If Sarah McBroom has things her way, The Daily Grind coffee shop will be enlarged.

That’s not to say the expansion is a done deal.

McBroom, who manages The Daily Grind under the supervision of Assistant Director of Catering Caroline Korhonen and Director of Dining Services Greg Hopkins, said the idea of revamping the shop was originally the brainchild of Vice President for Student Affairs Sandy Gibbons-Vollbrecht, who wanted to streamline the shop’s services.

The coffee shop currently occupies approximately 240 square feet in the northeastern corner of the Campus Center. The original setup of The Daily Grind—and its ongoing maintenance—have been supported by Crimson Cup Coffee and Tea, a gourmet coffee-roasting company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

“Crimson Cup provides clients like Lakeland with the necessary tools needed to design and maintain their own independent coffee shops,” said Korhonen. She, along with other representatives of Student Life and Dining Services, hope to extend the shop by six feet to the west [towards the Pub] and ten feet to the north.

McBroom said while that doesn’t seem like much more room, it would allow a completely new way of organizing the shop. “The main reason for the expansion is that we get such long lines during peak periods. The college has really grown, and we often get lines of as many as 20 people at a time to serve during the ten-minute gap between classes,” she said.

It’s not hard to see how that could happen when a single employee must often take orders, make the drinks, and also man the register. While this doesn’t always occur, many times it is necessitated by the limited space.

“Once we get more than two bodies behind the counter,” McBroom said, “it’s almost like we’re dancing, trying to get around each other.

“Right now it’s all kind of conjugated, and becomes sort of a big cluster when it gets busy,” she said. “We want to come up with a way to order at one place, and then pick up the products at another.”

The additional six feet of counter space could provide room for such a system, but the final look of the makeover hasn’t yet been approved.

“It’s [the makeover] already been submitted to Crimson Cup,” McBroom said. Crimson Cup will design the layout and draw up the blueprints based on the existing electrical and plumbing systems.

“If the expansion goes through,” said Korhonen, “it will increase counter space and workspace for the employees, and provide increased comfort in both ordering and pick-up services for the customers.”

McBroom noted, “In addition to adding space, the renovation would include the installation of a larger double sink. That would add efficiency in turning out frozen drinks, which have become increasingly popular among the many items offered at The Daily Grind.

“A multiple-compartment sink would replace the little pedal sink we have now, making it much easier to properly wash the ice blenders,” she added.

“What could really hold us up,” McBroom continued, “isn’t so much the planning and logistics, but the cost, which we’re trying to keep minimal—just getting the whole thing approved by the college.”

In the end, another factor could play a part, too. The college tentatively plans to move its library into the Younger Family Campus Center during the construction slated for the period just after the 2012 sesquicentennial, and then build a new center just to the east of the existing one. In truth, nobody really knows yet if the coffee shop might be moved to an entirely new location.

The ramifications of such questions have not escaped McBroom.

“What I’ve heard isn’t set in stone,” she said, “but I understand that this area [the present student lounge] might either be a part of the library or, possibly, an internet café. If it turns out to be a café, then we’ll probably expand the coffee area where it is now.”

Whatever happens, McBroom, Dining Services, and Student Life have an overall plan to address the problems that have been uncovered during the coffee shop’s seven years of operation.

Whether the business is expanded or winds up in a new location, they hope to make getting a latte, smoothie, coffee, or tea during the cramped time between classes a less frantic and more enjoyable experience for all.