By KAELIN CLAY | OBU News Bureau
Since school began in August, students from Ouachita Baptist University’s Hickingbotham School of Business and the Rogers Department of Communications have met Tuesdays at 7am for the student-led Dr. Restart Jack’s Coffee.
dr Jack’s was founded in 2013, but the company was struggling with the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath. The new student leadership team finalizes a business plan, works with a partner to create a website, and sets a mission while the company remains focused on service and students.
Joey Whisenhunt, a junior business administration/entrepreneurship and finance double major from Greenbrier, Ark., leads the 30-strong team and is beginning to create structure within the company. He schedules and facilitates weekly meetings and oversees team projects, coordinating with student project managers and with Johan Eriksson, guest lecturer in business administration and leader of entrepreneurship programs.
Whisenhunt said, “I was inspired by Dr. Attracted Jack after shifting my focus to entrepreneurship and speaking with Johan Eriksson about how students can gain hands-on business experience during their time as a student in Ouachita.”
Although dr Jack’s is relaunching, many of the original aspects of the brand have retained their consistency. Madison Melcher, graphics team lead and senior business administration/entrepreneurship major from Rockwall, Texas, said she appreciates the student-founded company’s roots, which she kept in mind while organizing the platform requirements for the site, setting brand guidelines and support with the business plan.
“The brand Dr. Jack’s stays true to the original ideas of the founders. For now, we’ve stuck with the original logo, which is the face of Jack Conger, a former president of Ouachita,” Melcher said. “The brand expresses the deep roots of Ouachita and represents the tenacity and resilience of students. Organizing and maintaining a student-run business is no small feat, so the Dr. Jack’s tries to capture that all the way through.”
The emphasis on missions is an important part of Dr. Jack. One of the company’s main goals is to create a service-oriented atmosphere at every company meeting and presentation. The Mission of Dr. Jack’s is making evangelical connections and building homes in Honduras, where much of the coffee is grown.
A large part of the team will travel to Honduras for a spring break mission trip. They will lead services, participate in street evangelism and build homes. Heather Brown, Senior Finance, Business Administration/Marketing and Business Administration/Entrepreneurship Triple Major from Omaha, Texas, is leading the organization and planning of this trip and its philanthropic impact.
“Through this experience, we hope to build a relationship with the people there so that this can become an annual journey for the students to participate in and experience,” Brown said. “Our vision is to help create new microeconomies in these underdeveloped regions of the world.”
She added: “I am very excited to see what God will share with us and through us on this journey. Traveling to a third world country is not only a really cool experience, but also a very humbling one.”
On their missionary journey, the team accepts donations for various initiatives. For donation information, go to obu.edu/give and enter your donation as “Dr. Jack’s Mission” in the Notes section.
To learn more about dr. To learn more about Jack’s Coffee and its mission, follow @drjacks.coffee on Instagram or as Dr. Jack’s Coffeehouse. For information about Ouachita’s Entrepreneurship Program and the Hickingbotham School of Business, contact Johan Eriksson at erikssonj@obu.edu or (870) 245-5071.
