HOISINGTON — Building skills and real life experiences, USD 431 Hoisington Future Business Leaders of America have opened a coffee shop serving beverages to student and staff.
“We thought it’d be something the student body would enjoy,” said Jennifer Steinert, entrepreneurship teacher and FBLA sponsor at USD 431. “We want to expose (FBLA students) to running a business.”
At the “Red Zone,” the business name, the students can buy coffee with a variety of flavors, hot chocolate, six types of fruit smoothies, ice tea, cappuccino, and snacks such as cookies, chips and gum.
The Red Zone opens before school, during a couple of periods during the day, and after school. Expansion plans are already being made to move into the high school library and decorating it with student artwork.
This is the first year that the school has had an FBLA, and planning began last fall for the coffee shop.
The students travelled to schools that run coffee shops, including Garden Plains and Hesston. The Hoisington FBLA

members learned about vendors, the intricacies of running a school store, and products for sale.
“We talked about things we liked and pooled ideas,” said Ashley Lockwood, FBLA member.
The results have been positive. “It started out way better and faster,” than first thought, said Megan Haynie, student manager.
“I’ve learned to manage time with working in here (between customers) and homework,” said Haynie.
FBLA students came in to school at Christmas time and turned a classroom on the first floor of HHS into the coffee shop complete with a sales counter, a small couch and tables and chairs.
It has turned into an incentive and privilege for students to come in and relax, and the store is already turning a profit. Profits from the business will be used to take business tours and field trips.
The students have no overhead and the business is run by volunteers, but they still have learned marketing, time management, planning, and calculating profits while keeping it affordable for students. In addition, students must keep up their grade point average to work in the store.
Plus, the school plans to expand business course offerings next year to include applied business development, business economics and business management. The business classes are in a Career Pathway, which means after taking an intro, technical and application class, students can earn a certificate. Some classes will qualify for college credit at no expense to the student.
“We wanted students to learn responsibility and prepare them for college and career,” said Steinert. The Red Zone meets the new College and Career Readiness Standards as a cross-curricular study.