Founders Cafe debuts as community hub in entrepreneurship building | Culture

Complete with local partnerships and a signature matcha, Founders Cafe has officially opened its doors on campus.

The cafe debuted in the Ronald D. Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in a Feb. 9 grand opening featuring live music, free samples and spin-to-win games.

Chris Alleyne, Western University’s associated vice-president of housing and ancillary services, described the cafe as more than just another coffee stop on campus. 

“It’s really a community hub, a place for students to come, collaborate, study and just hang out with friends,” said Alleyne. 

Alleyne noted that the entrepreneurship building hosts over 250 events annually, making it a space for students and alumni to share a drink and collaborate. He hopes that the cafe will inspire students to use their network and see that entrepreneurship “happens outside of the classroom.”

“We knew that to have an entrepreneurship building, we had to have a café,” said Eric Morse, executive director of Western’s Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship. “Get that culture, drop in, meet new people, exchange ideas. And so we’ve always called this our collision space.”

He explained a key focus of the cafe is aligning with the Morissette Institute’s goal of supporting Western student and alumni entrepreneurs by showcasing food and beverages founded by past and present members of the Western community.

Founders Cafe carries a plethora of products from alumni-owned businesses including Booch Tap Room’s kombucha, Mid Day Squares, Zenergy’s gum, Brüst Protein Coffee, Sapsucker beverages and Greenhouse Juice Co.. 

Alleyne explained that they collaborated with Sidetrack Cafe from day one. The window eatery located in Wortley Village was founded by an Ivey Business alum and Huron University College assistant professor, Richie Bloomfield. 

“We’re here to grow entrepreneurship within the Western community,” Morse said. “We want to support Western entrepreneurs at any chance we can.”

This mission has resonated with Western students.

“It’s always good to support your local Western community,” said Zayn Ahmed, a first-year engineering student. “By funding and supporting them, they’re gonna help and support us back.”

Students also enjoy the cafe’s signature ube matcha drink. Alleyne explained that, with the mix of the Ivey green matcha and the Western purple ube, a yam native to the Philippines, the signature drink is a visual representation of the cross-community collaboration. 

“We’ve tried a lot of different matchas, figured out sort of the flavour and how that looks,” said Alleyne. “I am pretty excited about the ube matcha. I mean, I probably have had one a day.” 

This rang true with second-year urban development student and self-proclaimed “matcha connoisseur,” Armaan Jassal. “It’s better than the Spoke and better than Starbucks,” he said, but suggested Starbucks if students are in a time crunch. 

After the entrepreneurship building opened just over a year ago, Morse hopes the cafe will bring a new sense of energy and community to the entrepreneurship space. 

“Every time we try to do something new, we try to attract a new group of students to the space. And we think the cafe has done that for us well.”