On any given morning, you can find Stamford High School students and teachers walking around with cups of coffee. This phenomenon sprouted the idea in senior Nick Otis to start a coffee business, with profits being split between the school newspaper (The Round Table, which publishes this site) and a fund to assist financially troubled students.

“Mr. Ringel and I saw an ad and thought, ‘Why don’t we sell iced coffee to students in school?’” said Otis.  In early September, a partnership with Rise Brewing Company (a local coffee company) was formed and “The Ground Table” coffee shop was set to take off.

Otis, who conducted all the negotiations with reps from Rise, explained, “Their sales manager loved the idea of selling their coffee in school and gave us a wheeled kegerator and a keg of coffee free, with no security deposit.” Otis said he also made sure the coffee was being sold in compostable and biodegradable cups, both to minimize environmental impact and to increase the marketability of the coffee to environmentally-conscious students.

On the first day of sales, cups were sold for $3 each; according to Otis, nearly 100 cups were sold on the first day – more than either he or Ringel had expected. However, on the second day, it was brought to The Ground Table’s attention that the sales of coffee violated the Connecticut Nutrition Standards.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), who set the national nutritional standards for public schools, “states and/or local school districts may establish other standards that are stricter than the national policy.” This includes regulating the timing of when students can sell certain products, locations where students can sell products, and food-nutrient standards. When it comes to beverages in high schools, particularly caffeinated beverages, they are allowed by the USDA. But this all changes when it comes to Connecticut standards.

Yes, there are specific times and places you can sell these products. But the specificity of the products is much higher in Connecticut’s standards. The State Board of Education states in Section 10-215b-1a, “No school food authority shall permit the sale or dispensing to students of extra food items anywhere on the school premises from thirty minutes prior to the start of any state or federally subsidized milk or food service program until thirty minutes after any such program.” Additionally, in Section 10-215b-1b, it reiterates “‘Extra food items’ means tea, coffee, soft drinks and candy.” However, Connecticut has even stricter laws when it comes to selling products, particularly beverages.

For Connecticut public schools, there are only five acceptable categories of beverage. These five (all stricter than USDA and state beverage standards and requirements) are milk, dairy alternatives, 100% juice, water and juice beverages, and water. Each of these have their own standards as to what is and is not acceptable. To be able to sell beverages that don’t fall under these guidelines, an exemption must be granted by the local board of education, and they must be sold at least 30 minutes after the end of the school and on site of the school. Items additionally cannot be sold from vending machines or in school stores. The Ground Table has been able to comply with these guidelines thus far. “To keep business up, we have been selling primarily at football games and to teachers,” Otis explained.

Yet the question still remains: what benefit could selling coffee have to Stamford High and additional public high schools? For one, teachers have noticed that students have been coming to their classes late first period due to their coffee runs. “Maybe selling coffee would limit tardies,” says history teacher Michael Brown. “But that still might make them late to class because they’re getting this coffee.”

During the two business days before sales to students were stopped, The Ground Table was able to amass a large student and teacher customer base. If it had remained active for longer, Ringel and Otis believe overall student tardiness would have decreased. “With coffee being sold within the school under Connecticut general food laws, students would be more willing to get to school early, get their fresh cup of joe, and start the day off right,” Ringel said.  “It’s better than them leaving campus to buy it, like so many of them are doing now.”