Students run the show at Saxbys
By Chloe Ciszak | September 14, 2026
The new cafe at UAlbany's Massry School of Business gives students hands-on experience managing a real business.
When UAlbany senior Theo Rhynie reports to work at Saxbys, he is not just showing up for another part-time college job. As the first cafe's first student CEO, the decisions he makes can determine how the business operates.
Saxbys recently opened in UAlbany’s Massry School of Business, replacing Morris’s cafe into a student run-business. Students now have a new place to grab food and coffee on campus, but the bigger idea is what’s happening behind the counter.
Rhynie, 20, is a senior business administration major with a concentration in finance, information systems and business analytics. Being the first student CEO, he is responsible for scheduling employees, ordering inventory, and making sure the cafe runs smoothly.
"I knew I would run the cafe and do the day-to-day operations, but I didn't know the true extent of the CEO position," Rhynie said.
The experience has already made Rhynie learn from mistakes. One challenge he faced has been running low on inventory. Rhynie said the experience taught him to pay closer attention to what is in stock and understand how one mistake can affect customers.
For Paquita Davis-Friday, Dean of UAlbany’s Massry School of Business, those experiences are part of the reason the University brought Saxbys to campus.
“One of my priorities is for students to get real work experience before they’re looking for their careers,” Davis-Friday said.
Students can apply classroom lessons from management, marketing, financial reporting, and data analytics and use them while running the cafe. Davis-Friday said students will also make choices upon what is working and what needs to change.
"It'll help people learn how to think on their feet, how to deal with adversity," Davis-Friday said.
Students will also have to respond to how the business runs. Davis-Friday said decisions about hours, inventory and customer demand will be evaluated as the semester continues. Saxbys current hours are from 8 a.m. to 3p.m. Monday through Friday.
"Are we capturing all the people that we can? Are we having leftover inventory? What do we do?" Davis-Friday said. "Those will be decisions that they'll have to address."
For students like Kaya Seliktar, a UAlbany senior majoring in business, learning that the cafe was a student-managed business changed her perspective.
Seliktar visited Saxbys on opening day after noticing something new was being put in there while attending classes in the business building. She said she had no idea it was student-run.
“I think knowing that it’s student-run makes you want to support them even more,” Seliktar said. “As a school, we really are a community.”
Rhynie is already thinking about ways Saxbys could grow. He hopes it becomes a staple on campus and eventually expands its current hours.
“I really want for the next semester for our hours to be extended,” Rhynie said.
The program is designed to continue after Rhynie graduates. Davis-Friday said the long– term goal is for Saxbys to become more self-sustaining, with outgoing student CEOs helping select those who will take their place.
"So succession planning," Davis-Friday said. "That's another thing that will be learned in the upcoming semester."
For Rhynie, that means his job is not only running the cafe now. As the first student CEO, he is also helping shape the experience and future of Saxbys.
“I knew I just had a big goal,” Rhynie said, “being the inaugural student CEO and setting the tone for the CEOs to come.
More information about Saxbys can be found here.
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