Brewing Success with Purpose: How ReBrewed Found its Ground in the Purpose Pitch Competition

Each year, the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center spotlights purpose-driven business ideas that focus on doing good, for the planet, the community, or its’ customers, rather than just focusing on the bottom line. The Purpose Pitch Competition is a unique pitch session where Chicago startups pitch their greater purpose and how they plan to fulfill that purpose through their business objectives.

In this blog post, we asked DePaul Entrepreneurship student and 2023 Purpose Pitch Winner, Gretchen Shuler, to share her insights on her involvement in the competition. 

Participating in the Purpose Pitch competition this year was a life-altering experience. This competition pushed me as a business owner, as an entrepreneurship student, and as a woman in business. The competition brought together four students and four alumni founders, each representing purposefully designed companies to create a larger impact. Significant initiatives ranged from environmental impact, educational impact, agricultural impact, and more. 

Although I am an entrepreneurship student at DePaul, I have been an entrepreneur most of my life. Beginning in my hometown in Cincinnati, Ohio, I’ve always found myself embracing the entrepreneurial spirit. From running neighborhood lemonade stands, doing yard work, selling handmade clay charms and bath products in middle school, jewelry in high school, and starting an online clothing shop before college. 

During my sophomore year, I started to pursue the business I came to DePaul to eventually open. My company, ReBrewed, is brewing every cup with a purpose. It is a fair-trade coffee shop employing foster youth in order to decrease the foster care-to-prison pipeline. With some help from DePaul’s network, I was able to connect with my coffee vendor, a DePaul alumna and owner of Alma Coffee. I had no idea, however, that I would be an official business owner by 20 because I participated in the Purpose Pitch Competition.

I was so lucky to present alongside such dedicated business owners, all shaping the world to become a better place. This competition gave me the opportunity to take my idea of a culturally inclusive coffee shop and bar and turn it into a reality. After participating in the Student Innovation Expo, I received feedback on my business idea and ways to make it a viable business. I was able to take that feedback and make improvements to prepare for the Purpose Pitch competition. When the competition took place, I was still in the very early stages of developing my business. I had no logo, sales, or an LLC for the company, but I had the vision (and the coffee!) to carry me through the presentation. In preparation, I solidified my purpose to employ foster youth and source sustainable products, created a logo, social media content, and beverages to serve. During the competition, I served the judges two coffees, and a color-changing tea followed by a three-minute presentation.

Rebrewed as a company changed drastically after the competition. I filed my LLC, bought my domain, designed a mobile coffee cart, and established a coffee vendor partnership. I have learned so much about myself and entrepreneurship over the last few months of competing in DePaul pitch competitions. I learned how to pitch my company in an elevator pitch at the Student Innovation Expo as well as learn how to present to a crowd at Purpose Pitch. I applied these newfound skills when I later presented in Pitch Madness which was both an expo and presentation. 

With all the feedback and insight I’ve gained, my next steps with ReBrewed are to use the money I won from the pitch competitions to assemble and build my coffee cart. I plan to open during the upcoming school year and sell coffee in DePaul’s Loop campus, at Chicago markets, and to cater private events. I also plan to open a brick-and-mortar location after graduating and expand from there.

Thanks to the help of DePaul and the Coleman Center, I received my first investment, giving me the opportunity to begin growing my company. I would not have been able to accomplish what I have without these competitive experiences and I look forward to continuing my entrepreneurial venture. 

Learn more about the CEC’s Purpose Pitch Competition and University Pitch Madness here. Applications are open every spring quarter on the Coleman Center’s website. 

Contributor bio:

Gretchen Shuler is a junior entrepreneurship student at DePaul. She is also currently working as a student assistant at the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center. Her plans are to finish her degree over the next two years and pursue her career as an entrepreneur after graduation. Shuler hopes to expand from a mobile coffee cart to a brick-and-mortar location in Chicago and Cincinnati.