BrewBike, a Chicago startup launched out of Northwestern University that is best known for selling cold brew coffee from custom cargo bikes, is launching in a second market where the climate is much more bike-friendly, and ice coffee-friendly, than Chicago’s harsh winter weather.
The startup announced Monday that it has launched at the University of Texas at Austin, a move made possible by an $800,000 seed round BrewBike raised in September. Investors included Chicago entrepreneurs like Matt Matros, the founder of Limitless Coffee and Protein Bar, and Mats Lederhausen, the founder and CEO of BE-CAUSE.
“Austin jumped off the page at us as a no-brainer,” said BrewBike CEO Randy Paris. “Austin is famous for food trucks, so it has a history of innovation around mobile food and beverage.”
BrewBike was founded in 2015 by Lucas Philips when he started riding his coffee stand and bike hybrid around campus, hauling around kegs of cold brew. He’d park it in high-traffic areas, catching students and faculty as they made their way to class.
(Photo via BrewBike)
The startup sources their cold brew from Chicago-based Limitless Coffee & Tea, and sells a small cup for $3.29 and a large one for $3.99.
Besides selling coffee from bikes, BrewBike also sets up permanent cafés in campus buildings and offers wholesale options to businesses. Although BrewBike has figured out how to work around Chicago’s long winters with these bike alternatives, Paris said choosing to expand to Austin had a lot to do with the city’s climate.
“When you’re selling cold coffee and cold tea from a bike outside, it’s a much more enjoyable experience for customers and employees when it’s 73 [degrees] and sunny,” Paris said.
At Northwestern, BrewBike is only able to operate its bike retail model about 25 to 35 days each academic year, while in Austin, the bike will be able to do more like 150 to 200 days per academic year. BrewBike is launching in Austin solely with its bike model, but plans to add cafés and wholesale options in the coming months, Paris said.
In addition to the weather being good for business, UT Austin’s student population is much larger than Northwestern’s, which means more potential customers, Paris said. Northwestern has about 22,000 students, while UT Austin has nearly 52,000, according to the colleges’ websites.
Since launching, BrewBike has grown to more than 50 part-time, student employees across both markets, 15 of which are in Austin. However, Paris said BrewBike has plans to expand to about 100 employees by the end of the year.
“The ultimate goal is to be the go-to coffee company on college campuses across the country,” Paris said.
