Brewing Success: An Interview with Student Entrepreneur Gretchen
I had the great opportunity to interview Gretchen, the founder of Rebrewed Cafe and a DePaul Entrepreneur student. Gretchen started Rebrewed last spring and has been running the mobile coffee cart inside the Coleman Entrepreneur Center since. She has been successfully creating a wide variety of flavorful drinks!
Gretchen has always been entrepreneurial, from a young age selling homemade bath products, polymer clay charms, and performing odd jobs, like picking up walnuts! So as you can see her latest endeavor has been in the making for a long time. The coffee cart idea has been her aspiration for a long time. She started working at a coffee shop at age 15 and ever since has wanted to have her own. The idea first started as a coffee wine bar, but has evolved since then. The positive experience she had during her time working as a barista really impacted her. Her coworkers and boss were very supportive and the environment made her want to have her own place. Did I also mention that her coffee is certified fair trade and in the future she plans to employ foster youth? The inspiration for that too came from when she was a teenager and she volunteered with foster children and realized the need to help in the community. I could definitely see the passion on her face as she told me about her experience working with these foster youth and seeing the impact it made. The inspiration for her business all stemmed from these pivotal moments in her life.
Grounds Up
Gretchen first pitched her idea at the Student Innovation Expo, where students can showcase their entrepreneurial ideas to faculty, staff, and students to receive feedback. The feedback she received really helped her to realize this was a good idea she could build on. She also used the feedback and started to make changes like focusing on coffee not wine since selling alcohol wouldn’t work with foster youth. She became aware of how expensive an actual storefront was and decided to go mobile. After that she did a multitude of events, from the Social Impact Incubator hosted by the Coleman Center, to University Pitch Madness where different universities pitch their businesses against each other. Throughout these events, she gained valuable advice, a little capital, and lots of supporters.
Finally she was ready to start her mobile coffee shop. She reached out to the Coleman Center to see if they could help her kick off her coffee cart. To do this she had to show she had a complete business proposal. After that she got ready to launch. She admits it was hectic and still is. Balancing being a student worker at the Coleman Center, running ReBrewed (and planning an expansion), on top of being a full time student made me feel overwhelmed for her. She admits that she definitely needs to work on taking time for herself so she thrive in all aspects of her life.
What’s Next
ReBrewed is soon planning to expand. She has launched a Kickstarter campaign that runs through December. It is great because not only can DePaul and Chicago locals support her, her family at home can too. She is planning on expanding and creating her fully mobile coffee cart. She admits that while hectic there have been so many good moments while seeing her idea become a reality. A full circle moment for her was when a former friend and co-worker at the coffee shop she worked at came to Chicago to stop by and try a drink. She said it really showed how little time it has been since her idea started.
I am amazed at what Gretchen is doing and find it so inspiring to see how even as a student she is chasing her dream. With DePaul’s help and her persistence, she is creating an amazing business. Her goal of helping foster youth and supporting fair trade coffee providers is inspiring.
~Sienna