A Richmond high school class opened a temporary "cinnamoroll-inspired" school cafe to fundraise for local hospitals and the community.
J.N. Burnett Secondary's Grade 11 marketing class jumped into an entrepreneurial setting and was given a month to open a themed cafe of their choice out of their classroom as part of their semester project.
The "Cinna'nom'roll" cafe, inspired by Sanrio's 2023 most-loved character Cinnamoroll, opened in October last year and was open until the end of the semester in February.
There were also events such as scavenger hunts, raffles and fundraisers.
The student cafe specialized in Asian snacks and drinks as well as specialty items like ice cream thick toast, Keroppi-themed matcha baked goods and drinks and Kuromi's potion ade.
Co-CEOs and students Shawna Wong and Shun Akiyama said running the actual cafe and store was one of two parts of the class, the second was learning about marketing.
"Our teacher wanted us to be teamwork-cohesive so we decided together on the theme," explained Akiyama.
From there, students were assigned their roles of employees, managers, supervisors, finance and human resource department staff.
The class was given $1,000 to pay for startup costs, including painting the store and buying inventory.
"I think that was basically what the startup was like, which is chaotic," said Wong.
"We all needed to work on finding our place in the store and figure out how we can contribute to its success."
Both Wong and Akiyama told the Richmond News that the human resources department made sure all the students completed their food safety courses to get the store running.
At the end of the semester, the student cafe generated $12,000 in sales and $7,000 in profit.
A total of $3,000 was donated, with $1,500 going to BC Children's Hospital and $1,500 to Richmond Hospital.
In addition, the class purchased $750 worth of toys and donated them to the Lower Mainland Chrismas Bureau in collaboration with another student club.
“I think it’s very important to give back to the community," said Akiyama.
"We believe that the children are our future and the one who was directly supporting was the student at Burnett. We wanted to help all these students or people in general … along the way or even just to get them back on their feet.”
Wong added every student put in "so much work," which paid off.
"Burnout was definitely a huge thing going on during the holiday season with all the projects we were trying to take on," she said.
"Just watching everyone power and push through that and trying their hardest, it’s such a rewarding experience for everyone who was able to see from the inside of a business."
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