FAIRMONT – Fairmont State University has brewed up a partnership with Saxbys, the Philadelphia coffee company that offers learning-based business opportunities to students on college campuses across the country.
The café, which is part of the company’s trademark Experiential Learning Platform, will be located in the Ruth Ann Musick Library.
“We are thrilled to be part of Fairmont State’s transformation,” Saxbys founder and CEO Nick Bayer said last month on campus during the announcement.
Grand opening is set for Oct. 1.
Look for positive, real-world learning experiences to percolate at the venture, which will be totally managed and staffed by a student workforce, both the school and company said.
That means teachable moments with a paycheck, said Janna Bredeson, Fairmont State’s vice president of student affairs.
“Student employment is one of the most meaningful pathways for building confidence and leadership identity,” she said. “Paid positions that carry real responsibility give students a space to grow.”
Making quick decisions, managing peers and adapting to whatever happens in real-time will be part of the daily brew, she said.
College credit, Bredeson added, also comes with the paycheck.
Mike Davis, Fairmont State’s president, likes that the café will deliver a caffeine-career boost to the school’s academic mission.
“It will serve as a powerful symbol of who we are,” he said. “We’re a university that believes in students and empowers them to shape the campus experience.”
Besides the business model of its collegiate component, Saxbys, which bills itself as “a national education company disguised as a coffee company,” is known for its signature coffees, grilled sandwiches and all-day breakfast menu.
Meanwhile, Bayer wasn’t a coffee drinker when he founded his company in Atlanta in 2005.
The name, “Saxbys” was a made-up, mashup, the Chicago native and Cornell graduate said – meant to invoke the brands of Saks, Starbucks and Sotheby’s.
While the company declared bankruptcy three years after opening its doors in 2008, it still managed to stay in business and start franchises before eventually moving its headquarters to Philadelphia.
Saxbys launched its first Experiential Learning Platform at Drexel University in 2015.
