![](\"http:\/\/mcnair.bakerinstitute.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/IMG_7445-300x225.jpg\")
Andrew Maust joined the team last spring after going to several tea tastings. Since then, he\u2019s climbed the ladder from kitchen worker to operations manager.<\/p>\nThis month\u00a0the McNair Center is\u00a0spotlighting Rice entrepreneurs to celebrate National Entrepreneurship Month. To kick off our series, we sat down with Andrew Maust, operations manager for East-West Tea.<\/p>\n
East-West Tea began in the spring of 2016 as a project in Scott Davis’s undergraduate marketing class. Dr. Davis, a post-doctoral fellow at the Jones Graduate School of Business, had students develop business strategies\u00a0catering to underserved markets on campus. East-West Tea founder Drew Sutherland observed that students frequently went off campus to get\u00a0boba tea and developed a plan to\u00a0sell the beverage on campus. At the end of the semester, Sutherland and team members Tommy Bennett, David Cooper, Glenn Baginski and Leo Meiste implemented their plan.\u00a0East-West launched retail operations on October 12.<\/p>\n
Andrew Maust joined the team last spring after going to several tea tastings. Since then, he\u2019s climbed the ladder from kitchen worker to operations manager.<\/p>\n
Maust describes the relationship East-West formed with Rice as symbiotic. \u201cOne of [East-West\u2019s] core foundations is serving the Rice community. While what we do isn\u2019t necessarily the easiest logistically, or makes us the most money on profit margins, we think it\u2019s really important to serve the students and help them out in our endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maintaining a healthy relationship with Rice is a balancing act. Rice Housing and Dining provides East-West with shared kitchen space in Sammy\u2019s. Without their own kitchen, East-West must \u201cmaintain operations but also not encroach on other people\u2019s space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maust says another challenge is running a small business and keeping up with schoolwork. He works 15-20 hours per week in the kitchen, which is \u201cmore hours than [he] takes in coursework\u201d.<\/p>\n
Maust also gave some advise to students who want to start their own business: \u201cIt has to be a labor of love. Your first goal shouldn\u2019t be \u2018Ooh, what can I do to make money?\u2019 Because in order to build something that lasts and is high quality, it has to be something that you put in a lot of time and effort for. Money is great, but first and foremost you have to have that drive, that passion and put forth a great product.\u201d<\/p>\n
This resonates with advice Bob McNair gave students at an event at the Baker Institute on August 29th: Strive to create value and success will follow.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This month\u00a0the McNair Center is\u00a0spotlighting Rice entrepreneurs to celebrate National Entrepreneurship Month. To kick off our series, we sat down with Andrew Maust, operations manager for East-West Tea. East-West Tea East-West Tea began in the spring of 2016 as a project in Scott Davis’s undergraduate marketing class. Dr. Davis, a post-doctoral fellow at the Jones…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[422,109],"tags":[132,131,104,26,134,121,133,57,77],"class_list":["post-605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mcnair","category-rice-entrepreneurs","tag-bob-mcnair","tag-east-west-tea","tag-entrepreneurs","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-national-entrepreneurship-month","tag-rice","tag-rice-university","tag-small-business","tag-students"],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1271433668_6d49ca4073_b.jpg",1024,769,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1271433668_6d49ca4073_b-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1271433668_6d49ca4073_b-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1271433668_6d49ca4073_b.jpg",1024,769,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1271433668_6d49ca4073_b-1024x769.jpg",800,601,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1271433668_6d49ca4073_b.jpg",1024,769,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1271433668_6d49ca4073_b.jpg",1024,769,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1271433668_6d49ca4073_b.jpg",1024,769,false],"twentytwenty-fullscreen":["https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1271433668_6d49ca4073_b.jpg",1024,769,false],"yarpp-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/1271433668_6d49ca4073_b.jpg",120,90,false]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"
This month\u00a0the McNair Center is\u00a0spotlighting Rice entrepreneurs to celebrate National Entrepreneurship Month. To kick off our series, we sat down with Andrew Maust, operations manager for East-West Tea. East-West Tea East-West Tea began in the spring of 2016 as a project in Scott Davis’s undergraduate marketing class. Dr. Davis, a post-doctoral fellow at the Jones Graduate School of Business, had students develop business strategies\u00a0catering to underserved markets on campus. East-West Tea founder Drew Sutherland observed that students frequently went off campus to get\u00a0boba tea and developed a plan to\u00a0sell the beverage on campus. At the end of the semester, Sutherland…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"McNair Center<\/a>, Rice Entrepreneurs<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"Carlin Cherry","url":"https:\/\/www.edegan.com\/articles\/author\/carlin-cherry\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","yoast_head":"\n