Competition Gives Business Students Real-Life Lesson Miffed Fitzbillie’S Moves Against Lc Club For Cutting Into Its Beverage Sales

Lewis and Clark High School’s DECA program is entangled in a real-world business dilemma that school officials say is giving students a great education.

Here’s the rub: Fitzbillie’s Bagel Inc., which shares space with LC in the Holley-Mason building, complained to the distributor of Sobe beverages because The Tiger Den, a store operated by the student DECA program, was undercutting its business.

The Den sold the product for about 50 cents cheaper than Fitzbillie’s.

That is, until two weeks ago. While Fitzbillie’s owner Terry Sanchez declined comment, Columbia Distributing of Spokane said that Sanchez called to request that Columbia stop distributing to the Den. Sanchez told Columbia he had an exclusive contract with Holley-Mason owner Rob Brewster to serve food products in the building.

Brewster was not available to comment.

In question is whether such a contract would include school organizations, such as the lunch program or, more to the point, DECA, a marketing and business club.

Still, Columbia product manager Jim Mason said the firm was satisfied with Sanchez’s assertion and stopped distributing Sobe to LC.

Competition doesn’t get much stiffer than that.

“It’s certainly a taste of the real world,” said marketing and DECA instructor Chantal Czarapata. “In business, there’s politics.”

At first, the 11 students in the DECA program weren’t happy with the situation, Czarapata said. But, as a class, the students decided to continue offering Sobe and for less than their competitor.

“They felt they wanted to offer a quality product at a decent price,” Czarapata said.

Now the students plan to buy the beverage from Costco. Although Costco’s wholesale price is more than Columbia’s, Czarapata said the decreased profit margin will not significantly affect DECA’s income. The only inconvenience is students will have to pick up Sobe rather than get it delivered.

LC and district officials hold no grudges over the situation. Sanchez has to make a buck, after all, they say.

More important, Czarapata stresses, is the educational value the situation offers.

“The main thing for me is that my students learn,” she said.

The Tiger Den, a part of the DECA curriculum, is a fully operational and self-sufficient convenience store. Students run the business - selling, stocking and ordering - while Czarapata acts as an adviser.

“But students make the decisions,” she said. “With anything that comes up, we try to make it a learning experience.”

Czarapata said sales are down from the projected goals for this year. In the six years she has run the program, this is the first time that has happened, she said.

But she attributes that to their new location, visibility and competition from other school programs, not just Fitzbillie’s.

LC is in the unique, somewhat experimental situation of having a private restaurant and public school in the same building.

School Principal Mike Howson seems optimistic that a mutually agreeable resolution to the conflict can be found.

The key, he said, is a new district policy established in August that requires public schools to create a food provider committee. All school organizations that sell food - such as food services, the associated student body, and clubs - must coordinate with each other to ensure their sales do not hinder other programs’ goals.

Fitzbillie’s would be invited to join that committee, Howson said.

Czarapata, too, is optimistic.

“We’re all professional people,” she said. “We just need to get things out in the open.”