West Side Espresso, better known as the Bulldog Cafe, is on the west side of West Albany High School. The West Side Espresso is run mainly by the students. This year, Tracy Stinson and Jean Smith (“Mama Jean”) are the supervisors.
Senior Beau Luna, the head staff of the West Side Espresso, claims that “bagels and brownies” are their bestselling items. The cafe also sells goodies such as donuts, energy drinks, chips, and so much more. While they have an abundance of bestsellers, they also have some less popular items. “Grilled cheese and panda crackers [Meiji’s “Hello Panda crackers “]. [The grilled cheese] isn’t what it used to be. It’s also not [advertised],” Luna said.
If he could sell anything, it would be the grilled cheese. “A year ago, we used to have a kid [who worked here], and he would make them as [lunch] goes.”
As the season changes, so does the desire to change up the menu. A beverage that recently made a comeback from being discontinued is the slushies. Before they were discontinued, slushies were the drink of the season. Students who are employed there decided, together, to bring them back.
Deciding things as a team has always been the hardest part of running the cafe. “You have to [collaborate] as a team [otherwise], you have everyone running around,” Luna said. The West Side Espresso is run mainly by the students with supervising staff. The prices for the merchandise the cafe sells are mainly managed by Jean Smith. “We go to the store, we buy things, and we have to make money on them. We wanna make 30-40 cents minimum [profit],” Smith said, “we’ve had gummy worms, but we have had to cancel [them].”
Wednesdays are the cafe’s busiest day of the week. “That’s when people know we’re open [since] we’re only open on gold days,” Luna said.
Even though the cafe seems to be running well with a surplus of customers, Luna believes that improvements could still be made, such as advertising underrated snacks like popcorn and crackers.
West Side Espresso is one of the many food establishments around West Albany. Altogether, it’s a cafe filled with students supporting their classmates by buying the food made by the staff.
