From February 27, 2008 to April 2023, BeLePi has been a cafe located on the first floor of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences(CALS) at SNU, and is frequented by many students of CALS. Although the cafe has been in place for a long time and is used by many students, the contract is approaching expiration. To find out more about their hopes and wishes for the cafe, we spoke with Kook Ahyun, a 20th-year student majoring in Crop Science and Biotechnology in the Department of Plant Science, and Choi Joonyeol, a 21st-year student majoring in Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, who have been frequenting the cafe.
Kook Ahyun said that she has been using BeLePi about four times a week because there are no accessible cafes around CALS. She said that the quality of the drinks is not satisfactory compared to the price. Especially the iced Americano, which she often drinks, is too bitter. Also, the bread is generally overpriced and doesn't have a wide variety of options, and there's nothing that can be eaten as a meal. However, she was satisfied with the service as the drinks were prepared quickly, saving her time. Finally, if BeLePi is to renew the contract, it would be reasonable to improve the quality of the drinks or lower the price. If not, she would like to see new franchise cafes or convenience stores such as Paris Crème and Pascucci enter or expand the student rest area.
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Choi Joonyeol, a student in the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, said that BeLePi is the most accessible cafe because he takes a lot of his major classes in CALS. For this reason, he has been using BeLePi three times a week before and after class. Although he is satisfied with the overall quality of the menu and the service, he expressed disappointment that the price is high compared to the amount of drinks. If BeLePi is to renew the contract, he would like to see them increase the amount of drinks or lower the price a bit more. If they don't renew the contract, he would like to see a more accessible cafe near, and to see a franchise cafe like Starbucks or another cafe come in.
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These are some of the opinions of the students about the BeLePi. In their interviews, both students agreed that the reason why they frequented BeLePi was because of its accessibility. They also agreed that the price of the drinks was unsatisfactory. If BeLePi is to renew the contract, they should keep the price of the drinks the same, but increase the quantity and improve the quality to satisfy the students. I also recently noticed that the meal replacement menu, such as sandwiches and English muffins, was not available at BeLePi, and I was told that the menu has been changed to be made irregularly when ingredients are available. Students are very disappointed about the loss of the meal replacement menu, so I hope that if the contract is renewed, the meal replacement menu such as sandwiches will be made available all the time.