There's a new blend of business open in Buchanan Hall at Iowa State University.

A group of entrepreneurial-minded students have completed a 2 1/2-year dream of opening a coffee shop in the bottom floor of the university residence hall.

The idea was hatched by the first generation of students to live in ISU's entrepreneurial learning community, located just upstairs from where the coffee shop now stands.

After years of reworking a business model, dealing with plumbing issues and the challenges faced with opening a for-profit business on a public university campus, the ISU students have started what they call The Barista Café.

Megan Todd, the student president and CEO of the café, said the biggest challenge proved to be the student turnover on the project. She said many students invested themselves only to move away from the learning community after their first or second year on the project.

"When you are trying to teach new students about something you have been working on for a long time, they find it hard to play catch up," said Todd, a junior in marketing. "Something that comes as second nature to me is hard to explain to someone who is new."

Todd and two other students have stuck with the idea since its inception, not just for the investment, but for the real world experience. Each student was able to bring their own experience to the project, Todd said, from Justin Bailey, a sophomore in construction engineering who built the shop's countertops and cart, to Diego Recinos, a freshman in business who is handling the shop's finances.

Duane Sandage, Ames resident and chair of the Sandage Charitable Trust, provided the students with $8,700 as startup funds from the trust. It was a project he said he was certain his uncle who started the trust would have endorsed.

"They had a lot of enthusiasm and they acted like they were willing to work," Sandage said. "They sounded like they knew what they were talking about and really had strong passion."

The shop has 12 student shareholders who will each put in $500 to the project. The shop is, and will remain, student owned and operated.

Optimism is high for the shop, which is now about 90 percent up and running as crews waited for their brewing machine on Monday.

"We have 300 people right here (in Buchanan Hall) that will serve as our target market and thousands in the Greek community who will be walking by every day," Todd said. "It will be wonderful."

William Dillon can be reached at 232-2161, Ext. 361, or William.Dillon@amestrib.com.