Einstein merges with Caribou Coffee shop

Einstein Bros Bagels has been a regular sight at USD, but the bagel shop is now paired with Caribou Coffee since the beginning of August.  

Caribou Coffee has 263 shops across the United States. Of those 263 shops, 50 are paired with Einstein Bros Bagels.

Adam Chicoine, USD’s director of campus dining, said Caribou Coffee offers students a more diverse menu at the same price as the Einstein Bros Bagels shop in years past.

“Caribou has a more diverse menu of drink options available as they specialize in coffee,” Chicoine said. “They also offer a variety of smoothies and coolers (which Einstein did not).”

According to the press release from Aramark, Nicholas Schafer, the Senior Vice President licensing and Food Service, said they saw the merger as an opportunity to give Aramark customers a better experience. 

“Now you don’t have to choose between a great coffee experience and a great breakfast sandwich, you can have both,” Schafer said.

Chicoine said the merger has been well accepted by students and faculty, however, McKenna Kutz, a sophomore strategic communications major, feels differently.

“I was very upset about the recent switch from Einsteins to Caribou,” Kutz said. “I loved Einstein’s coffee because I thought it tasted like a real authentic coffee shop. I feel like they went completely mainstream with the coffee offered on campus now.

Kutz said now that Einstein’s is Caribou she has stopped purchasing coffee there altogether.

“Because of the change of coffee I switched over to U-Brew coffee,” Kutz said. “I don’t think U-Brew has the best coffee either, but I just can’t get on board with Caribou.”

Although she was upset with the switch, Kutz said she realizes it was out of the university’s hands and said she knows other students do enjoy coffee from Caribous.

“I have heard a lot of students who do like Caribou,” Kutz said. “The kind of coffee you like is a pretty specific thing, so they might like sweeter coffee which Caribou definitely has. So it’s not all bad.”

Sierra Vander Zee, a sophomore addictions students major, said she is excited about the change. VanderZee said she likes Caribou’s wider variety of roasts and better dairy-free options.

“I personally like the way their coffee tastes more so than Einsteins, or Starbucks even,” Vander Zee said. “I think that since Caribou is more well known for coffee than Einstein they are able to offer a wider variety of drinks, which will be better received by students.”