Canfield students gain business experience at Cardinal Cafe

October 31, 2013 at 12:05a.m.

CANFIELD

Payton Shannon, a junior at a Canfield High School, may consider a future business career after her work at the Cardinal Cafe.

Shannon, 16, the president of the student-run cafe, along with the vice president of Frullati Cafe and Bakery, teachers, students, community members and school representatives gathered for the grand opening of the cafe Tuesday morning.

“I didn’t want [to go into business] at first, but now I think I do,” Shannon said.

For the past three years, the students in the business class at Canfield High School have started a cafe. The students learn how to raise capital for the cafe, receive food-preparation training, customer-service skills, marketing and learn how to handle the profit, said Sherry Creighton, business teacher at the high school.

“We are teaching them job-readiness skills,” Creighton said.

Creighton said 23 students, and 19 students from family consumer service class, collaborated for the project. The students were tasked with developing healthy options for the cafe this year. Smoothies are one option they have always considered, and the owner of the Frullati franchise in Southern Park Mall just so happened to be a Canfield resident and had children in the school district.

“I think it’s an awesome idea,” said Maher Alex Shalash, owner of the franchise. “I was talking about turning this into a permanent operation.”

The vice president of Frullati, Tom O’Dear, also came to the ceremony from Arizona to encourage and support the collaboration of the franchise with the school.

“I’ve never seen excitement like this,” O’Dear said. “[Frullati] gets kids away from drinking [energy drinks] and it gets them drinking healthy.”

In addition to Frullati smoothies, the cafe will sell sandwiches. The cafe is open for business from 7:30 to 8:05 a.m.

“At the end, all of the students get a grade and pay check,” Creighton said.

Proceeds also are donated, and a scholarship fund is set up for a future business student.

Shalash hopes more school representatives in the area will approach him to start a collaboration. He had to train the students on serving smoothies and ended up gaining Shannon as an employee at his franchise.

“It’s just [a good] experience for the students,” Shalash said.

Shalash said he will offer 10 percent off today to anyone who mentions this article at Frullati.