The ASUC Store Operations Board finalized plans to bring Tully's Coffee to UC Berkeley at Tuesday's meeting.

The franchise could open before the end of this semester, said Store Operations Board Chair Jordan Smith.

Smith said the Tully's branch would consist of a kiosk in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union building that would serve coffee, sandwiches and snacks.

The Tully's deal comes after contract negotiations to open a Panda Express branch on Lower Sproul Plaza began Dec. 3, generating an outcry among students.

Part of the concern surrounding the Panda Express deal was the nutritional value of its food, a concern that does not apply to Tully's, Smith said.

"Pretty much all the coffee is fair-trade and organic," he said.

Nadesan Permaul, director of the ASUC Auxiliary, said bringing Tully's Coffee to UC Berkeley would benefit students.

"We wanted (a coffee shop) that would serve students late into the evening, where faculty, staff and students would feel comfortable," said Permaul.

Permaul also said Tully's would bring more foot traffic into the student union, which was "a nice option."

Tully's would also work with UC Berkeley to produce a coffee label sporting the campus's logo.

"Berkeley will be producing its own coffee that is 100 percent fair trade organic coffee, and it will have a Cal label on it, which will be very attractive for students and alums," Permaul said.

The last step in the process to bring the coffee franchise to campus is approval from the campus's capital program, which Permaul said is likely.

"The real issue is the students want this, the student government supports it," he said. "We believe that the campus will ultimately embrace it."

Although students have opposed bringing large corporations like Tully's to campus in the past, opposition to the plan at the meeting was minimal.

Cooperative Movement Senator Christina Oatfield, who has led student efforts against the Panda Express deal, said she was not as concerned about Tully's.

"I'm not crazy about the idea of a Tully's coming onto campus, (but) I'm not nearly as passionately opposed to it as this Panda Express plan," she said.

She added that Tully's did not pose the same environmental and nutritional problems as Panda Express.

"I don't think it has generated nearly as much concern about sustainability or nutrition," Oatfield said. "You have to pick your battles."

Fourth-year Asa Enclade said he would support Tully's over larger corporations such as Starbucks.

"I don't really have a big problem with it," said Enclade. "If it was that big I'd object to it a little bit more."

The Coffee Spot owner Haitham Alloun said that even if Tully's drew business away from The Coffee Spot, he would not be opposed to the deal as long as it brought in revenue for students.

"Good for the ASUC, good for students, I'm happy," Alloun said.

Tags: LOWER SPROUL PLAZA, TULLY'S COFFEE, ASUC AUXILIARY