Student-run Saxbys Cafes to Open at Pitt in Fall 2020

Saxbys, a Philadelphia-based social impact and coffee company, will introduce two exclusively student-run cafes on the Pitt campus in fall 2020.

The cafes—Saxbys’ first in the Pittsburgh market—are part of the company’s Experiential Learning Program, which operates 10 campus cafes at eight other institutions in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

The Cathedral Café on the ground floor of the Cathedral of Learning and Cup & Chaucer Café in Hillman Library will be renovated to create space for the new cafes.

Saxbys is partnering with the College of Business Administration to employ two undergraduate business students each semester as Student Cafe Executive Officers (SCEOs) who will manage all aspects of their cafe. SCEOs earn competitive wages and receive bonus opportunities and a full semester of college credit throughout their tenure, gathering invaluable experience along the way. The cafes will be staffed entirely by Pitt students.

“At Pitt Business, we take our students from the classroom, to the city, to the world, and believe that real-world experience is the best teacher. The Saxbys partnership is a great way to enable students to put what they learn in classrooms into practice in an integrative context,” said Arjang A. Assad, Henry E. Haller Jr. Dean of the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration. “The two Pitt Business SCEOs will work together with their peers from various majors to develop skills and promote teamwork to help them succeed in the future.”