Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Business will celebrate the Grand Opening of its new student-run Saxbys cafe on Aug. 25, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Snead Hall atrium. The cafe, announced earlier this year as part of VCU’s partnership with Saxbys, replaced Bleecker Street.
Programming is timed around class breaks so students can drop in throughout the morning. A ceremony begins at approximately 10:15 a.m. with remarks from:
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Arturo Saavedra, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president and provost, VCU
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Brian Brown, Ph.D., dean and professor of Marketing, VCU School of Business
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Jana McQuaid, Ed.D., associate dean of Academic Programs and Student Success, VCU School of Business
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Nick Bayer, founder and CEO, Saxbys
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Sean Campbell (B.S. '28), inaugural Student CEO
The highlight of the ceremony will be the live reveal of VCU’s first Student CEO — the student who will lead the cafe’s day-to-day operations, team and financial performance under The Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform®. The event will also include giveaways, samples and opening-day surprises throughout the morning.
Guests can enjoy Saxbys’ signature Cold Brew and Matcha Collections, all-day breakfast, made-to-order grilled cheeses and Fit Frolattes!® drinks. The cafe will accept BYO Swipe, Dining Dollars and RamBucks.
Directly following the ceremony's conclusion, the cafe will officially open to the VCU community. Regular hours will be Monday–Thursday, 8 a.m.–7 p.m.; Friday 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; closed Saturday and Sunday.
About the partnership
The cafe marks VCU and VCU Dining Services' first partnership with Saxbys, a Philadelphia-based experiential learning company that has brought its Experiential Learning Platform® to more than two dozen universities nationwide since launching the model at Drexel University in 2015. Every Saxbys ELP cafe is staffed entirely by students, turning each location into a hands-on business run by the people it serves.
The program extends VCU’s Relevant, Experiential and Applied Learning (REAL) framework, and the cafe sits steps from the Office of Student Engagement and Student Success welcome center.