On Sept. 10, Pomona College Dining Services informed Milk & Honey’s student managers that it would close the student-run bubble tea program operating out of Café 47, citing declining sales at the college’s coffee shop and Pomona dining halls as the reason for the cut.
In an email statement to TSL on Sept. 15 at 8:05 p.m., Robert Robinson, assistant vice president of facilities and campus services, announced that the college had decided to reverse the planned closure. At press time, Pomona had not contacted Milk & Honey student managers. A Pomona College spokesperson contacted ASPC at 8:22 p.m. notifying them of the decision.
“We’re grateful for the feedback we’ve received from students regarding the important role Milk & Honey plays in campus life,” Robinson said. “As a result of these conversations, the College has decided to reverse the planned closure, while we work with students to evaluate a range of options for its long-term future.”
He also said discussions would continue “in the coming weeks and months.” Robinson did not specify when Milk & Honey will reopen or how it will be funded.
The Milk and Honey student managers were initially preparing to reopen this semester, before Dining Services informed them on Sept. 10 that it would no longer provide financial or logistical support for the boba shop.
That morning, Dining Manager Norma Castillo emailed Milk and Honey employees at 10:41 a.m. requesting an 11 a.m. “Extraordinary Meeting.”
Aamanya Sejpal PO ‘28, one of Milk & Honey’s student managers and formerly a contributing writer at TSL, said that in the meeting, Dining Services General Manager Jose Martinez attributed the decision to a more than 50 percent drop in sales at Café 47 and Coop Fountain, due to the boycott against Starbucks that began in 2025.
Student workers at Milk and Honey belong to UNITE HERE Local 11, the same union that represents all full-time Pomona College dining staff as well as student workers at Café 47 and the Coop Fountain, both of which are run by Pomona. The planned closure came shortly after the union began contract renewal negotiations with Pomona on Sept. 8. In an email to Martinez, Local 11 demanded that Dining Services “cease all changes” to Milk and Honey’s operations, and asked to negotiate the changes with the union. It also requested evidence linking the Starbucks boycott to the decision.
The Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) Executive Council also condemned the closure in a Sept. 14 email to the student body. The statement disputed the financial justification, saying that “Milk and Honey consistently recoups their cost of labor, and only required $6170.45 in supplemental funding from dining last year.”
This is a breaking news story, and will be updated as it develops.
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