Have you been waiting to unleash your inner barista? Wait no longer. Last weekend, Penny’s announced their Coffee Showcase, giving students the chance to submit recipes for a new coffee drink that will be featured at the cafe’s “Drink Launch Party” on Monday, Feb. 1.
The competition, which opened on Jan. 26, is open to all students.
According to barista Caleb Holm, a freshman, students can submit a recipe via Instagram before noon on Jan. 29. From there, Penny’s will conduct voting on their Instagram stories, allowing followers to vote for their favorite drink in a “this or that” format.
Holm said Penny’s is excited to interact with more people across campus.
“We wanted a way to engage with all of our guests,” Holm said. “I’ve loved seeing SAB put on their events and I thought ‘Well, Penny’s is such a great environment, why don’t we do something similar?’ Talking to some of my friends, I got some inspiration, wrote a proposal, sent it to my managers, and it went from there.”
Julia O’Neil, Penny’s student manager, said the managing team was excited to hear Holm’s idea.
“Caleb was really passionate about the idea, and because Penny’s is a place that’s designed for students to practice being in business and what it takes to be in business, we were excited to allow someone the opportunity to do that,” O’Neil said. “It was a perfect mix of Caleb bringing his own event to us but also allowing the campus to be more a part of Penny’s. It feels like a partnership.”
So far, O’Neil said the student response has been great.
“We’ve had more submissions than expected and some people come up with multiple,” O’Neil said. “It’s fun to see everyone participate — we’ve had athletes submit things, we’ve had Greeks submit things, boys, girls, everyone. It’s fun to see them want to compete.”
For students whose ideas don’t win, O’Neil said that Penny’s may still pull from the recipes submitted this weekend for future coffee creations.
“The idea was that we’d have even more possibilities, so even the ones that don’t win we might use in the future,” O’Neil said.
As for this weekend, Holm gave some advice to hopeful candidates.
“Be creative, but keep it simple,” Holm said. “You don’t want to throw in a bunch of syrups and hope it ends well.”
