UNI Roast plans to bring coffee shop to The Hill

UNI Roast, a new student organization at the University of Northern Iowa, is educating students about coffee shop culture while creating their own coffeehouse.

The Roast is a nonprofit coffee shop set to open on the Hill in the building next to Copyworks in August 2012, and is, according to project creator Nathan Wiemers, "for the students, by the students."

"Even though it's more, ‘by the students, for a lot of people,'" Wiemers, junior public administration major, added.

UNI Roast is a group that, according to Wiemers, "was created to provide practical education and experience for a variety of skill sets through planning, funding, constructing and operating The Roast successfully." In other words, UNI Roast is a group that has dedicated itself to both creating a coffeehouse for students and indulging in the coffee shop culture surrounding such places.

"Coffee has this weird kind of culture; people become obsessed with it sometimes," Wiemers said.

UNI Roast has been meeting since the fall 2011 semester. The group is advised by marketing professor Matthew Wilson and roughly 12 students are currently involved.

The group exposes the students to events such as coffee tastings. As the group grows, there will be a possibility of trips to coffee roasters to see how the coffee-making process begins.

The group also works toward the goal of creating a coffee shop. Several interior design students are helping to develop The Roast by picking colors and furniture and working on the layout for the shop. Some students are brainstorming ways to get others involved, such as by allowing art students to hang artwork on the walls.

"It's not like a start-up company... but it's more like a community project, and it's for the benefit of a lot of people." Wiemers said.

UNI Roast is looking for students to help with the creation of their coffeehouse, specifically those with business experience, especially in the areas of industrial technology and marketing. Wiemers also hopes to get Pi Sigma Epsilon, a sales and marketing organization on campus, involved with the coffeehouse.

"It's one of the goals of (UNI Roast) to get a variety of clubs involved and to use the resources, interests and passions of all these different clubs to collaborate and do this one student project," Wiemers said.

The Roast will be a two-story coffee house and will feature two meeting rooms on the second floor that will be available to by student organizations to rent for meetings. Organizations using the rooms will get a discount on refreshments for the meeting.

In a typical nonprofit structure, The Roast will be headed up by a board of directors. Eight to 10 employees will work at the coffee shop, and Wiemers said there is even a possibility of obtaining work-study funding for those jobs. Management positions will be counted as internships. A management rotation will occur every few years.

"You will be learning critical management skills that you don't get from the classroom," Wiemers said of the management internships. "It's like a steady business that offers internships, and that's extremely beneficial."

The Roast will also hold periodic competitions for students. Photography and art competitions will allow students to show off their artwork on The Roast's walls. Contests for guitar players, jazz piano players and small jazz combos will be held to enable these musicians to play their music at The Roast. Every few months, students can submit ideas for a mural, which will be painted near the front entrance of The Roast. The winning artist will paint their piece during business hours.

"It's one thing to make an art project for a class, but it's another thing doing it for the community for people to see and to improve the community," Wiemers said.

The initial fundraising for The Roast will begin the week of Jan. 29.

"(The Roast) is a fantastic idea, and a lot of people have told me that, but the make or breaking point of a lot of fantastic ideas is financing," Wiemers said.

The group will approach professors and possibly some students for financial support, as well as ask businesses such as Hy-Vee and those in the Cedar Valley Alliance for sponsorships. A small business loan will also cover the remaining costs for the coffee shop.

Wiemers said his idea for the coffee shop and coffee-based group started when he moved to campus over the summer.

"I moved here in the summer basically to a ghost town, because all of the students go home ... and part of the reason is because there's nothing to do," Wiemers said. "Really one of the only things to do for recreation are bars and restaurants, which both take a lot of time and money. A coffee shop is less money and more productive time – and fun time, too. It's more relaxing, but still stimulating through the coffee."