New in Concession Stand

Bethany’s concession stand is sporting a new product, Menno Tea, which is produced by 2010 Bethany grad Niles Graber Miller and co-entrepreneur Hans Weaver—both business majors at Goshen College.

Menno Tea made its debut in Goshen in July 2011. Graber Miller and Weaver created Cultural Ventures, LLC, and started their tea-making after receiving a $5,000 entrepreneurship grant from the college’s business department. They experimented with tea recipes throughout the 2010-11 school year, drawing on Weaver’s mother’s summer meadow tea recipe, until they found their blend, which includes only filtered water, sugar, brewed tea, natural mint and lemon flavoring, and citric acid.

They first produced the tea in the college’s coffee shop, but after receiving an order for 2,500 bottles for the Mennonite Youth Convention in July 2011, they contracted production to a bottling company. Their market is expanding as restaurants, markets, and galleries now carry the tea in Goshen and Shipshewana, Indiana; as well as Archbold, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pa.

Graber Miller and Weaver plan to add teas from other cultures in the coming months. “We want to encourage people to explore new cultures through our tea,” said Graber Miller, who grew up based in Goshen but has lived with his family for several-month stints in five countries and Puerto Rico. “Cultural awareness is what sets us apart from other tea companies.” Weaver adds, “We’re striving for organic growth and want our teas to be simple and represent the cultures from which they emerge.”

Graber Miller also started NGM Designs, which creates ad space on vintage vehicles. For more on this venture, see Entreprenurial Vision: GC Grad Drives Ad Van.