T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Marshalltown High School Junior Kinsley Bowie takes a drink order to a customer at the new Bobcat Cafe located in the Orpheum. The coffee shop opened on Thursday morning and is run by MHS students.

A new coffee shop opened on Main Street Thursday morning.

Located in the B.A. Niblock MCSD Welcome Center, the Bobcat Cafe gives the opportunity for hands-on learning, as it is run by Marshalltown High School (MHS) students.

MHS Family and Consumer Science Teacher Jules McGrew said the students not only greet the customers, take their orders and make the drinks, but they get their hands in the entrepreneurial side of things.

“They make appointments for the fire department and distributors and health inspector,” she said. “It’s really cool to get that entrepreneurship skills in a real-life setting.”

Every day, there are three shifts of three to six students working. Hearing the students talk, McGrew said they are having fun and are already saying they want to work in the Bobcat Cafe next year.

“I think the best learning is when we’re having fun,” she said. “I’m hopeful they take the skills, but look back and say this was so fun to do and they started a student-run coffee shop. I think they take pride out of that.”

McGrew stressed the cafe only accepts credit or debit cards. Customers can choose from a variety of drinks such as espressos Americano, latte, chai latte, frappuccino, cappuccino, mochaccino, milk tea and hot chocolate. However, for the first few days, people will be limited to drip coffee, cold brew, hot chocolate and iced latte. McGrew said they are waiting on a pump for the espresso machine.

“It was supposed to be delivered yesterday, but the weather,” she said. “Hopefully the pump will come today and it will be up and going by next week. We do have a little machine at the school they have been practicing on. They know how to make the drinks.”

With the limited machine, McGrew recommends that people try a French press coffee.

Customers can also get some food to accompany their beverages. MHS culinary students spend classroom time in the afternoon baking goods such as cookies, donuts and muffins. Inside the cafe, students also prepare waffles and breakfast burritos — either bacon or sausage.

McGrew definitely suggests that hungry customers try the burritos.

“Students developed a sweet Thai chili aioli that’s on there,” she said. “It’s not spicy, but it’s enough [for people to ask] ‘Wow. What is that sauce?'”

McGrew also recommends the Bobby Bites, which are small chunks of waffles with a vanilla glaze and cinnamon and sugar.

While people will not get anything they would not be able to find at other coffee shops, they will give something unique to the students.

“They can learn the skills of communication, hospitality and the culinary aspect of serving safe food,” she said. “It’s really what they can give us rather than what we can give them. [Although] having students make the baked goods sets us apart and just having that younger perspective of what is trending, what is new and food flavors that younger people would like. Then having direction from an instructor who says ‘This is what a middle aged person might want or what the market might want,’ sets us apart.”

The lessons and experience in communication, hospitality and customer service aspects are what McGrew hopes most students learn and understand.

“Making eye contact and engaging in conversation are some soft skills that, when we go around and ask businesses what they need from the younger generation, a lot of them are saying soft skills,” she said. “That is something we want to focus on here.”

COFFEE SHOP INFO:

Name: Bobcat Cafe

Location: B.A. Niblock MCSD Welcome Center (Orpheum)

Address: 220 E. Main St.

Days: Monday through Friday

Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.