K Brew is a local staple in Knoxville known for its top-notch coffee, espresso, and handmade bagels. When you walk into a K Brew location you’ll notice the sense of community as each coffee shop is created to make everyone feel at home. Owner and CEO of K Brew Pierce LaMacchia (‘12) says this is exactly the type of atmosphere he wanted to bring to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s campus, since UT is home sweet home to him.
LaMacchia graduated from the Tombras School of Advertising and Public Relations with a minor in business in 2012.
“There were many different value propositions that UT offered me and that I gained. But if I were to whittle it down to two, it would be the connections that I’m still so in touch with and the very unique perspective of the professors there,” he said.
Not long after graduating, LaMacchia began thinking of ways to put his entrepreneurial skills to work.
“We started in 2013, I was six months out of college and we only had the money for a coffee shop and there was a big coffee market open in Knoxville. So we just went for it and you know, the rest is history,” he explained.
K Brew has grown throughout the years into one of Knoxville’s premier coffee shops with four locations in the area and two UT on-campus locations now selling K Brew coffee.
“It’s a perfect way to celebrate K Brew’s 10-year anniversary, which was October 2023. I would say that UT and Aramark have been excellent partners with us. They’ve supported us as a local business on campus and that really means a lot to me,” he said.
K Brew opened their first on-campus location in January of this year in the Haslam College of Business. This month they began offering freshly brewed K Brew coffee to students in Stokely Dining Hall.
Rebecca McKnight, associate director of marketing for Vol Dining said, “We are thrilled with the opportunity to partner with a local business like K Brew and to bring it full circle, that’s been really big with this partnership, to have someone who graduated from UT back on campus as a local business providing service to the UT community.”
LaMacchia says K Brew has always been about community and he’s thrilled to bring that atmosphere to UT’s campus through his own business.
“In this era that we’re living in of digital media and phones and laptops and all of that, we believe so strongly that human connection is still extremely important, whether that’s face to face with somebody that you came to K Brew with or somebody that you meet at K Brew, whether it’s a staff member or another guest at the store. That’s what we’re all about. We’re all about creating and enabling human connection,” he explained.
LaMacchia said he loves to walk into any one of their locations and see everything from first dates, workplace meetings, and family gatherings.
“I would even say the coffee and the bagels are secondary to that mission of creating and enabling human connection,” he added.
LaMacchia said he always had a dream of serving K Brew’s coffee on campus and providing a local option for coffee and bagels for students. He says his time on Rocky Top as a student gave him the vision and he is grateful his university allowed him to make that dream into a reality.
“For me personally, as my alma mater, we could not be prouder to be partnered with the University of Tennessee,” he said.