Delta Sigma Pi tours Scooter's Harvest Roasting Facility

Delta Sigma Pi recently toured Scooter’s Harvest Roasting Facility and learned more about the rapidly growing coffee maker. Lilly Stafford, the group’s VP of Professional Activities worked with Dr. Erin Pleggenkuhle-Miles to make it happen.

“Something that we try to do in Delta Sigma Pi is give our members unique experiences and opportunities that will set them apart from their peers, and this was a great opportunity to do just that!” said Kevin Peterson, DSP President.

The students were split into two groups, half of them started with the coffee side, and the other half started with the bakery. Since it was a Friday, they weren't running the coffee roasters, so they were able to get an up-close view of what each of the machines do and follow the whole process from semi-truck to bagged coffee beans.

“One of the super interesting parts of the tour was when they took us into their coffee lab where they experiment with different coffee beans and rate them based on a whole range of different factors. Everything from acidity, sweetness, earthiness, and fruitiness, are all tested and sampled by a team of expert coffee testers. One interesting part of this is that they work backward when figuring out what flavor bean they want. They start with the end product they want, like a Cinnamon Toast Crunch Latte, and from there they look to see what flavor bean would work best for that,” Peterson said.

The group learned a lot about process efficiency and what they have done to speed things up in their facility, such as pressurized tubes that connect all of the bean processes together so no one has to manually move the beans. Not that long ago, they had large bins at each stage that they would have to move to each stage of the process. This took a lot of time and exposed the bean to outside impurities like smells which can have a huge impact on the taste of the coffee. Once the beans are dumped in the large bin at the start, they can tell the machine how much they want to roast, and it will measure out the amount and send it through the process. At any stage along the way, they can change a variable to fit their needs.

In their bakery, the group found out that they make all of their baked goods in-house. The only things they outsource are their breakfast burritos and sandwiches. This gives them the flexibility to shift production quickly to meet the demand of any one of their 700+ locations. During their tour, the group saw them making the cake bites, which start off as an actual sheet cake that they cut to size and wrap around the frosting on the inside before putting the icing and sprinkles on it.

Scooters now has over 700 locations in 30 states. This has forced them to open several distribution facilities across the country so they can supply each individual store with fresh products each day. They are very vertically integrated, and have control over almost every stage of their operations, which allows them to maintain the high quality their customers expect.

“Something you may have noticed with almost every Scooters location is that they are small little buildings and drive-through only. Almost every location is 700 square feet, and exactly identical on the inside. Inside their facility, they actually have a mock Scooters location with everything that an actual location would have. This allows them to try out ways to increase efficiencies at the store level by moving things around or making sure that a new product will fit in each location. Almost all Scooters locations are franchises, and in order to open a new franchise, you are required to show that you have what it takes by working their practice drive-through in their facility. It has everything a normal location has and it is your job to serve un-caffeinated employees at the facility all day in a timely manner,” Peterson said.

They also have a very strong friends and family referral program. Almost all of the employees that work there are related to someone there or knew someone else that worked there. This has saved them a lot of time and money because they rarely ever have to post for a position. The people that work in the facility are also from all over the world, which means a lot of people there don't speak the same language. They have overcome this challenge with their team trainer who can speak four languages, so she is always able to help any employee who may have a question.

If you are interested in joining Delta Sigma Pi, or to learn more, go to https://www.unomahadsp.org/