Hudsons Coffee helps Corowa High School students start their own school coffee shop

With the help of Hudsons Coffee , the year 11 students from Corowa High School have recently started their own coffee shop within the school grounds.

The coffee shop, named ‘Cafe Diem’ after their school motto Carpe Diem, provides a unique opportunity for the students to gain hands on experience that complements their studies.

Cafe Diem is operated by year 11 students who are studying retail operations and legal and business studies. They are responsible for all aspects of the coffee shop including customer service, bookkeeping, pricing and rostering.

To help the students further their entrepreneurial business, Hudsons Coffee held an information session that included training and development, franchising and marketing.

"We're following an example of one of the other schools in Albury, James Fallon where they've got a cafe as a means of giving students hands on experience in a retail environment," said Corowa High School business studies/retail services teacher Meredith Mackenzie.

"We wanted to get some case study experience so we went to a number of businesses and Hudsons Coffee not only covered retail and customer service but also marketing and franchising which is covered in the business studies course."

According to Mackenzie the students had gained valuable experience during their trip to Melbourne, where the Hudsons Coffee business studies course was held.

"Going to Hudsons was fantastic," said Mackenzie.

"They were very receptive, they put an awful lot of work into the organisation and the information they gave us."

Even though Cafe Diem was still in its infancy, Mackenzie said the school coffee shop has been receiving positive feedback from both students and teachers.