Starbucks to open campus location in July

Fans of venti iced skinny hazelnut macchiatos with sugar-free syrup, an extra shot, light ice and no whip can look forward to the opening of a Starbucks location on campus in July.

The Starbucks will open in Steeped, located in the Life Sciences Building. It will be owned and operated by Utah State University Dining Services and will include the full line of Starbucks products, as well as specialized pastries from Dining Services’ in-house bakery. Steeped will be renamed to Steeped: Proudly Serving Starbucks Coffee.

The revamp of Steeped is one of many changes USU Dining Services has planned for the upcoming school year.

The introduction of Starbucks to campus is part of the “core four project,” which is redesigning four dining locations on campus: Steeped, Quadside Cafe, Luke’s Cafe and Shaw’s 88.

Quadside Cafe, located in the Merrill-Cazier Library, will be renamed The Forum Cafe. Sandwiches at all USU Dining Services locations will be moved to this location’s menu, including breakfast sandwiches. The new menu will also include made-to-order salads. The Forum Cafe will no longer serve espresso drinks, but will continue to have drip coffee available.

Luke’s Cafe in the Agriculture & Applied Sciences Building is rebranding to Luke’s Family Cafe on the Quad. An indoor grill will be put into this dining location to serve up street tacos, cooked right in front of customers. The menu is planned to also include Hispanic desserts and drinks.

The “grab and go” pre-made food items that could be found at all core four locations will all be moved to Shaw’s 88 in Huntsman Hall. Previously known as Aggie Eats, these packaged sandwiches and salads will be rebranded to be called Clutch.

These dining locations will reopen by fall semester.

USU Dining Services is redesigning the core four locations due to the similarities between all of the menus. Alan Andersen, the executive director of dining, compared it to having a McDonalds, a Wendy’s and a Burger King right next to each other.

“I call it throwing stones syndrome,” Andersen said. “I can stand next to any one of them to throw a stone and hit the other. It’s so hard for us to be cost effective.”

Bailey Rigby/Photo Illustration

The first Starbucks location in Cache Valley opened in North Logan in 2006. 

Another well-known coffee shop in Cache Valley is Caffe Ibis, which was started by two USU alumni and originally opened as the Straw Ibis Market and Café in 1976. Caffe Ibis has been serving coffee on campus for a few decades.

Andersen doesn’t anticipate the Starbucks location taking business away from Caffe Ibis because the two locations appeal to different groups of people.

“Caffe Ibis people don’t necessarily like Starbucks coffee, and Starbucks coffee people will kind of put up with Caffe Ibis because they don’t really understand the difference,” Andersen said.

Maren Speckhard is a junior at USU. She usually visits Caffe Ibis twice a week and gets a Sally’s iced coffee with hazelnut. Though she’s excited that a Starbucks is coming to campus, she said she would continue to get her coffee from Caffe Ibis.

“I just think Caffe Ibis has better coffee, and I like supporting local,” Speckhard said.