Elon's S'mokin' New S'mores Bar

By Nica Lasater

Sweet, gooey marshmallows. Rich, melting chocolate. Crunchy graham crackers. Topped off with a group of good, giggling friends. What combination could be better? Unfortunately, the dream of warm s’mores on a cool fall night is often unattainable — building a campfire is an ordeal, an ordeal that a hectic Monday doesn’t often allot the time for.

Elon University sophomore, Ethan Kaufmann’s new business, S'mokin’ S’mores, makes this fantasy an achievable reality. Located in Oak House, this s’mores bar offers six flavors of the dessert including;

S’mokin Classic, Nuts for S'more, Cookies & Cream, Sminty S'more, the Nutella S’more and Cookie Monster. After deciding between these creative flavors, a mini table fire pit is brought out to you and your friends by Kaufmann himself. The rest is up to you.

“There’s a little tray and everything [you could need] is on there,” Kaufmann said. “You get to roast your own marshmallows and make your own s'mores.”

The idea for this convenient and fun activity came to Kaufmann after a year of attending Elon. He noticed the lack of activities available to students once they were done with their classes for the day.

“I was thinking of something that could help Elon night life, because it’s always been struggling a little,” Kaufmann said. “I wanted to give people an opportunity besides going out or just sitting in their dorms all night.”

As a double major in marketing and entrepreneurship with a minor in communications, Kaufmann saw this issue that Elon struggled with as an opportunity to apply the knowledge taken from his accounting and business classes to the real world.

“I started thinking about spaces that were underutilized on campus and the two spaces that came to mind were Irazu and Oak House,” Kaufmann said.

While a lot of students use these spaces for studying, Kaufmann noticed that there are certain nights that seemed quieter than others. It is here that he noticed a great avenue to provide a great opportunity to enhance Elon’s nightlife.

From there, he needed an idea for how to best take advantage of convenient locations like these in a way that would entice college students to venture out of their dorm rooms. One of the first things that came to mind was a s’mores bar, inspired by something he had as a kid.

“I grew up with one of those s'mores makers at home,” Kaufmann said. “And I thought, what would college kids love more than s'mores that you can make with your friends?

The idea quickly began to gather momentum.

“I started asking the people in my class, ‘If there was a s'mores bar on campus, would you go?’ and every single person was like, ‘Of course I would go!’,” Kaufmann said. “The only people who were saying no were the people who just didn’t like s'mores.”

Kaufmann’s girlfriend and Elon University sophomore, Lillie Wilson also loved the idea.

“It’s unlike anything that Elon's campus has to offer,” Wilson said. “It can appeal to anybody who walks through the doors, and is a fun and easy way to hang out with friends.”

After weeks of meeting with banks and business owners as well as professors, older students and his dad for advice, Kaufmann had his company up and running under the name “S'mokin S’mores” to incorporate Elon’s theme of oak trees and acorns.

“I thought about the word oak and came up with the word ‘smOAKin’ but then ended up thinking, let’s just replace the “O” with an acorn to keep the Elon theme,” Kaufmann said.

All the hard work payed off-within just three weeks of being open. He broke even and was able to pay off his initial investment.

“I am so incredibly proud of all the work he has put into S'mokin S'mores,” Wilson said.

Although Kaufmann has mostly run his small business by himself, Wilson has helped her boyfriend purchase the supplies, make up the menu, design the t-shirts, conduct taste tests, advertise on social media, and work on nights it is open.

Luckily, Kaufmann has people like Wilson to lend him a hand as it can be time consuming to run a business unaided. But in terms of his business affecting his education, his thinks his company has been more of a supplement than a detriment as it’s a source of experiential learning.

“I limit myself to only doing this business three nights a week with an extra two hours for inventory, marketing and the financial side of it,” Kaufmann said. “I still focus more of my time at Elon on the education part, but also I’m taking things I learn in the classroom and implementing it into my business.”

In light of his success, Kaufmann wants to use his business to help more than just Elon night life. He intends to share his good fortune with charities such as Colleges Against Cancer for which he recently sold s’mores at an event, donating a percentage of his proceeds to the organization.

“I’m hoping to do more profit shares too to help out,” Kaufmann said. “From the start this wasn’t meant to be all for profit. It was something where I wanted to get experience and help the Elon community.”

As for the future of S’mokin S’mores, Kaufmann hopes to pass down his business to the next generation of aspiring business owners when he graduates from solving Elon issues to finding global solutions.

“I’m hoping to be able to pass the business along to another student to have them run it,” Kaufmann said. “Or for Oak House to adopt it.”

When it comes to thinking bigger, Kaufmann would love his business to be franchised on other college campuses even if under a different name.

Basically, S’mokin S’mores isn’t going anywhere. So, help yourself.

An example of a s'more set at Oak House.