This coffee company started in a classroom, now, Richard Branson is a customer

Saint Bonaventure University is known for basketball, beer, and coffee beans.

In the spring of 2021, college students Morgan Wahl and Noah Minton discussed business ideas during an entrepreneurship class at Saint Bonaventure University. The small school, located in New York about 70 miles south of Buffalo, recently made headlines for hiring alum and former ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski as the general manager of its basketball program.

During the brainstorming session, the idea of a community-focused coffee business surfaced, and their professor, Tom Cullen, charged his students with developing a business plan for the potential venture. That plan turned into a real business a year later when Cullen co-founded RocketCup Coffee with Saint Bonaventure graduate Steve McClain and then-student Mackenzie Bush.

RocketCup, which Cullen has bootstrapped, has rapidly expanded its footprint. In 2022, it launched as a subscription coffee service and B2B wholesaler. In 2023, it opened a cafe in nearby Cattaraugus, New York, and in May 2024, it opened a second cafe in Olean, just a few miles down the road from Saint Bonaventure.

RocketCup also built a headquarters in Cattaraugus, which includes a roastery and speakeasy that opened to the public in October 2024. According to Cullen, patrons can take a tour, roast their beans, make their coffee blend, try a flight of lattes, or even try a coffee-inspired cocktail.

In what the company calls a “full-circle” moment, RocketCup is announcing a co-branded coffee line—Bonnies Blend—with Saint Bonaventure University. The line is named after the school’s athletic teams, the Bonaventure Bonnies. The school will receive 15 per cent of each sale.

“We appreciate the ability to collaborate with fellow Bonnie Tom Cullen and his RocketCup Coffee team to provide more meaningful engagement opportunities for our students, alumni, and fans with the school for which they have such incredible passion,” the school’s vice president and director of athletics Bob Beretta said in a press release. “In the past year, we have introduced two Bonnie-themed beers and now a speciality coffee blend into the marketplace. I am excited for Bona Nation to enjoy this new addition, as Bonnies Blend exemplifies our university’s rich, bold spirit.”

Bonnies Blend joins RocketCup’s two existing blends—Sir Richard’s, the company’s lone decaffeinated, and its Launch blend. The beans for both caffeinated blends originated in Brazil, Colombia, and Honduras.

Sir Richard’s blend is named after Richard Branson, who inspired Cullen to make a decaffeinated blend when he attended a retreat with several other entrepreneurs at Branson’s Caribbean home.

On day three of the retreat, Branson and Cullen discussed Cullen’s idea of a coffee shop. Branson revealed that he drinks only decaffeinated coffee, so Cullen knew he needed to find a way to make a decaf blend for RocketCup. Now, Branson is a customer.

“We shipped the coffee to him, and [then] I remember, I received a call saying, ‘Sir Richard is [almost] out, and we need coffee by the weekend,’ and we got it there,” Cullen recalls with a chuckle.

Cullen, 46, might source beans in tropical locations and interact with famous entrepreneurs like Branson, but his focus is primarily on budding entrepreneurs and local businesses.

The former options trader turned professor is also the co-founder and director of the Laine Business Accelerator. The accelerator is named for Erick Laine, an Olean-area entrepreneur who passed away in 2020 and is perhaps most famous for forming and leading the Cutco Corporation. According to its website, the accelerator provides community and consulting services to the local business community. To date, it has invested $160,000 in seed funding and helped occupy seven vacant commercial spaces.

Moreover, Cullen serves as the co-founder and director of the Entrepreneurship Centre at Saint Bonaventure University, an innovation lab established in 2020 that enables students to assist in developing business ideas and offers consulting services to local businesses.

“We are built for Bonnies, by Bonnies, and for us, that’s special,” says Cullen, who, by his estimation, is the 28th person in his family to graduate from Saint Bonaventure University. (This writer is also an alum of Saint Bonaventure University.)

“We couldn’t exist without our community, and our students know that, so I think that’s why they’re all eager to jump in,” Cullen explains. “I’m proud their work helps RocketCup, but that’s just one impact they have had.”

He’s referencing his co-founder Bush—who began working on the brand with Cullen in undergrad and transitioned into her current role as the brand’s head of marketing and sales—and the many students who have helped ideate and work on various parts of RocketCup’s business. Caleb Decker, a current undergrad, helped Cullen design everything from the kitchen to the staff’s workflow for the second cafe and is now working on his own company, ConstructMod 3D.

Students also helped with product development. “I spend every day teaching product-market fit, and the students have worked with us to roll up our sleeves, get out there, and try new things until we find what works,” says Cullen.

In addition to the resources and talent the university has provided, Cullen also says that RocketCup’s mission of revitalising communities is inspired by the values of Saint Bonaventure University: community, compassion, wisdom, and integrity. “We have always wanted to be a place where people can foster community, have fun, and build relationships,” he says.

“We were hoping to revitalise the world through the businesses. We have since learned that the best way to revitalise our communities is to be in them,” Cullen says of the tightened focus. “If we want to improve the world, it starts at home.”

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BY DUSTIN GREEN IN INC.