From left, Meskwaki Bingo Casino and Hotel General Manager Scott Sirois, Starbucks District Manager Kyle Dillenburg and Meskwaki Tribal Councilman Apollo Davenport celebrate the ribbon cutting of the well-known coffee chain’s casino location on Valentine’s Day earlier this month. A larger than expected crowd attended the cutting and enjoyed the variety of coffee beverages. PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM

MESKWAKI SETTLEMENT — Since Starbucks opened in the Meskwaki Bingo Casino and Hotel earlier this year, casino and Starbucks officials have been happy with the success.

After a soft opening in January, a grand opening and ribbon cutting was held on Valentine’s Day. Casino General Manager Scott Sirois said the traffic of java drinkers has been strong and they are excited about the partnership formed between the casino and the national coffeehouse chain.

“There’s obviously been a lot more traffic because it’s very, very popular,” he said, laughing. “We’ve been running the soft opening for a month to help everybody acclimate to the volumes of new business. It’s going really well.”

Sirois is looking forward to the most popular Starbucks holiday season, when the pumpkin spice drinks appear, and was sorry the casino had to miss that.

“We’re looking forward to next year,” he said.

Even though he prefers his coffee black, Sirois suggested people try the blackberry refreshers.

“They are new and extraordinarily tasty,” he said. “I like that.”

Starbucks District Manager Kyle Dillenburg attended the grand opening, and said the location, one of the newest builds in all of Iowa, has performed very well so far.

“One thing they are doing very well off the bat is providing the customer experience to this community,” he said. “They are doing a nice job of making people feel warm and welcome, which is how you should feel in a coffeehouse. It should be somewhere you want to go and hang out for a couple hours, kick back, put your feet up and relax. They are doing a nice job of that.”

Dillenburg expects sales to grow tremendously during the next 12 months. One feature of the Meskwaki Starbucks which customers might not find at other locations is a digital.order status board.

“This is the only kiosk in the whole state with that functionality,” he said. “This is also one of the only stores in the entire state with single-brew coffee. The coffee machine they have allows for fresh coffee to be made in 30 seconds at any point in time, and it has up to six different roasts going at once.”

If someone goes to the Meskwaki Starbucks and is unsure of what to try, Dillenburg recommends the caramel macchiato.

“It’s a tried and true classic,” he said. “It’s good year-round because you can get it hot or iced. It’s got vanilla flavoring, caramel flavoring, coffee flavoring, kind of the right blend of things people like. And it lets these guys put their craft into the drink. It’s made a little differently than some of the other beverages, so it lets them highlight their skills.”