The Daily grind

Lisa Ferguson

Thursday, Oct. 31, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Something's brewing in Room 300 at Silverado High School.

It's probably an espresso.

Of course, it could be a cappucino. Or maybe it's a mocha, topped with fresh whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.

All are on the menu at the school's newest hangout, the Daily Perk coffeehouse, along with a slew of Italian soda and baked treats.

Since it opened in September, students have been lining up -- literally -- for steaming cups of its reasonably priced java (50 cents to $2) before school and during lunch.

"We have two guys who come in here every lunch period and order a double-sized mocha with a double shot of Irish cream and a double shot of espresso," says senior Kelly Mooney.

She's one of the 17 Food Production class students who run the place during the hour it's open for business each day.

And that's exactly what the Daily Perk is: a federally funded, school-site business. All of the equipment and starter supplies were purchased with grant dollars allotted by the national School-to-Work program.

The class is broken into two parts: food service and child care. The other half of the class is spending this semester teaching socialization basics to preschool children. It will switch with the coffee-shop kids come January.

"What we're trying to do is give them a career path," says foods teacher Debbie Sullivan, "and give them experience now so they will step out the door after high school and be immediately ready for a job."

Initially, the Daily Perk targeted teachers as customers. Workers would take their specialty coffee orders before school and deliver them to their classrooms before the first bell rang.

But it wasn't long before students caught a whiff of their seven special blends, including French roast, Colombian and Belgian chocolate, and were clamoring for a caffeine fix.

Coffee and high school kids! Sounds like a disastrous combo, but ...

"There's actually more caffeine in a Diet Coke than there is in an espresso," Sullivan says. And she has the literature to prove it posted in the cafe.

The students are broken into teams of five that rotate in week-long shifts. They're open from 6:30-7 a.m., and again at 11-11:30 a.m. for a lunch crowd of about 50.

Meanwhile, the others students man the classroom's kitchens, baking cookies and cooking quick-lunch entrees -- usually a hearty soup -- to serve.

"The cookies are the best," says freshman Michelle Buntier, who stops by the Perk regularly to lunch. "It's much quieter in here than in the cafeteria. It's pretty cool to hang out in here."

Robbie Macum thinks so, too. The sophomore and his buddies have claimed a table in the corner, where they sit every day.

It's not the coffee that keeps them coming back, though.

"I flirt with these girls," Robbie says, pointing to a pair of blondes nearby.

But there's no time to socialize when you're behind the counter, students say.

"It's a lot of responsibility," says senior Sin Chong, ironing her coffee-bean-speckled apron before her shift recently. "We've got to be here at 6:15 (an hour before school starts) to get everything ready. It's tough."

And there's more to it than knowing how much froth is too much on a caffe latte.

Sullivan rounded up a few local coffee business pros -- including Jim Yanders, owner of the Java Centrale stores in town -- who helped students lay the grounds-work for their enterprise.

"I just gave them a lot of the physical information, like the types of machines available, the hours of operation, the different kinds of coffee," Yanders says.

Making coffee drinks is, "a real skill. You have to know how to steam milk so that you don't burn it and so it has the right froth on top."

"They've learned that if you're gonna start a business, you need to know the business inside out," Sullivan says. "These kids could step into a coffeehouse right now and run it."

Almost. Although Sin's mother owns a coffee shop in town, she's not at all comfortable behind the counter there.

"It's bigger and you have to make drinks faster," she says. "I just play around with the machines. I'm not to that point where I'm a speed racer at making drinks."

But she must be good at it. After all, the Daily Perk's got an Italian soda named after her. The Sinfully Delicious is a strawberry-and-vanilla-flavored mix that she concocted.

"It's given them a lot of opportunities to be creative. They feel so connected to this," Sullivan says.

And the profits aren't bad, either. Because students also keep the Perk's books, they're able to see the bottom line for themselves.

So far so good, they say. They already have plans to purchase additional equipment, including an electronic cash register and a machine that makes iced coffee drinks.

They're also going mobile with a coffee cart.

"We could roll to the theater productions and sell cappucinos, or to the football games or the baseball games," Sullivan says.