As the NCAA is doing the big “March Madness” tournament, McConn is doing their own take on it at Indiana Wesleyan University.
Averie Cockerill, a junior barista and shift manager, said the tournament works within the McConn team.
“So the baristas and the shift managers formulate a drink with your shift. As the shift manager, I just went to my baristas and asked them if they had ideas,” Cockerill said.
McConn holds multiple events throughout the year. Cockerill said that through doing these events, they bring in a whole new community.
“I think (McMadness) is super collaborative, because it’s the shift managers working with the baristas forming drinks, or coming up with McHalloween, like what to dress up as,” Cockerill said.
The competition includes a bracket, but the easiest way to vote is to keep up with the McConn instagram stories as they post polls where people can vote.
Working at McConn brings tight relationships. Cockerill said even after graduation, the team will stay in contact.
“It’s a job, but it’s so much deeper, like a family, because a lot of us have made connections that will last once we graduate for a very long time,” Cockerill said.
McConn’s mission statement is: “First a place of love, then a place of coffee” which Cockerill said she thinks is important to remember.
Wyndham Ross, a sophomore barista, said the team brainstorms a lot before the competition.
“We were allowed a $10 budget for a drink. So whether we want to buy candies to put on top or milks or other things, we try to do something that we haven’t done before,” Ross said.
“After the month of March, and all the brackets take place, we decided a winner. The winning drink stays around for a little bit. It’s not added to the menu permanently or anything like that,” Ross said.
Ross said McMadness is creativity mixed with community.
Mitch Gunn works as the business development manager at McConn. Gunn said there are 20 shifts or “teams” and how the competition is a single elimination bracket.
As the business development manager, Gunn organizes events and helps promote them.
“(My job) involves a lot of partnerships with campus organizations and trying to find innovative ways to enhance the business development,” Gunn said.
Gunn said that one of the best things about being on a team like McConn is how they prioritize the community over the profit.
