Saxbys Partnering with Leading Liberal Arts Institution, Wellesley College, to Launch Student-Led Cafe This Spring
One of the nation’s premier liberal arts institutions, Wellesley College, is partnering with Saxbys to open a new experiential learning cafe this spring, marking Saxbys first partnership of its kind at a preeminent women’s college.
Located in the beautifully restored Clapp Library, the cafe will serve as a high-impact learning environment where students take full responsibility for daily operations, including leading teams, serving their community, and making critical financial decisions. The partnership will leverage the Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform® to bring together students across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM to learn and lead side by side.
“Wellesley has a long history of trusting and empowering students with real responsibility,” said Saxbys Founder and CEO, Nick Bayer. “What stood out to us is how purposefully the College develops leadership through close mentorship, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and a culture that values agency. This cafe is a consequence-rich extension of that tradition.”
This partnership is distinct in its academic anchoring. Rather than functioning solely as a dining vendor, Saxbys operates as an experiential learning partner embedded within Wellesley's institutional framework and supported by Jen Pollard, Associate Provost for Career Education and Experiential Learning and Casey Hurley, Director for Business, Entrepreneurship, and Financial Empowerment. Student Chief Operating Officers (SCOOs) are approved to fulfill Wellesley's new Experiential Learning Requirement, which calls on every student in the Class of 2028 and beyond to complete two units of real-world, applied experience before their seventh semester. Inaugural SCOOs Ivy Targino and Chloe Lau recognize a great opportunity in Saxbys' integration on campus.
“As a people-person with a strong interest in business, I am especially drawn to opportunities that allow me to combine creativity, community, and strategy,” says inaugural co-SCOO Chloe Lau. “The Saxbys Experiential Learning experience feels like the perfect fit because it will help me develop essential financial and business skills while also giving me the chance to connect with a wide range of people and contribute tangibly to the Wellesley community… By counting inventory weekly, recording data, and interpreting COGS and revenue, I gain hard skills that I would never learn or apply in a classroom—skills found here at Saxbys.”
Co-SCOO Ivy Targino enthusiastically agrees with Chloe. “I've been wanting to gain hands-on experience operating a business for some time now, but I didn't think it would be something I could experience while in college, let alone on campus,” says Ivy. “After I discovered that Saxbys was opening up a new cafe and heard about their mission to Make Life Better, I couldn't imagine a better opportunity that aligned so well with my personal values and the way I want to spend my time preparing for a professional career.”
These roles are paid, experiential, credit-bearing, and supported through Wellesley’s Career Education and Experiential Learning division, ensuring that students connect theory to practice in real time.
The cafe will be housed in a central location on the ground floor of Clapp Library, whose recent renovation was led by architecture firm Shepley Bulfinch and guided by Wellesley's strategic priorities for learning, scholarship, and sustainability. Every renovation decision — from adaptable interior spaces that shift to meet different academic needs, to co-located academic support services — reflects Wellesley’s commitment to ensuring that the library’s physical environment supports collaborative learning. Saxbys presence in the newly renovated library signals that experiential learning is not a supplement to the academic mission; it is woven into the architecture of the institution itself.
Student leaders are already training alongside Career Education staff and Saxbys mentors, preparing to take full responsibility for running the space when it opens on April 8, 2026. The Wellesley community is invited to celebrate the Grand Opening of the cafe and students eager to lead are encouraged to learn more and apply at saxbyscoffee.com/careers/
Saxbys is a pioneering education company that turns campus operations into student-led businesses and living leadership laboratories.
Through its high-impact Experiential Learning Platform®, Saxbys empowers the next generation of leaders by embedding paid, credit-bearing roles with real P&L responsibility into daily campus operations. In these roles, students build confidence and career-ready skills while institutions strengthen retention and deliver measurable student success tied to career readiness and accelerated paths to leadership.
Over the past decade, Saxbys has developed more than 3,000 student leaders, served over 9 million guests, and currently operates 30 cafes nationwide in partnership with leading colleges and universities.