Hospitality: The Restaurant Business

COFFEE HOUSESPACE

•Open Patio Space

•Surrounded by the Academy Classrooms

•Space can comfortably seat 50+. *we’ve had up to 90 people.

•6-8pm

• usually wed. night prior to LTM (1/2 days)

• quarterly (tough to fit in the school calendar w/ many of our musical talent coming from band)

Major lessons for this project: PLANNING AN EVENT•the calendar (choosing date)•recruitment of talent•promotion (heavy the week of for attendees)•staffing (servers, talent, entrance, MC) Choose a handful of students to work as leaders. “too many cooks in the kitchen …”•food (purchasing, menus on tables, prepping, pricing, serving)•Fees (ours is $1 to charity, but you can modify this any way you need)•décor (purchase and decorate )•Runs so smoothly now ( I don’t need to be there) Ex. Dec event.

LESSONS LEARNED:PLAN , PROMOTE & EXECUTE. Like the kids say “Mad Skills” –but math skills too

How do we promote Coffee House?•Morning announcements (but nobody listens to those, so we had to do more)…•Mini flyers students passed out like postcards they pass out for concerts•Word of mouth-we know they talk ALL the time•Social Media- phones are an effective tool in my classroom. • Large banners –placed in cafeteria, week of event•Flyers- around hallways, posted week of event•Entrance Display- front of school, balloons all along staircase and the balloons say COFFEE HOUSE TONIGHT!

Our issues to work on? Some problems we ran into…1. Promoting the event (check)2. Offering the right food3. Overall organization4. Not much of a money maker5. Sound quality (speakers)6. Too many kids want to work7. Conflicts in school schedule (band and

jazz kids…very busy throughout year)8. Students sign up to perform, then

don’t show up

Our Solutions…• Promoting: See slide ( on handout)• Points-Offering participation points made a big difference. For

every guest you brought-1 point , if you recruited talent -5 points.• Food: It was either too little or too much.

– Favorites were pizza, soda. Profit could be made if food donated.

• Organization: Select Seniors became managers and organized servers, kitchen staff, master of ceremony and a talent coordinator (makes the list ordering times of the talent and preps them to move towards stage in time)

• Money …We started with a $5 admission but slowly found that it was too high for our venue. $1 admission to charity (cancer organizations) .

** $ wasn’t the main goal for us as we also run the school bookstore with healthy profits . It is event planning, creating something which supports school culture, giving students the opportunity to work “hands on” and then enjoy the feeling of success. Oh, and to have FUN!• Calendar: I email the band and chorus teachers with tentative

dates.• No shows :We text the performers several times before to

confirm. (Sign ups for talent are in the bookstore)

Plans for Future

We have grown in size from under 40 at the first coffee house to 75-100 people. We plan on always making improvements in the continual effort of making each event the very best.