Opening and closing, equipment, shift coverage
Coffee Shop & Experiential Learning
Java Junction
BUS 360 | 3 credit hours
A coffee shop and a real business
Java Junction is a student-managed coffee bar on the campus of Goshen College, open to everyone: students, employees and the general public. It opened in 2004, when the Connector was built, with eleven drinks and no food. It has now grown to over 60 beverages and some food items as well.
Every person who works here is a Goshen College student. So is every person who manages it. Java Junction is also self-sustaining, which means whatever it sells is what it has to spend on inventory, equipment and wages. There is no subsidy behind it.
The students run the business
Java Junction has a management team, a faculty adviser and a board of directors, in that order and with those responsibilities. Under the supervision of a business faculty member, the students hold full responsibility for all management and operating decisions. Not a simulation of them. The semester ends the way a fiscal year does: the team presents the business to faculty and invited guests, who go through the numbers.
BUS 360: Java Junction Operations
The management team runs the business for academic credit, through a three credit hour course in the business department. The catalog description is short and it is not softened: the course gives students the opportunity to operate and manage a real business.
Students take on operations, human resources, marketing, purchasing and accounting, and report regularly to the Advisory Board. The course is repeatable, so managers often serve more than one semester, and it is open to juniors and seniors with a major in the business department. Entrepreneurial students and those energized by experiential learning are encouraged to sign up.
Common Questions
In the Connector, the building between the Kratz and Miller residence halls on the Goshen
College campus. Park at the Physical Plant or at the Goshen College Music Center. One thing to
know before you drive over at night: after 7 p.m., the Connector doors open only for people
with a Goshen College ID card.Anyone. Java Junction is open to students, employees and the general public, and gift cards
are available if you’d like to send someone in.Students. A team of six or seven student managers holds full responsibility for operating
and management decisions, supervised by a business department faculty member and reporting to
an advisory board that serves as the board of directors. The managers are selected by the
business department through an application process, and they earn academic credit for the work
through BUS 360: Java Junction Operations.Not to be a barista. Baristas are hired from across campus, in every major. For the
management team, the catalog lists BUS 360 as open to juniors and seniors majoring in the
business department, and the course is repeatable, so managers often serve more than one
semester.
Come find us.
Down the hall in the Connector, between Kratz and Miller. Bring your laptop and stay a while, or order a milkshake on your way to class.