If you follow me on instagram, you’ve seen me share about our student-run coffee cart. We had been doing a snack cart for awhile, but I wanted to find a way to switch things up and expand on our students’ skills. Our students are having fun and stuff are LOVING it!

Here’s a little more about how we got started and answers to some of the most asked questions.

what did we do first?

Before officially making the switch from snack cart to coffee cart, I created a short survey using google forms to gain input from staff. I’m not able to share our specific survey, as it includes a lot of building-specific information, but we included questions to gather input on the following specifics: iced vs hot coffee, specific types of creamer (vanilla, almond milk, half and half, etc.), syrup flavors, and delivery time preferences based on our classroom schedule.

how did you fund the initial supplies?

The way you fund a project like this will greatly depend on your school or district and whether or not you have funds from previous projects. For us, we had a small amount of proceeds from our snack cart. I used a combination of those funds and personal funds to make the initial purchases.

I am definitely not advocating for teachers to spend their own money and strongly encourage you to talk with your building or district to see what options you have when starting a project like this, especially if it supports student goals.

what supplies did you purchase?

Please note some of the links below include affiliate links, which means I may make a small amount of proceeds for items purchased using these links. Thank you so much for supporting my teacher blog!

coffee cart -We wanted something that would have handles, making it easy for our students to push. This has held up well for us!

insulated carafe– Since we serve hot coffee, we needed something that would keep the coffee warm, but also safe for our students to hold.

hot coffee cups with sleeves – These particular cups often have clippable coupons and come out to approximately 32 cents a piece.

iced coffee cups with lid and straw– Our staff specifically requested iced coffee cups with straws. These come out to approximately 20 cents per cup.

student aprons – Our students voted on a coffee crew name. We decided on ‘happy cup coffee crew’. I used my silhouette to create the logo and pressed it onto these aprons.

coffee syrup pumps -These make it super easy for our students to count pumps of syrup.

I buy our coffee, creamers, and syrups from Walmart or Sam’s, depending on the item and where it is cheapest.

how do staff order?

After reflecting on our snack cart process and the goals we wanted to work on with coffee cart, we decided on the following process:

1. Created a coffee cart menu and gave every staff member a laminated copy. Staff circle their selections for the following: delivery window (we offer three different delivery times), iced or hot coffee, syrup flavor, creamer/milk selection with specific of “just one splash” or “a few splashes”. You can access a FREE, editable coffee cart menu here.
2. Every Wednesday (our coffee cart day), staff are reminded to make their selections and clip their menu outside their door with the money. This allows our kids to collect the order and gives a natural visual to help them fill the order accurately. We strongly encourage staff to pay with cash to give our students the opportunity to handle real-life money. However, we also offer “I owe you” tickets and venmo, if necessary.
3. During each delivery block, students navigate the building and fill orders as we go.
4. After fulfilling orders, students help put away the supplies and clean up the coffee cart so it is ready to go for next time.

All that being said, we will be making slight changes to this process in the coming months. We have seen many benefits to filling orders as we go and the benefits of having students physically collect the menus and follow that visual. However, we’ve also found that it is really hard to predict how many orders we will have, how much hot coffee needs to be brewed, etc.

We will transition to a google form menu, with all of the same selections, that staff will fill out the day before or morning of. These will be printed, so that students still have a visual to follow. Students will fill the orders in my room, but still deliver and collect money in person to ensure students have the opportunity for social exchanges.

do the sales cover the cost to restock supplies?

Yes! I specifically priced the items to ensure cost of supplies would be covered. The initial supply run took a couple coffee cart days to recoup those costs, but we have been able to break-even since then and replenish supplies as needed using only coffee cart funds. Any small amount of proceeds goes into our program funds to assist with student-related needs, CBI trips, or future student-led projects and initiatives.

do you like the coffee cart more than snack cart?

I like that it is something different, but still works on a lot of similar skills. Snack cart was easier to manage in terms of supplies, filling orders, and determining pricing. Our staff enjoyed snack cart, too. However, the feedback from coffee cart has been incredible! Our students can work on additional skills such as scooping ice, opening and closing the different containers, pouring, putting lids on cups, measuring, and more!

did you do anything to practice or prepare your students for coffee cart?

Yes! I put together a range of task boxes that would help them practice some of the skills in a more discrete way, such as putting together coffee cups, opening/closing containers with various lids, sorting money, filling mock-orders, and stocking coffee supplies.

Find these printable coffee cart functional tasks in my TPT store.

If you are considering implementing a student-run coffee cart, I hope you find this blog post helpful!