How HTCG Helps Student Businesses Launch on Campus (Denison Spotlight)

We’re proud to be mission extenders for our partner campuses — bringing hospitality and operational know-how to support academic goals, experiential learning and student entrepreneurship. 

When student ideas turn into real businesses campuses win: students build skills they can’t get from a textbook alone, and the community gets new, made-here experiences. That’s where HTCG comes in. We partner with campus teams to help student entrepreneurs test, refine and launch concepts the right way — without losing the joy (or the learning) along the journey. 

Denison Hospitality currently supports three student-run businesses: TruCha (bubble tea), Sips (a drink concept) and Hache (and a hot pot/ramen bowl concept). 

The “from idea to opening day” playbook

• Start with campus entrepreneurship support: At Denison, student teams begin with the campus Red Frame Lab for coaching and early feedback. 

• Connect to HTCG: Once the Lab gives a green light, students bring a proposal to Denison Hospitality where we align on need, fit and what success would look like on campus. 

• Test it in real life: Pop-ups let students refine the menu, pricing and experience using real feedback (and real lines at the door). 

• Build buzz: Students create a simple marketing plan so the campus knows what’s coming—and why it’s worth trying. 

• Soft opening — the final “tryout”: We run a soft opening in the proposed space to check flow, readiness, consistency and whether the concept can deliver hospitality at scale.

This process keeps the learning big — and the risk manageable — while giving students a real look at what it takes to operate a business. 

Once a concept is approved, we stay close. 

That’s the mission-extender part: helping your students learn by doing, with a real operation behind them. Each student business gets a go-to mentor (often a chef for food concepts or a retail lead for beverages), and our teams love sharing the behind-the-scenes stuff — ordering systems, recipe/production basics, a master order guide that matches the menu and simple P&L tracking that makes the numbers click. Students practice managing food and labor costs, understanding expenses and making smart decisions just like operators. 

The best part is seeing students level-up in real time — in terms of their confidence, communication, decision-making and leadership. Here are three Denison concepts – and the students behind them. 

Student Founder Spotlights:

Sips 

Sips was founded by Alexia Christenson, a sophomore majoring in data analytics with a minor in economics. The spark came from a super practical problem: Alexia kept leaving campus to grab a fizz drink at a coffee shop in Newark — and she realized lots of students wanted the same thing but didn’t always have a ride (or the time) to go off campus. 

 So she asked the obvious question: why shouldn’t students be able to get great fizz drinks right on campus?  That idea turned into Sips—a student-run concept that brings an off-campus favorite to where students already are. 

 And Alexia isn’t thinking small. After graduation, she wants to grow the Sips model at other colleges and universities — and even build in a way for students to own a share and operate Sips on their own campuses. Big Vision/Student Powered. 

 Sips is a great example of what happens when student drive meets real-world coaching and the right campus partners.

Hache Hot Pot 

Hache Hot Pot was started by second-year students AI Khanh Vu, Han Nguyen and Quoc Khanh Nguyen — who wanted to bring an authentic taste of home to campus. They built an authentic, customizable ramen/hot pot bowl concept rooted in their cultural food traditions. Through pop-ups, they kept iterating: broths, toppings, recipes and even the service flow — always listening to what guests said and what operations demanded. 

 Hache shows what it looks like when students turn something personal into something scalable—and run it with real discipline. The focus on authenticity, consistency and guest experience proves student-led food concepts can operate at a truly professional level on a university campus.

TruCha 

TruCha started with what co-founder Truc Hoang calls “a simple dream (and a bit of a joke).” Growing up in Vietnam, she had access to bubble tea everywhere. So, arriving at Denison and finding no boba was a surprise. “I joked with my friends, ‘Guess I’ll have to open my own shop!’” she said. “Somewhere along the way, I realized… why not actually make it happen?” 

That feeling clicked for co-founder Charlie Kuchler, too. “When I was a freshman, I quickly realized something from my college life was missing — boba,” Charlie said. “Back in high school in Katy, Texas, my friends and I were always at boba shops for late-night hangouts or study sessions. Honestly, I had a boba addiction.” 

TruCha isn’t “just a trend.” The team treats it like a full hospitality concept — quality ingredients, smart production, and a welcoming guest experience. Through pop-ups and test runs, they fine-tuned flavors, portion sizes and pricing based on direct student feedback, making sure the concept landed well with a wide mix of guests. 

TruCha is a great example of students spotting a gap in the campus dining experience — and filling it with something thoughtful, well-run and genuinely fun. 

“Working alongside Harvest Table Culinary Group (Denison Hospitality) to serve the Denison community has been incredibly rewarding! From day one of our partnership, they have shared our mission of better serving the Denison community, which has enabled TruCha to continue growing. The team at Harvest Table has extended their support in any ways that they can and have been instrumental in me and Truc’s development as business owners. We are grateful for their partnership and look forward to working together to share many more amazing experiences with TruCha!” 

                                           —CHARLIE KUCHLER, TruCha Co-founder and DENISON UNIVERSITY Student 

What could this look like on your campus? 

Denison Hospitality’s student entrepreneurship program is a great example of what happens when campuses back student ideas—and HTCG helps bring the operational structure to match. This is the kind of partnership for which Harvest Table is built. Side-by-side, we can help create real opportunities for students to grow and thrive as leaders, operators and entrepreneurs—through pop-up testing, hands-on mentoring and the kind of day-to-day coaching that turns a great idea into a well-run reality.