By Kensington Thomas, Managing Editor and Kendra Gastin, Business Manager — The old is gone and the new has come.

The Eagle’s Nest Cafe has taken flight with a new owner. Daniel Schmidt, 2012 graduate, has taken the role of new cafe owner. Schmidt saw the open cafe as a perfect business opportunity.

“I have always wanted to have my own business so I thought this would be an easy place to start,” Schmidt said.

There have been many changes made to the cafe since the start of the 2016-2017 school year. There is no longer a cappuccino machine. However, Schmidt still continues to sell coffee. The coffee has a larger selection of creamers and flavors. Schmidt wanted this portion of the cafe to be more “do-it-yourself”. The price of coffee has also been cut in half. The price of a cup is now $1.50.

“I like how you can make your own drinks,” freshman Makenzie Compson said.

Since there are so many local businesses in Canton, Schmidt decided to sell local items. In the past, the pepperoni rolls have been a huge hit. They have been very popular, therefore, Schmidt decided to continue the sale of them. He is now selling “Norcia” pepperoni rolls which is a business right out of Canton. The company for all of his coffee equipment is called K & M and it runs out of Canton as well. He sells New England coffee and he is having a lot of success.

“ I like the Caramel Iced coffee and I think it is better than Dunkin Donuts,” Compson said.

Since the cafe is inside of a school, it has to abide by the rules of Michelle Obama’s healthy eating laws. Therefore, he is not permitted to sell as many sweets or extremely sugary drinks as the cafe has in the past. For example the brownies are no longer sold. He has made the adjustments.

“I want to work with everyone under these restrictions,” Schmidt said.

The cafe is open from 6:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. It is open on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. While the cafe is open during school hours students are only permitted to be there during lunch.

“Lately I’ve spent too much time there but it’ll slow down,” Schmidt said.

He hopes to get a routine going so he does not spend an excessive amount of time working the cafe.

“I am open for suggestions on how to make the cafe better for all the students,” Schmidt said. “Please like The Eagle’s Nest Cafe page on Facebook to see everything that is going on,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt is also offering gift cards. They are available in $5 and $15 cards. They can be purchased for birthdays, holidays, teacher gifts, or anything else they might be needed for.

[Updated Aug. 19, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]