Member Feature: Brewed Brothers Coffee
Brewed Brothers Coffee builds a following, one weekend event at a time
On most weekends, Owen and Kaden McGuffey can be found inside a small brown coffee trailer somewhere in west-central Ohio. The brothers, whose parents are members of Pioneer Electric Cooperative, operate Brewed Brothers Coffee, a mobile coffee business that has quickly become a familiar presence at fairs, football games, festivals and community events across the region.
More than a year after launching their trailer, the business has grown into a steady weekend operation, serving espresso drinks, cold brews and lattes to customers.
“We are in our second year of business,” Owen says. “We started with this little single-axle trailer — just a trailer. Nothing big.”
The idea for Brewed Brothers Coffee began years earlier, inside Graham High School.
As a freshman, Kaden joined the school’s business program just as a teacher was working to revive the student-run coffee shop. Looking for ways to improve the operation, Kaden suggested reaching out to someone he already knew.
“We happened to know the owner of Hemisphere Coffee Roasters,” he says. “And I was like, ‘Hey, maybe we can get him involved,’ and so we did.”
The connection proved valuable. Kaden eventually managed the school coffee shop throughout high school, learning how to make drinks and operate a small business along the way.
“I got the opportunity to run it for my whole high school career,” Kaden says. “That’s when I realized I had a passion for something like this.”
After graduation, the idea of starting a coffee business stayed with him. When an opportunity arose to rent a coffee trailer and test the concept, the brothers decided to take the leap.
Their first lesson came quickly: launching a coffee trailer in January in Ohio may not have been ideal.
“Winter’s not the time to start a coffee trailer, that’s for sure,” Owen says with a laugh.
At one of their earliest events, freezing temperatures shut them down before they could even serve customers.
“All the lines were frozen, so we couldn’t even serve,” Kaden says.
Still, those early setbacks became part of the learning process. As temperatures warmed and community events ramped up, the brothers realized how much demand existed for coffee at
local gatherings.
“People drink coffee literally all the time,” Owen says.
At some events — including Friday night football games — lines stretched for hours.
“We’ve had situations where we’ve had a line for four hours straight, just cranking out coffees and lattes,” he says. “And it’s like seven o’clock at night.”Rather than offering an oversized
menu, Brewed Brothers focuses on a simple lineup.
“Our lattes and regular coffee are our baseline,” Owen says. “We do flavored lattes, hot or iced, cold brew in the summer, and smoothies.”
Occasionally, the trailer features specialty drinks tied to specific events, including a “Frozen Falcon” beverage served when they return to Graham High School. Keeping the menu streamlined allows the brothers to prioritize consistency.
“What we offer is pretty straightforward,” Owen says “That helps our business model because we can focus on the quality of the goods rather than the quantity.”
During its first year, Brewed Brothers Coffee expanded largely through word of mouth.
“It’s great when you’re at an event and somebody comes up to the trailer and says, ‘Hey, we have this event — would you like to come?’” Owen says.
The brothers estimate they worked around 50 events in their first year, often traveling throughout the region and spending nearly every weekend on the road.
“We were busy almost every weekend,” Owen says.One event that underscored demand was the Champaign County Fair.
“The first day, we ran out of everything,” Owen says. “I had to go back and restock — I don’t know how many times.”Brewed Brothers Coffee sources its beans from Hemisphere Coffee Roasters in Mechanicsburg, the same company connected to Owen’s high school coffee shop.
“If it wasn’t for Paul [the owner of Hemisphere Coffee], we wouldn’t have this,” Owen says.
Hemisphere works directly with farmers in Central America, building long-term relationships with growers and sourcing beans directly. That emphasis on quality and relationships has influenced how the brothers approach their own business.
“Our focus is quality over quantity,” Owen says. “We’re not trying to have fifty of these trailers everywhere.”
Although Owen and Kaden run the business, Brewed Brothers often becomes a family operation during busy events. Parents and siblings frequently pitch in to help.“We call them our employees,” Owen jokes, “but they don’t get paid at this point.”
Their parents regularly step in to deliver supplies or help during especially busy stretches.“I can’t count the number of times our parents have run to the store and brought supplies to us at events,” Owen says.
For now, Brewed Brothers Coffee remains a growing side business. Owen works during the week for a legal technology company in Dayton, while Kaden attends college and works part-time at Hemisphere Coffee Roasters.
The brothers have continued expanding. Recently, they purchased a mobile coffee cart to serve multiple events at once and have begun catering weddings and private gatherings.
After more than a year of lessons and long weekends on the road, they say they are still learning.
“The first year, you learn a lot,” Owen says. “You figure out what works, what doesn’t, and where you want to focus.”
For Brewed Brothers Coffee, the next season of events is already brewing.
