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DuPage entrepreneurs spotlight AAPI Heritage Month, cite supply and workforce challenges
Summary
At a May 2025 DuPage County Economic Development Committee meeting, entrepreneurs Melissa Villanueva of BrewPoint Coffee and Larry Blackburn of DataTelligent described their business origins, growth plans and challenges including rising coffee costs, supply-chain steps and remote-workforce recruitment.
DuPage County Economic Development Committee members heard May 2025 from two local business owners marking AAPI Heritage Month: Melissa Villanueva, owner of BrewPoint Coffee, and Larry Blackburn, chief executive of DataTelligent.
Melissa Villanueva said BrewPoint began after finding a coffee shop on Craigslist and has grown into what she described as “a multimillion dollar coffee company with 3 coffee shops” and a manufacturing arm. Villanueva said BrewPoint’s locations are all in Elmhurst, including a 4,000-square-foot event space and a shop inside the Elmhurst Public Library. She said the business has raised about $700,000 in grants to support scaling while preserving majority ownership and its identity as women- and minority-owned. “My name is Melissa Villanueva. I’m the owner of…
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