Tiger Den open for business

The Tiger Den is a place where you can get drinks, and food, while hanging out with your friends in your free time, in between periods and before/after school! The Tiger Den is also a vocational job site for students to learn job and social skills in a real-world setting at school. The coffee shop is open daily periods 1-4 in the Tiger Den and student teacher Hannah Becker and junior Javan Wegener are just a few of the friendly faces that will greet customers there.

Students who work there learn many employability skills. For example, Wegener has learned how to run the slushie machine, make different types of coffee, complete a job list, stock snacks, price items, run the cash register and deal with money. Other students learn valued workplace skills such as communication, organizational, leadership, time management, mathematical and professional skills. 

The Tiger Den is open from 7:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m., but they shut down for fourth hour. Their busiest time is definitely before school when everybody is rushing for coffee or breakfast before their first hour class. According to Becker, they aren’t as busy as they were last year, but they are hoping that as the word gets out, the business will pick up.

Last year, teachers sent students down to pick up coffee, and other teachers asked for deliveries straight to their classrooms. This year, they haven’t had as many deliveries or had many teachers call down for delivery, but they hope this will pick up.

While the Tiger Den is still fully functioning, its prices have gone up just a little bit. Many students wanted extra pumps of flavor in their drinks last year, but this year, that will cost extra. Most of the snacks have also raised prices, but just 50 cents at the most. Regarding whether she thought the small price change was the reason for decreased business in between classes, Becker said, “That could be the reason, but in my opinion, with students, they don’t really pay attention to the price of things. They just kind of buy what they want when they want it. If they knew that iced coffee was 50 cents more, they are still going to buy it.” 

Den staff haven’t had too many issues since the start of the school year, but they have had some troubles with their card reader, so they encourage those paying with a card to be patient. Speaking of cards, the Tiger Den will not accept student IDs as payment, even if students have money in their lunch or funds account. Becker said, “That isn’t something that we can work out through our system. Because of how your school account is linked, we can’t combine the two systems.”

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