For the first time, over the course of September and October, Greek houses are able to participate in the “Cupathon” — a Greek coffee consumption competition. The contest will determine which house purchases the largest amount of barista-made drinks from any of the Sisters’ Brew locations on the University of Idaho campus. There are currently three locations — one in the Administration building, another in the Law building and one below the Campus Christian Center.
Hayden Crosby | Argonaut
University of Idaho Delta Zeta members Alyssa Schaffer and Kelsey Cooper buy coffee at Sisters’ Brew Coffee House in hopes to win the Greek Cupathon. The Greek house with the most points on Oct. 31 wins free drinks every Monday for the rest of the semester.
“We already had Greek customers coming in for coffee every day at our Admin location, but with the Cupathon they can band together with their housemates and earn some prizes in return,” Sisters’ Brew owner Ashley Rich said.
Winning houses will receive Sisters’ Brew coupons redeemable every Monday for the rest of first semester. First place winner coupons will compensate for free coffee, second place will receive a 50 percent discount and third will receive a 25 percent discount.
Customers are responsible for informing employees of the sorority or fraternity they belong to. The barista marks down the house on a score sheet as the customer orders. At the end of each day, Rich collects score sheets to tally up points.
Charts can be found at each location revealing house standings in the race. Each location will have a double points day at some point in the competition.
Tim Rich explained the reasoning behind this marketing strategy.
“We opened the location on Greek row last year but didn’t do much advertising or promotions because we were in the middle of selling our downtown location,” Rich said.
The newest location is below the Campus Christian Center, across from The Perch.
“We are hoping that this location — The Burrow — will become a landmark location so that we can have special studying hours for dead week and finals week,” Ashley Rich said.
To spread the word, Tim and Ashley posted on the Sisters’ Brew Facebook page and sent out a flier to each house explaining
the Cupathon.
“The Greek houses are very competitive,” Tim said. “We figured the contest would be a good way for them to get to know us and give them a chance to have fun competing against each other.”
Currently, the Pi Beta Phi sorority is in the lead. However, weekly contests will begin due to a number of houses falling so far behind. Weekly winners will receive small prizes and will be announced on Facebook as well.
“Not many guys in my house drink coffee so I don’t think we’ll win but the competition provides incentive to grab a cup everyday and try to raise our score,” said freshman Benjamin Merek, a potential new member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Winners will be announced Oct. 31 via the Sisters’ Brew Facebook page.
The Cupathon will be an annual competition beginning at the start of fall semester each year. Other contests such as “Count the number of beans” will begin in October and occur weekly. These contests will be available to all customers.
Arianna Anchustegui can be reached at [email protected]