Student-run coffee shop joins Tilley
As dining options started to reopen across campus last week, a new student-organized coffee shop called Brewvita opened in the Tilley Student Center, replacing the Dunkin’ Donuts location on North Campus.
Brewvita is entirely operated by current Liberty students and alumni and allows student workers to gain hands-on experience in an entrepreneurial environment.
Brewvita partners with a non-profit club called Enactus, Liberty’s entrepreneurial club in the School of Business. For eight years, Enactus has encouraged students to create and pitch business ideas of their own.
As a university club, Enactus cannot own a campus dining location; but Anna Grace Maples, a Liberty alumna, stepped into the role of investor and owner.
Maples’ family owns coffee shops in Kentucky, so she brought her expertise to Virginia to help Enactus students achieve their business goals. Under Maples’ supervision, students run every step of the business process.
“Really, it was just to give the students a way to learn outside of a classroom, because yes, you can read a textbook, but you can also learn so much from hands-on experiences. This gives the students an opportunity to see different aspects that they might not normally realize,” Maples said.
Students perform all the operations of the coffee shop including inventory, cleaning, stocking, ordering supplies and barista duties, allowing them to fully understand exactly how a business is run.
Additionally, accounting students perform Brewvita’s bookkeeping and financial accounting, Liberty graphic design students created its logo and students even manage its marketing and social media functions.
“The only person that works here that is not a current student is myself, and I am an (alumna), and I just graduated in 2022,” Maples said. “Our ‘by-students, for-students’ sign is true; we are entirely created by students. A portion of your coffee purchase goes back to the club to fund another student business.”
So, what will a Plus Swipe get? Because Brewvita is independently operated and not owned by Sodexo, they are unable to accept Dining Dollars and Plus Swipes, but soon they will be able to accept Flames Cash. As a cashless dining location, they accept cards, Google Pay and Apple Pay.
Lattes and cold brews hold first place as student favorites thus far, but Maples mentioned a unique specialty syrup: a plant-based energy drink syrup called PowerUp. PowerUp is a flavorless, colorless syrup that can be added to any drink without compromising the drink’s original flavor. It has 80 mL of caffeine per pump, which turns a favorite non-caffeinated drink into an energy drink.
“For instance, if you want sweet tea but you need a little caffeine, you can add caffeine without changing the flavor. We’ve tried it in hot chocolate, matcha, water — you can’t tell,” Maples said.
Students so far have been excited about the new coffee option on North Campus. Hanna Mowery is among the students who have already tried Brewvita.
“I had a great experience ordering at Brewvita for the first time,” Mowery said. “I love how convenient the location is for my classes at Green Hall, as well as the gym. The workers were really inviting and I’m glad to be able to support a small business run by other students.”
Brewvita hours are Monday-Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., except for Wednesday when it closes at 3:30 p.m. More information can be found about Brewvita and Enactus on Instagram @brewvita and @libertyenactus, respectively.
Jarnigan is the asst. news editor for the Liberty Champion.
