With a wide selection of delicious foods, it is known that Mungo’s & The Deep End is one of the best places on the Canterbury & Medway campuses to enjoy a scrumptious burger meal. That’s why we chose to start our Burger & Business initiative here!
Burger & Business, part of the #DigitalReboot programme supported by Santander Universities, is an initiative to help entrepreneurial students meet each other, explore each other’s business ideas and potentially meet a co-founder, whilst of course enjoying a meal at the same time.
‘I came along to one of the Canterbury meet-ups out of intrigue rather than purpose, not really knowing what to expect. But Hazel was such a friendly host and it was great to meet new people and share ideas with fellow entrepreneurial students!’ – James, University of Kent Student
‘Student meet-ups were a great experience for me as it gave me the opportunity to network with other students and learn about their business ideas, also the burger meal at Mungo’s was a bonus!’ – Asha, University of Kent Student
Led by student ambassadors, Ayo, Maisie and Hazel, the sessions were booked for the afternoon (Medway) or the evening time (Canterbury), in order to allow time for students to finish up lectures or seminars and complete any work needed to be done for that day. Ambassadors would arrive a few minutes early to reserve a table to accommodate the students. One by one, group by group, students would show up ready and eager to have a relaxing time having dinner with other like-minded students and forming bonds with each other. As the head coordinator of the events, once most students had arrived, the ambassadors would kick off the event by welcoming everyone and addressing the purpose of the Burger & business event, with any other key future #DigitalReboot events being announced to students so they had an early reminder to participate in other events. Our thanks to the staff at Mungo’s (Canterbury and The Deep End (Medway), who were very patient with the large volume of order requests!
‘The chance to meet new students with great business ideas and keen to participate in the event made the coordination and execution of the events all worth it. I am very pleased with the opportunity that Burger & Business created to help students grow their network as well as being able to grow my own network whilst growing my stomach!’ – Hazel Frost, University of Kent Student Ambassador and Coordinator of Burger & Business
‘Burger & Business has been very successful, I have noticed over the weeks how students have formed strong bonds and have helped each other with their ideas. Overall, hosting Burger & Business with Hazel and the others at #DigitalReboot have been an absolute pleasure for me.’ – Maisie Galea, Hub Administrator and Coordinator of Burger & Business
Whilst waiting for the orders to be prepared and delivered, students had the opportunity to speak to one another regarding business, current events, personal experiences or just meeting someone for the first time. Conversations were kept lively throughout the entire time at the event and students were encouraged to step out of their comfort zone to speak to others they had not spoken to before. Once the first orders were out and the wonderful aroma of food was circulating around the restaurants, students enjoyed their meal together and this didn’t stop them from continuing their conversations. After the meals were finished, students continued to share laughs and advice with others and demonstrated the formation of lasting relationships and partnerships. The Burger & Business initiative was a series of events occurring during the 2018/2019 academic year.
Examples of benefiting experiences include one group who came to the vent and were in need of a website for a product they were selling. They socialized with another student at the meet-up who had the technical abilities to develop a website for the,. The same group also met a student photographer who was willing to help advertise their product.
It was evident that students were both satisfied with their meal as well as they company they were surrounded by at the event, making it another successful addition to the #DigitalReboot program!
By: Adrian Paris
University of Kent Hub for Innovation and Enterprise Administrator