“44Fred” initiative continues to press for Buster Brown

*Editor's Note: This a

For returning students, the Buster Brown Bean Company was a source of quality drinks and cafe food at Fredonia. With their signature company hats, logo display's and assortment of "flavor shots," they were a staple on campus. Their variety of unique products and local impact made them a favorite among students and others alike.

Over the summer, all this changed when contractual issues caused the company to re-locate in downtown Fredonia. The new Faculty Student Association cafe' system was created as a result and has not settled well with some students. Sophomore theater major Tony Taylor is one of them and developed 44Fred as a result. The campaign has been omni-present on campus since it started in mid-October and currently has over 250 "attendees" on their Facebook event page. Taylor is using the Facebook page to spread his message, "let us use the democratic process and compromise!"

According to the FSA, in an officially dated announcement regarding cafe' operations on May 16 Buster Brown campus operations was originally the result of a sub-contract made with Robert Henderson's Signature Cafe' inc in June of 1999. The FSA pursued this sub-contractor due to their lack of expertise in espresso based satellite units. In April of 2007, The Buster Brown Company purchased the rights to Signature Cafe's on a term contract basis and operated here since then. Over time, the FSA's increased knowledge of food preparations and management methods of their campus locations led them to be in "the position to operate cafe'/satellite operations that offer the quality and variety of products desired by the SUNY Fredonia community."            

Zebadiah Mientkiewicz, a senior theater major said "Buster Brown was an example of how far students could go when they follow their dreams. Having the college force them off the campus was a travesty. They basically abandoned their own."

Taylor first tried to address this issue through a group called "Boycott FSA" which had an online group as well. While this seemed effective at the time, Taylor soon realized one very important reason as to why it would not work; the FSA controlled many of the campus cafe' options. Even if you refused to buy from one location, you would be going to the same system no matter where you went. Whether the dining halls, convenience store, Starbucks, etc you would "spend it on some place else that they own. We cannot speak with our money right now" said Taylor. Having purchased a meal plan, he would only be wasting this part of his expenses by pursuing this.     

The idea for his 44Fred campaign began at the end of last year when it was announced that Buster Browns contract would not be renewed for the coming year. As seen in FSA board meeting minutes from May 2, "He noted the Willy C cafe closing down and the number of problems that the FSA has had with the Buster Brown management has led them to make this recommendation," as read by David Herman, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs. According to Taylor, this was the first time conflicts between the school and the company had been discussed publicly.

Taylor and The Buster Brown Company found out that this change would become official during another FSA board meeting held a few weeks later on May 16. According to the minutes from this meeting "after much deliberation and review of all services offered by the FSA, the difficult decision to not extend the Buster Brown Bean Company agreement expiring May 31, 2011 has been made. FSA's commitment to serving SUNY Fredonia's students, faculty and staff with the best possible means will continue."    

In a personal meeting conducted with Associate Vice President and FSA Executive Director Charles Notaro, he said "it made economic sense; we did have operational concerns with them but it also made good economic sense to operate them (the cafe's) on our own with FSA employees, as all the funds would be retained on behalf of the university." Although, no other significant issues or indications of non-renewal had been addressed from previous minutes dating back to the Spring of 2010. Mr. Notaro also discussed how they would handle the former Williams Center Grind cafe'. Because of their success with Starbucks operations in University Commons, they decided to pursue Tim Hortons as cafe' option and established a license for them to operate under the FSA. The Buster Brown was informed that The Grind would no longer be in their control because of this.  

When Taylor inquired further about why this change took place, his lack of clear responses convinced him to begin his campaign with its objective "to have the Buster Brown re-contracted into the McEwen cafe'; plain and simple" said Taylor. Although he was an employee at the downtown location this past summer, he decided to leave his position to concentrate on his cause and not become a conflict of interest. Due to various academic and extracurricular commitments, he was unable to begin his campaign until about mid-October. Through the use of resources such as a Facebook group and an ongoing petition, he was able to better promote his cause.