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Entrepreneur talks life, coffee
CEO speaks to UNC initiative class
BY ERICA RAFFERTY
STAFF WRITER
Michael Coles never attended
college and had to relearn how to
walk after a debilitating motorcycle
accident.
The oven of the first Great
American Cookie Company —a
store that he co-founded caught
on fire because there were no oven
mitts to take out the cookies.
But these obstacles did not stop
Coles from becoming a successful
entrepreneur and CEO of Caribou
Coffee.
Coles spoke about his life and
work Tuesday during a Carolina
Entrepreneurial Initiative class.
Before the class lecture Coles
visited Caribou Coffee on West
Franklin Street to have a smaller
discussion about the company’s
impact on both a personal and
business level.
“We’ve had two people ... send
me copies of books with a credit
that we got because they wrote a
lot of the book in Caribou’s,” Coles
said.
Several years ago Coles took over
Town
to audit
hygiene,
safety
Business owners
anticipate results
BY ANNE HILLMAN
STAFF WRITER
Downtown Chapel Hill is about
to be audited.
Community members and
business owners are invited to
join the Chapel Hill Downtown
Partnership, the Chapel Hill police
and public works departments in
completing cleanliness and safety
audits of the downtown area.
Downtown will be divided into
three sections, and each section
will undergo both a daytime and a
nighttime audit. The audits will be
conducted periodically throughout
the day and night from today until
Friday.
The audits are being conducted
in response to concerns from local
business owners and community
members about the safety and
cleanliness of the downtown area.
Antoine Puech, who owns build
ings on West Franklin Street, said
that some areas of downtown are
an “unsafe habitat for lawbreakers,
people doing drugs, dealing drugs,
sleeping in bushes and basically
soiling private property.”
“We know we’ve got issues,” said
Lex Alexander, partnership mem
ber and owner of 3 Cups. “But we’re
having these audits to try to quan
tify what they are.”
“The purpose of the audits is to
look at the public and private prop
erty and look at areas that can use
some type of improvement,” said
Liz Parham, executive director of
the Downtown Partnership.
She said information from the
audits will be used to develop new
programs that will get to the roots
of the issues that lead to unsafe and
unclean conditions.
Local business owners are enthu
siastic about their chance to highlight
some of the problems in the area.
“This is a step in the right direc
tion,” said Robert Poitras, owner of
Carolina Brewery. “We are giving
attention to downtown in a logical,
practical approach.”
“I look forward to having a
chance and a medium to express
what we see every day,” he said.
Tommy O’Connell, managing
partner of 411 West, stressed that
dealing with downtown’s safety and
cleanliness issues is important for
maintaining Chapel Hill’s unique
character.
“The town is at least now real
izing that it’s affecting the vitality
... of the entire town,” he said.
“If you don’t have a strong
downtown area in Chapel Hill, it
loses a lot.”
Police officers will be accompa
nying the auditing groups as well.
“It will be interesting to see
exactly what we see... what type of
atmosphere, who we see,” Lt. Kevin
Gunter said.
The partnership requests that
interested participants contact
them before arriving for the audit
to ensure that adequate staff and
materials will be available.
More information about the
audits can found by contacting the
partnership at 967-9440.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
the 13-year-old company, which
has stores in 14 states and 21 loca
tions in North Carolina.
Coles said he wants his custom
ers to have an emotional attach
ment to Caribou Coffee and for
it to be a place where everyone is
welcome.
“Seven marriages have been
made in Caribou,” he said. “Women
in wedding dresses... it’s a riot.”
After some one-on-one time
with Coles, junior communica
tion studies major Jordan Selleck
who is chairman of the College
Republicans said he understands
how the CEO is so successful.
“I could see how he is very much
involved with the Caribou product,”
Selleck said. “When you watch him
walk around he was looking at all
aspects of the shop.”
The entrepreneurial initiative
class is not a stranger to having
famous guest speakers. This past
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semester it also has had visits from
this spring’s UNC commencement
speaker, Wendy Kopp, president
and founder of Teach for America,
and Allen Questrom, retired CEO
of J.C. Penney Cos. Inc.
And students are not the only
ones who benefit from the guest
lectures Coles said he enjoyed
talking with students.
“I love the opportunity to be
able to talk to students from lower
schools to doctoral programs,” he
said. “Students seem to ask more
direct and more honest ques
tions.”
The entrepreneurship minor is
for students who wish to comple
ment their major with a class
designed to teach how to create
new ventures.
Because of its popularity, next
fall the class will be open to 100
students instead of the current
50-person maximum enrollment,
said Buck Goldstein, University
entrepreneur-in-residence who
also teaches the class.
‘7 could see how
(Michael Coles)
is very much
involved with the
Caribou project ”
JORDAN SELLECK, CR CHAIRMAN
“Most of these kids aren’t look
ing for jobs,” he said. “They’re look
ing for skills to create jobs.”
The opportunity of hearing from
engaging speakers and learning
practical skills makes CEI a popu
lar course, said junior political sci
ence major Julie Soforenko.
“This is the best minor ever,”
she said. “Practical information
that you can apply to your endeav
ors, meeting incredible speakers
people to directly learn from
who have done it.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2005
CURTAIN CALL
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DTH/SHANE BROGAN
"If TNC Professor Luceil L. Friedman (right) speaks to
audience members after Tuesday’s performance of
“Vad VaShen” at N.C. Hillel. An adaptation of a story
by Aharon Megged, the play was put on by UNC’s advanced
Hebrew class. See dailytarheel.com for the full story.
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