Each morning, the students who run the Tiger Den Cafe deliver drinks, baked goods, and infectious smiles to Hudson Falls High School teachers and staff.
The student-run cafe is celebrating its first anniversary, and the nineteen students from the SUCCESS program, with support from teachers Kelly LeMay and Dan Sanders, have been hands-on since its start.
“Students decide the weekly menu; they keep track of the ingredients supply, shop for what is needed, make sure to stay on budget, make and package the products, do daily deliveries, and work at the cart on Fridays,” said Ms. LeMay.
The cafe takes online orders each day and delivers directly to classrooms. On Friday, the cafe is set up in the main lobby, so teachers and staff can stop by. Working as a team, students welcome customers, take orders, make beverages, handle payments, and keep the cart clean and organized—all important social and job skills
The cafe sells coffee, tea, hot chocolate, water, coffee cake, protein balls, Oreo balls, and a variety of breads, such as banana, pumpkin, and cranberry-orange.
“We also do lemon bars and even dog treats! The cinnamon tea and protein balls are customer favorites!” said Ms. LeMay.
Mrs. Davis, counseling office secretary, tries to stop by the cart each Friday.
“I order online for the week, but I love to stop by the cart on Fridays to visit with the kids and check out the other goodies they are offering,” she said.
Students shop each Monday for everything they will need for the week. Everything is homemade and baked at school, allowing students to learn valuable kitchen skills.
“Sometimes, we test out new recipes. One time, we had a recipe that called for either milk chocolate or dark chocolate, and we couldn’t decide, so we added both!” said Caden, a student worker.
The cafe’s student staff meets each Friday afternoon to review sales and profits and help with deposits into the cafe’s account. Leo, one of the student workers, said his money-counting skills have improved since starting at the cafe, and everyone agreed that Derek, the cafe’s student treasurer, is the best at counting!
“We put some of the profits back into the cafe, and we are saving for a fun field trip for the students at the end of the year. The rest is being saved to turn a classroom into a “mock” apartment. The SUCCESS program is a life skills/work-study program, and we want to create an apartment that the students learn how to use and care for to help them be more prepared after they leave high school,” said Ms. LeMay.
An unexpected benefit of the cafe has been its effect on the high school staff.
“People have told us how happy they are that we started the cafe. They not only get delicious food, but they get to visit with our students and see them grow and succeed,” said Ms. LeMay.
Mrs. Estep, special education teacher, and Mrs. Saville, math teacher, agree that the best thing about the cafe is the joy it has brought to the school.
“The morning delivery from the cafe is one of my favorite things about working at HFHS—the students come with my order and a huge smile to brighten my day,” said Mrs. Saville.
Tristan, a student worker, said, “We get a lot of compliments, and teachers say we make their Friday. And I love it when we get tips because it shows we did a good job.”
“The Tiger Den Cafe has definitely built a stronger sense of Tiger Community in our building,” said Mrs. French, global history and geography teacher.