Local Marquette University student Manpreet Signh is in the final stages of opening his own bubble-tea based cafe. The business will be on Marquette’s Campus located at 1414 West Wells Street and will have its grand opening Monday, October 7th, noon . The location of the café is the same space where Subway used to be 2 years ago. The name of the café will be SereniTea . The word serene means calm and peaceful… representing Manpreet’s vision of his customer’s experience while dining here.
Singh’s inspiration to open this business derived from his realization with the city of Milwaukee and how it was lacking cafes that serve this exotic beverage. “Seeing other cities have something that Milwaukee doesn’t. I thought to myself, why don’t I introduce this exciting and exotic drink to an up and coming city such as Milwaukee.”
Singh has really high hopes for the community, supporting the idea that bringing entrepreneurship and inspiring others to do so is important for the city to continue to grow and prosper.
Singh says that social media is the main source of advertising right now. He is focused on aiming towards college students as prospective customers. Providing a word of mouth with news of his business to spread across campus and the surrounding area is key. Singh comments on how his business will benefit from the close proximity to Schroeder Hall, AMU and other Marquette buildings as well.
Singh went into this business wanting to do it right. He took a professional training course on running this kind of business, and how to adequately serve Bubble Tea. The hands-on training gave him the confidence he needed to go forward with this business.
I asked Singh where he saw his business in 10 years, and he had this to say, “I’m not even open yet, but I’m already thinking about what I can do in the future. I want to integrate my business with the Marquette community through actions like catering events, or hosting viewing parties for Marquette games”.
Watching his parents work hard throughout his life inspired Manpreet to chase his dream and open this business. “My parents have worked every day of their lives, and I wanted to do this for them. They inspired me to open this business”.
“I want to give a shout out to my contractors, who actually helped me with setting up what the café will eventually look like. I also want to encourage students and prospective customers to give us a chance and come try our product. Come hang out, play some board games, hang out, relax, do some homework and try some bubble tea!”
SereniTea would be open daily from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., according to a license application recently filed with the City of Milwaukee. Singh does not have an exact date in which he plans for his business to be open, but he expects it to be open within the next month or two.