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City Brew: CityView students build mobile coffee cart with local business partners
Summary
Students at CityView High School are building a student-run coffee cart called City Brew, funded in part by a local business check and planned to be pitched to other employers; teachers say the project provides budgeting, marketing and real-world experience.
CityView High School students are building a student-run mobile coffee cart called City Brew, a project teachers and students say is intended to provide hands-on learning in business planning, marketing and product development while the group seeks a permanent location.
Trevor Templeman, a CityView teacher, said the idea originated from Amanda Zorny of the Economic Alliance and students, and that the team pivoted from pursuing a physical storefront to a mobile cart when a suitable space did not immediately materialize. “Amanda came up with the idea in December of having a community coffee shop that's student run and can give back to the community,” Templeman said. He described the cart as a temporary, mobile solution while students continue to seek a physical location.
Student Lisonbee Klosterman said the group planned materials purchases and construction; Templeman said students and a teacher working with Iowa Big would purchase wood and hardware and begin building in the weeks after the interview. The group initially hoped to have the cart ready April 1 but pushed that target to mid-April; Templeman said the team expected the cart to be ready around April 15.
Templeman described community support and seed funding. “Van Meter agreed to hear our pitch. They heard our pitch. … they gave us a check to help build a coffee cart,” he said. The student team also planned upcoming pitches to Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust and Big Grove, and noted discussions with Orchestra Iowa as a possible long-term location. The plan is to take the cart to businesses for pop-up sales while continuing to pursue a permanent site.
School leaders framed the project as curricular and experiential: students prepared product lists, cost spreadsheets and pitches, gaining math, accounting and marketing experience outside a traditional classroom. Templeman said the goal is to place students in “positions where they can learn and have that real world experience.”
