There’s a pop-up coffee shop in Hell’s Kitchen that will satisfy all your caffeine cravings. Murphy’s Beans n’ Dreams on West 50th Street between 10th and 11th Avenue is operated and run by a team of seniors from the Food and Finance High School (FFHS). Open Tuesday, December 11 to Friday, December 15, from 7 to 11 a.m., the cafe serves coffee, tea a selection of muffins, puff pastries and a club sandwich.
“The blueberry is my favorite,” said Jahqyad Austin a student at Food and Finance High School. Austin is the pop-up’s pastry chef and helped to develop the menu.
The pop-up is part of the FFHS senior internship class and is named after Richard Murphy one of the school’s founders who passed away in 2013. It was Murphy’s dream to open a student-run cafe in the school as a way to give students, insight into the world of entrepreneurship and business management while allowing them to practice and showcase their skills to the community.
Twenty-five students, all seniors, have been working to open the cafe since September. They’ve taken on the roles of general and assistant manager, operations, floor manager, host, back of house pastry, culinary teams, public relationships and more. Joe Coffee Company and Orwasher’s Bakery donated the coffee and bread for the pop-up shop. While the shop is just open for a week the goal is to open back up in the Spring, and eventually be open full-time.
“This is such a special school,” said student and the Public Relations director for the pop-up Nia Hyacinthe “I’ve really enjoyed it. We’ve got to learn how to start a business, how to run a business and work as a team.”
Started in 2004, FFHS is the only culinary public high school in New York City. Students have a full standard high school education in addition to culinary training. All the proceeds will go towards helping the students attend college.
