As Women’s History Month comes to a close, we’re celebrating by highlighting a few of our former students. These women in coffee impress us all year long! More women are starting businesses, opening coffee shops, and attending Texas Coffee School than ever before. We want to recognize these Texas Coffee School Coffeepreneurs® who serve excellent coffee to their communities!
These are just a handful of the countless women business owners who have come through our doors.
In some small towns, the only options for coffee might be a chain and a local gas station. But Kate Fenter dreamed of something better for her town of Emory, Texas. With a long background working at Starbucks corporate, Kate understood how to brew and sell coffee that people love. She launched KT’z Espresso Kafe with that experience and the guidance of two Texas Coffee School classes.
KT’z calls itself “uniquely different,” offering cleverly-named drinks on the menu and local,
When you live in a big city with a coffee shop on every block, it’s easy to take your morning iced coffee for granted. But rural residents don’t always have the same luxury. In small town South Dakota, specialty coffee can be hard to come by. That’s why Becky Sehr, Texas Coffee School Coffeepreneur®, decided to open up a mobile coffee business, Roaming Grounds, to serve the communities of Colton, Crooks, and Dell Rapids, South Dakota.
In honor of its 10th anniversary, we’re highlighting Waterbean Coffee—another Texas Coffee School Coffeepreneur® all-star. With 14 locations and its own roastery, Waterbean is a great example of how vertically integrated scaling can lead to more efficiency, more profit, loyalty from the community, and a more positive impact for coffee producers. Learn more about Waterbean and its founder, former Texas Coffee School student Tony Vo, below.
Feature photo of Tony is by Kat Lawrence for Inside UNC Charlotte.
Kreative Grounds Cafe is a place to grab a coffee and tasty treat while enjoying local art in McAllen, Texas. It’s also the long-awaited dream come true of Kris Karr and her daughter, Adrienne Gordon, Texas Coffee School Coffeepreneurs®.
Kris dreamed of owning a coffee shop and showcasing local art for three decades. Her idea began when she was an art student in Houston. But she moved back to the Valley as a single mother and couldn’t pursue that dream—for the time being.