The State of the Shops: Statement on the Coffee Shop Mergers

Hello all, we hope your school year has been going well, and that your academic pursuits have been fruitful. We know there have been recent rumors on the on campus coffee shops (Coffee Grounds and Coffee Closet). We value your support over the years and want to give you as much accurate information to date as we can. 

In order to make sure that the shops continue, we have to make changes. Historically, the shops have been financially supported by both the school and alumni donations. For example, Coffee Closet’s current location was a renovation funded by the Ruane’s family. Through these routes of financial support we were able to purchase our machines, ingredients, and even pay our staff. All of this ensured that we could provide our supporters with excellent service and great space for socializing and studying. However, the plan and intention was for the shops to always be successful and profitable independent of outside funding sources, so the shops moved to financing their own payroll and operations. But as of late we have seen an increase in prices for ingredients and machine replacement/repairs as well as the increase of payroll wages, which has made operating more and more financially challenging. 

So we’ve attempted to pivot. We’ve tried to increase our number of events, increase the cost of our goods, sourcing more affordable ingredients, and much much more. However, even with these mitigations, both of our shops are not financially sustainable. As we stand, the future of Coffee Grounds and Closet’s existence at Connecticut College is uncertain beyond this year. 

But we are not giving up! We are moving towards a merger of the shops. We will still have two locations with two names that you know. But we will be under one brand, Conn Coffee. This means information relevant to both shops will be under this new name in messaging. In addition, we will have one menu, congruent ingredients, and one staff team. This will reduce our overall cost, and hopefully ensure that we continue with longevity. We ask that you please be patient and understanding with us as we work through these changes. 

In the meantime, we highly encourage you to continue to support. Every purchase you make helps to ensure our existence. We won’t require you to make a purchase to be in our shops, but if you enjoy studying in our shops, hanging with friends, going to events, or just relaxing in our shops please support us so we can support you. And when you graduate, don’t forget us, we’d love to always be here for your return.

Conn Coffee Managers