Exit Interview: Drexel SCEO Alanna Bonavitacola
Six months ago Alanna Bonavitacola, 22, took the reigns of her very own Saxbys cafe. As Student Cafe Executive Officer, the Drexel University finance and marketing major managed a team of 25 to 35 student team members and controlled all aspects of the cafe — from hiring to inventory to financials. It was quite a task for Alanna but she came through in fine style.
Alanna recently passed the baton to a new SCEO — so we sat down with her to learn about her experience. She describes what it takes to manage people her own age, why she’s a now pro at inventory, and why the experience prepared her for any job she’ll have later in life.
How did this experience compare to past co-ops/internships?
My past two co-ops were very corporate. I sat at a desk. I edited powerpoints. I was kind of just there. But at Saxbys, there’s no messing around. Everything you do is so important. Every order you make, every person you put on a shift can affect the profit of the cafe in the smallest ways. I realized quickly that my role had a major impact.
What surprised you most about the job?
I’m really good with people so I thought that managing people would be the easiest thing to tackle. Twenty-five team members? Piece of cake. But it was one of the hardest skills for me to learn. There are no hard-and-fast rules. People change. They get in moods. They’d call out and I’d have to go in and cover shifts. You have to manage different people in different ways. You might talk to someone one way and completely change your tone for another person. Having to look at someone older than me and tell them “you didn’t do that right” — knowing they’ll get annoyed — is tough. You have to realize: You can be friendly but you’re their boss at the end of the day. That’s what you’re here for. You’re not here to make friends. You’re here to run an operation.
Do you feel like you gained real-life business skills?
When I first started, I had never seen a profit-and-loss statement. I took many finance classes but I’d never used those concepts before this experience. As I analyzed the statements, I wouldn’t understand why one week we were spending so much money on a specific product and another week we weren’t. Week by week I would take my time, do a deeper dive into all the reports and financials and began picking it up. If someone walks in and we don’t have a specific menu item they want, I know we’ll be down $5 and that can affect things drastically. By the end I was an expert on how to prepare for the week and what inventory to order. I never would have learned those skills anywhere else.
Did anything surprise you?
I didn’t expect to have so much say. I make all the decisions. I place all orders. There was nobody checking in, asking me to see if tasks were completed. If I forgot one thing, that could ruin everything. It’s an amazing opportunity for just that reason.
Tell me about how you saved money by reducing wasted cups.
The staff gets on-shift drinks while working and everyone kept using our Saxbys cups. That was a lot of wasted cups for drinks we weren’t ringing in. I saw a drastic increase in our cost of goods because of that. So I made our staff bring in their own cups and it saved us money.
Tell me about the support you got from others at Saxbys.
Being able to have new member CEO meetings was amazing. Whenever I felt unsure of myself, I’d know there was a meeting coming up where I could figure out what to fix and how to plan for the future. Being able to pick other CEOs brains, share ideas, and talk about problems in an open forum was really helpful.
How did this experience prepare you for your future career?
I think this is the best co-op in the system solely because you’re never going to find kids in college who are managing other kids in college. I love finance and I love people, so to be able to manage people and learn those skills was incredible. I never would have learned that anywhere else. I want to be a manager someday, and now I can put that on my resume. That will give me a leg up.