Prefect Council announced student discounts at Shake Shack and Sweet Butter Kitchen on Jan. 17, with 10% discounts at both restaurants. The two discounts follow 11 other discounts announced in October.
The burger chain Shake Shack opened a new location on Ventura Boulevard earlier in January, about a 10-minute walk from campus. Sweet Butter Kitchen is a bakery and a cafe also on Ventura Boulevard, which sells an assortment of breakfast items and pastries.
Sophomore Prefect Caroline Cosgrove ’26 said building relationships with the restaurants was time-consuming but worth effort.
“[Prefect Council] reached out to various restaurants and stores near campus through emails and phone calls, especially to ones that are popular among the [school] community,” Cosgrove said. “Some did not reply, others, like Alfred’s, offered limited-time discounts, and others renewed our long-standing discounts, like Il Trammezzino, a restaurant that we have been collaborating with for a few years. The discounts give students an opportunity to spend less at their favorite restaurants, [while] also bringing in more customers for the restaurants.”
Andrea Colmenares-Cifuentes ’24, a regular customer at Shake Shack and Sharky’s Woodfired Mexican Grill, said she is grateful for the discounts because they allow her to spend less money.
“I use them to save money obviously, but I also know that it helps the school with the partnerships and future partnerships with other stores as well,” Colmenares-Cifuentes says. “Also, I think the stores appreciate the amount of customers they get each day.”
Chris Marin ’25 said it is difficult to ask for discounts at times, but the customer service makes him feel better.
“I feel a little shy to tell them that I want a discount, but they always happily attend to me so I don’t feel bad,” Marin says. “I love Shake Shack so the fact that there’s a 10% discount helps me out a lot.”
Eric Vartany ’24, a senior with off-campus lunch privileges, said that the opening of the burger chain nearby allows him and his friends a greater selection of food.
“Shake Shack is great,” Vartany said. “It’s another option for burgers we already have, HiHo [Cheeseburger] and Five Guys. But it’s always nice to have more options, especially when you have a group of friends where some people like one type of burger, and other people like a different type of burger. More options is always best.”
Vartany said the discounts provided by the school are also useful for other restaurants in the vicinity.
“The student discounts are useful,” Vartany said. “I forget to use them like most of the time. Like when you’re in the in the speed of payment, and you have like three people behind you, I often forget to say that I’m a Harvard-Westlake student to get the discount, but definitely what I do remember is that it’s useful.”
