Donald Keough, Editor-in-Chief
It was only natural that the baker and matcha connoisseur came together.
Michael Bohan ‘27 has made confections since high school. He used to spruce up a lack-lustre after-school club with various homemade goods he cheffed up himself. When attendance grew in accordance with the number of cookies he brought, he kept baking.
Senior Blinh Hoang’s cooking forte is in drink form. She has roughly 125 different recipes of matcha drinks that have been enjoyed by a growing list of friends since her freshman year.
Now, the two have started their own campus business: Keewee. Their business sells baked goods and matcha-inspired drinks, formalizing their proclivity to satisfy their peers’ sweet tooth through quality, tasty ways.
Like other recent student-run food businesses such Sips, they have collaborated with the Red Frame Lab to help get them off the ground. The Red Frame Lab helps facilitate and build student enterprises through consulting experiences.
Although Bohan started selling his homemade baked goods under the Keewee name at different pop-ups last semester, the fully-fletched version of Keewee took some extra nudging by Hoang. She helped spearhead the process with the Red Frame Lab.
“[I’m] the scalpel in this business,” Bohan said. “She’s more of the chainsaw.”
Starting Keewee in a short time span has meant both food-centric entrepreneurs have taken on a majority of the grunt work. They’ve gone on weekly Walmart trips to buy supplies, spent time experimenting with recipes and taken on different marketing tactics by making posters, word-of-mouth communication and building a social media presence.
They’ve been open for business twice so far, and were pleased with the turnout.
“It was a surprise that so many people showed up,” Hoang said, after their second time. “We had a line, and then before we knew it, we sold out.”
One student, Lulu East, has had a number of Hoang’s matcha drinks, and went to buy a matcha drink twice during Keewee’s second opening.
“I would say the matcha flavor is what really sticks out to me, because you can really taste how real it is, and it doesn’t just taste like grass,” East said. “It doesn’t taste like typical matcha does; it tastes like real matcha. It’s really delicious.”
Bohan and Hoang also enlisted a handful of students to help make food and drinks, and to tend to customers. But because of how recently Keewee was created, the business is still not affiliated with Denison’s dining provider, Denison Hospitality, meaning many who worked weren’t slated to get compensation, and did so simply to support Bohan and Hoang’s business.
“[They’ve] been amazing,” Hoang said. “I know that hiring has been a very difficult process for a lot of campus businesses, but we already have people interested in us before we are even officially able to pay,” Hoang said.
This lack of an official partnership with Denison Hospitality also means that students have had to pay with their own money for food and drinks, as Keewee is currently unable to accept the campus dining plan funds. Even still, students showed their interest by buying over 100 drinks at the last pop-up.
Keewee is in talks with Denison Hospitality to form a potential partnership, to alleviate these financial and logistic concerns.
Some students have also noted that many items on the menu have larger-than-ideal price tags, with their standard cup of matcha costing $9. While some see the prices as a downside, others argue that their products are worth the cost.
“It’s really worth it; I’d rather support them than someone off campus,” East said.
Hoang promises that Keewee will continue to evaluate their prices, and will seek to recalibrate certain ingredients to lower costs. However, Hoang said that they will not switch from using their high-quality matcha powder, which carries the brunt of the cost. In their drinks today, Hoang estimates that this powder adds a direct cost of around $2 to $3 per drink.
To both Bohan and Hoang, they feel that the quality of their food is one of the most important aspects of Keewee. And part of this quality, in terms of their drinks, comes down to their premium matcha powder.
But they hope that they can cut costs in the future. If their partnership with Denison Hospitality comes to fruition, they will be able to buy other ingredients and supplies wholesale.
Keewee’s foundation comes as another somewhat similar student business, TruCha, has since ceased operations on campus. Both owners have graduated, and there are currently no plans for the business to return, according to a Denison Hospitality official.
TruCha also served flavored drinks, however many drinks were based on sweet teas with tapioca pearls, better known as boba.
Hoang said that Keewee is in no way a replacement to TruCha. She also said that she personally knew one of TruCha’s owners, and that she was an inspiration for her to create Keewee with Bohan.
“It’s a shame that TruCha closed,” Hoang said. “But… because of TruCha, The Red Frame Lab has been more popular than ever to encourage students to start their own business on campus, and we are actually one of them.”
When Bohan and Hoang graduate, they have plans to start a restaurant in New York. They both see Keewee as a stepping stone to that reality.
“We’re not approaching this as a student on-campus job, as a way to make extra money,” Hoang said. “This is going to be our testing ground so we can actually pull something off in New York City.”
KeeWee’s hours of operation are not finalized. However interested students can look for updates on their instagram for future openings.