Innovative Shark Cage businesses open on campus

Kat’s Asian Kuisine

Katarina Colvin, senior marketing major, helps a customer check out at Kat’s Asian Kuisine. PHOTO BY INDAYA BYER.

Kat’s Asian Kuisine sells homemade egg rolls, fried rice and other Asian dishes, snacks and drinks at an affordable price for students. What initially was to be a thrift business became the only vendor of quality, affordable Asian food at NSU. Kat’s Asian Kuisine was founded by Colvin, whose mother would often bring her food from home because Asian cuisine wasn’t available on campus.

Without experience in finance or cooking, Colvin had to learn not just the recipes to make egg rolls and other foods on the menu, but also figure out how to run the accounting side of the business.

She started off by just selling egg rolls, snacks and drinks, but Colvin has since added new recipes to gain more customers, such as fried rice, massaman curry and pad Thai.

Razor’s Grille

David Abrams, senior finance major, flips a tortilla as he makes a burrito for a customer at Razor’s Grille. PHOTO BY INDAYA BYER.

Bringing new convenient and healthy eating options on cam-pus, Razor’s Grille provides high-protein bowls with a variety of toppings and sides. Razor’s Grille was created by Amanda Conde, senior finance major, David Abrams, senior finance major, Gabriel Rodriguez, senior business administration major, Shirley Madera, senior marketing major, Edrey Rodriguez, senior marketing major and Julian Ferrer, senior entrepreneurship major.

The idea behind Razor’s Grille came from a common interest in exercise and healthy eating habits. The founders noticed how the lack of healthy food options on campus led to students constantly eating nearby fast food. Razor’s Grille is meant to give students and faculty healthy, tasty and affordable options.

The founders had to overcome many challenges when starting the business, especially with inventory.

“One of our biggest challenges was spoilage. Once you work with food, it’s very hard to maintain freshness to make sure it’s good to cook,” said Conde. “Doing inventory for our ingredients was also very new to us. We had to figure out what we have to buy for this day and what goes bad for that day.”

Razor’s Grille tries to cater to their customers’ tastes and brings new options to the menu. Through a survey available on their website, the Razor team receives many suggestions from their customers, including tacos, burritos, sandwiches and smoothies.

“We try to cater to everyone, but you can’t,” Conde said. “You learn that you can’t please everybody, unfortunately.”

Un Tinto

Michael Graham, senior entrepreneurship major, and Daniel Poveda, graduate student in the HBIA program, serve a customer at Un Tinto. PHOTO BY DANIEL ANGEL.

The scent of fresh coffee surrounds a group of five students with Latin American backgrounds waiting to share their culture with the NSU community. Un Tinto was created by Laura Gutierrez, senior marketing major, Daniel Angel, senior accounting major, Daniel Poveda, senior entrepreneurship major, Michael Graham, senior entrepreneurship major, and Isabella Drumond, senior entrepreneurship major. The business’ name refers to what a cup of black coffee is called in Colombia, the home country of founders Angel and Poveda.

This semester, Un Tinto will operate through a catering-based service. It offers beverages, such as maracuya (passion fruit) lemonade and iced lattes with different flavors (with a non-dairy option) and treats such as cookies.

The group of students separate their work into three areas, each managing different aspects of the business. Poveda and Gutierrez are the marketing team and run the social media accounts. Drumond and Graham oversee product inventory, as well as conduct research on what students like most and how they can improve the product. Angel is in charge of financials, creating income statements and fi guring out where the money comes and goes. Although they all have designated roles, they work together to plan daily operations and the overall vision of the business.

“Our product names were a little diffi cult to understand at fi rst. So, at fi rst, people would just buy the ice caramel latte be-cause it was something they were familiar with,” said Angel. “But as time went by, people started trying our products such as our lecherito, which is our signature drink.”

The lecherito involves a simple recipe that combines coffee with condensed milk. After overcoming their obstacles in perfecting their recipes and turning their passion and culture into a business, Un Tinto is motivated to expand their business off campus in the future.

Mako Milkshakes

Amaya Walker, senior business and entrepreneurship major, scoops ice cream to make a shake for a customer at Mako Milkshakes. PHOTO BY INDAYA BYER.

Mako Milkshakes introduced dairy and non-dairy milkshakes with several flavors to NSU.
The team behind Mako Milkshakes was inspired by a friendly competition with the other milkshake business that opened last fall, Shake It Up. Mako Milkshakes was created by Maya Espinosa, senior entrepreneurship major, Ashley Trejos, senior management major, Amaya Walker, senior entrepreneurship major, and Erika Lowe, senior business management major.

Co-owner Trejos said that it is challenging to start a new business in a competitive market.
“We face a lot of issues with distinguishing ourselves from the competition and also getting our marketing out there,” said Trejos. “We’re still developing that right now.”

Keeping the NSU community excited for more milkshakes, Mako Milkshakes added more flavors to their menu, such as the popular dairy and non-dairy Oreo and strawberry milkshakes.
Mastering the use of the milkshake machine, the team behind Mako Milkshakes plans to move forward with their business off-campus in the future.