Open for business at WACTC
Jackie Bissell won in a sweep.
“She named this ‘Technically Edible Cafe,'” Dennis McCarthy said, grinning. “We had 119 students submit names for the store, and a lot of them were great.”
Bissell’s appropriate designation prevailed, however. She is a senior at Western Area Career & Technology Center, where McCarthy is the director and where the school store celebrated its official debut Monday morning – thanks to a healthy assist from furniture giant IKEA.
It is a snack bar/cafe/lounge, a converted classroom of about 1,400 square feet with seating for 21 and standing room for about 30. You can get a soft pretzel, a pepperoni roll, pizza, ice cream, chips and a variety of drinks while studying, unwinding or browsing the Internet.
In reality, it has been open for three weeks and is already popular among students, faculty and cosmetology clients from across the hall. Technically Edible Cafe is a vast upgrade from the hall vending machines that sufficed for snackers.
“We’ve sold 150 cases of pop since it opened,” McCarthy said, adding WACTC contracted with Coca-Cola and Hershey Co.
A $6,700 grant from IKEA was the foundation on which the cafe was built. Each year, regional organizations can apply for a “Life Improvement Challenge” grant from the multinational furniture firm. IKEA then selects three finalists, and online voters register their choices.
WACTC, a first-time applicant, won on both counts.
IKEA’s largess extended beyond that grant, though. “The sink, spigots, all this shelving, the table, countertop” were donated by IKEA, McCarthy said. “They put this together for us and got the plumber we needed.
“IKEA was absolutely fabulous for us. They went above and beyond.”
Jennifer Stockdale, local marketing specialist for IKEA, was on hand Monday. She lives in Washington and works at the Robinson Township site, the only IKEA in Pennsylvania besides the Philadephia area.
“The last time I saw this, it was really empty,” Stockdale said. “Now it really looks like a store.”
The cafe is a long-awaited oasis for Mary Adams, principal of the Chartiers Township school. She is a 34-year employee who said WACTC once had a similar store operated by the marketing class, which shut down along with the class.
“The students work hard and deserve break time in an area like this,” said Adams, whose school serves nine Washington County districts: Avella, Burgettstown, Canon-McMillan, Chartiers-Houston, Fort Cherry, McGuffey, Peters Township, Trinity and Washington.
Carol Roman, an intructor in WACTC’s entrepreneurial program, is running the store, which is generally open from 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Students from that program are assigned to work there, supervising registers, stocking shelves, doing inventory. McCarthy said the menu will expand with time, including healthier items, along with the hours, especially in the evenings for adult students.
WACTC does have a cafeteria, but it is for teachers. It also is open to the public four days a week. Students, who spend half their school days at WACTC and the other half in their high schools, eat lunch in their home districts.
So, no, Jackie Bissell is not the only winner there. But she is the biggest winner, and not just because of the naming rights.
Monday morning, before this Canon-McMillan student arrived for classes, administrators gathered the small batch of prizes they were going to bestow on the winner. There was a $50 bill, a $20 gift card and a Jerome Bettis Steelers jersey autographed by “The Bus.”
And, probably, the snack of her choosing.