“Strawberry Acai?” a kind employee calls out from behind the umber brown counter. A short, brown-haired girl approaches the counter, her smile wide as she thanks the employee and takes the drink, walking to her next class at UT Martin.
Starbucks, a fan-favorite of coffee fans worldwide, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. UTM’s own “The Hangar” is a branch of the Starbucks company and has been making its own impact on UTM students since the cafeteria renovations in 2014.
What keeps students coming to The Hangar instead of another local coffee joint?
Of course, the first reason is convenience. The Hangar is conveniently located on the first floor of the University Center. Often busiest during the lunch hours, The Hangar is a place for students, faculty and staff to come and grab something to boost their energy, warm them up or even just serve as a refresher.
Erika Yelvington, a Junior Vet Tech major at UTM, often uses coffee to wake up a bit when she is doing homework and reviewing her notes.
“It gives me more energy because I don’t get a lot of sleep because of studying,” said Yelvington.
College students all have homework and social lives to keep up with, so an extra boost is always helpful.
The second reason is the variety of drinks they serve. The Hangar serves multiple popular drinks such as the caramel frappe, iced coffees, mochas, macchiatos, and various flavors of tea. A new arrival to the frappe line, known by the name “cinnamon roll,” is currently taking students by surprise with how much they love the flavors.
Allison Skaggs, a Sophomore Biology major and frequent visitor of The Hangar, tried the new arrival in the place of her usual “pink drink” and smiled, saying “I feel like it’s Christmas!” when she finished her first sip. There is always something new to try at The Hangar.
However, there is one reason that The Hangar stands out among its sister locations. Laura Hatch, an Accounting Lecturer, is also a patron of The Hangar. Hatch comes to this coffee shop instead of any other, because of its “great location, very clean, good service…”
The dedication of the employees is evident from the second you walk up to The Hangar. Arie, a barista and cashier at The Hangar, is known by students as being “a grandmother away from home.” Her warm smile is a kind of solace, especially for those students who are looking for someone to genuinely care about how their day has been.
Similarly, Robert Killion, a Sodexo supervisor, makes sure to put a smile on everyone’s face. Whether it be by jokes or kind words, Killion takes extra mile service to the next level, even among employees.
Vrushank Mali, a Junior Computer Science major, is a former employee of Sodexo. Mali said that Killion was “super cool” and “a fun guy.”
The first Starbucks was founded March 31, 1971, in Seattle Washington by Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl. Their mission was to “inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.” There are about 32,938 retail Starbucks locations today.
Coffee shops can have many things: new products, low order times and anything else that could be commonly thought of regarding the food industry. However, not all of them have that special, personal spark that The Hangar has. Students can all understand the feeling of being away from home and away from things they know.
The real secret to why Starbucks is such a success, especially here at The Hangar, is because of the service and the philosophy behind it. It isn’t just coffee; it’s the feeling of being loved by the UTM family.
The staff at The Hangar, along with the Sodexo staff in general, have the common goal of taking care of students.
“If we make them something from home, it makes them feel like they’re home,” Killion said.
