PALM COAST -- Ordinary coffee shops, beware: A group of high school students is delivering java, bagels and more to their classmates and teachers.
The Coffee Spot at Matanzas High School fills more than 100 orders a day, offering a menu that ranges from cappuccino to fruit snacks.
Behind the scenes, the students who run the shop say it has transformed them into passionate entrepreneurs. They are not paid but they are responsible for every aspect of the shop, including taking inventory, creating work schedules, ensuring the food adheres to safety requirements and rating their classmates' performances.
"It actually gives me hands-on experience running a business from the top to the bottom because I do it all," said Anthonya Rogers, 16.
The Matanzas venture is one of two student-run businesses in Flagler County, said Diane Dyer, the district's director of high school and virtual education. The other program is at Flagler Palm Coast High School, where students sell snacks from a classroom. Proponents say the programs offer students a unique opportunity to hone their business skills within the structured school environment.
The Flagler County School Board recently approved two more of these programs, both of which will serve students with disabilities. Flagler Palm Coast High School students will repair and resell used bicycles while students will sell prepackaged food to students and staff at the Flagler Technical Institute. Both programs are contingent on the district receiving grant funding and should be self-supporting.
Those programs give students experience working in teams, said Dyer. The programs also require an extra commitment from the teachers who supervise the students, she said.
"The teacher is ultimately responsible and ultimately accountable," she said.
"It really holds them accountable to a group because they are successful together or they are not successful together," Dyer said.
Like a real job, working in the Coffee Spot is demanding. Rogers and her classmates say they fill more than 100 orders daily from a small room attached to Barbara Tant's classroom. Tant started the program at Matanzas and supervises the student workers. The items are priced modestly: $1.50 for a cappuccino and $1 for a bagel.
"It's not as easy as it looks," said Rogers, who is the manager of the shop.
But the new ventures sparked a discussion, particularly about the school's liability for the products that students sell and whether the student workers should be paid.
Board member Trevor Tucker, however, said this week he is concerned about students competing with the private sector or working unpaid for private companies.
"I worry more about creating products for the outside world or if someone else is using free labor or free land," Tucker said.
As long as students are using safe food handling procedures, the Coffee Spot should be OK, he said.
Another board member, Colleen Conklin, cast the lone vote against creating a student-run café at FTI at the Oct. 19 board meeting because the students wouldn't be paid.
The Coffee Spot workers aren't paid, either, but the students say they benefit in other ways. They bring in more than $2,000 each year, which goes toward events and scholarships for the business-marketing student organization DECA. Some workers say their experience at the Coffee Spot has helped them land paying after-school jobs.
"It gets really hectic but it's lots of fun and it looks really great on applications and resumes," said Kelly Flanagan, 17.
Overall, the shop has been a hit, the student workers say. They are planning a move to a larger room down the hall, which they say will allow them to fill more orders. Eventually, they say they would like to open a cafe in a common area at the school, allowing students to sit down in a coffee house-style environment.
"I just feel like we're a real business," Rogers said. "When things go wrong we have to deal with them like we're a real business."
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