Coffee menu switches to Caribou brand
Einstein Bros. Bagels in Merion Hall on the Maguire Campus switched out their current coffee menu for the Caribou Coffee drink line on Feb. 12.
Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels are both owned by the same corporation: the Luxembourg-based JAB Holding Company, which owns other recognizable brands like Krispy Kreme, Panera Bread, and Keurig Green Mountain. According to Ken Goldbach, general manager of SJU dining, the JAB Holding Company notified Aramark, St. Joe’s food service provider, about the coffee switch earlier this year.
“They’re owned by the same company, so they’re two strong brands that they’re partnering together,” Goldbach said.
This transition is one of many that JAB Holding Company has implemented at Einstein Bros. locations since its recent acquisition of the bagel company, Goldbach said.
Goldbach explained that, in order to prepare for the new menu, Aramark had to procure certain smallwares, meaning glassware, utensils, small appliances, etc. and product components specific to the Caribou product line.
“We received in advance notice that these were items that we needed to procure to run the program,” Goldbach said. “So, from that piece, it’s very smooth.”
St. Joe’s Dining did not start advertising the new menu before Feb. 9. By not promoting the change, the staff could ensure that supplies had enough time to arrive and employees had enough time to undergo sufficient training to deal with a potential increase in student demand.
“When you’re going through these things the first day it’s hard to handle the volume, if it was that popular,” Goldbach said, “but we’re going to start pushing this more in order to get the word out.”
To continue promoting the new menu, Goldbach said, samples will be offered in Campion Student Center throughout the week, although there is no official sampling schedule.
Einstein Bros. Bagel Staff were trained onsite by a representative from Caribou.
Because Caribou not only hasa different menu, but also prepares their drinks differently from Einstein Bros., the staff had to learn a whole new procedure for brewing and creating the new items, Goldbach said. For example, iced coffee, which under Einstein was poured from a dispensing tower by the student, will now be individually prepared bythe barista for each order. The coffee itself is brewed at a temperature different from Einstein’s.
Kasey Frederick ’21 noticed no change in the quality of coffee on the new Caribou menu, and said she was content with the new options.
“I really like Einstein’s coffee, so they’re both really good,” Frederick said.
Jaime Cominsky ’19 said that she also noticed no change in the quality of her iced coffee.
However, because it was prepared by the barista, Cominsky said that the new procedural step was “nice, because they asked me if I wanted to leave room for cream.”
Overall, Goldbach said his desire for Einstein Bros. Bagel is that it provides St. Joe’s students with a high-quality product that they will enjoy.
“My hopes are really that, through our partnership with Einstein, and now Caribou, we’ve been able to bring a better quality product to campus for the students,” Goldbach said.“That we’re putting out a quality product consistently that represents the Caribou name and that students are ultimately happy with.
