{"id":11617,"date":"2018-12-13T17:21:20","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T21:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=11617"},"modified":"2024-09-17T15:09:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T19:09:44","slug":"rothstein-30-under-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Forbes Honors K Alumnus Rothstein in 30 Under 30"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kalamazoo College alumnus Peter Rothstein \u201914 is celebrating his selection in the 2019 edition<\/a> of 30 Under 30, Forbes\u2019 annual list of 600 young visionaries from 20 industries.<\/p>\n

Rothstein, originally from West Bloomfield, Michigan, is the director of operations for Brooklyn, New York-based Dona Chai<\/a>. He and his sister, Amy, founded the company, crafting tea concentrates and sodas brewed with spices from around the world. Its products are available at independent coffee shops and Whole Foods stores, mostly on the East and West Coast.<\/p>\n

\"Peter
Peter Rothstein ’14 and his sister, Amy, were included in the 2019 edition of 30 Under 30, Forbes’ annual list of 600 young visionaries from 20 industries. The pair founded the company Dona Chai.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tea leaves couldn\u2019t have predicted a coffee-shop-inspired success for Rothstein after he graduated from K with a business degree<\/a>. Rothstein admitted he doesn\u2019t care for coffee and the last time he had any was years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that was when I tried a decaf cappuccino with sugar packets and more sugar packets,\u201d he said. However, in 2014, \u201cAmy was attending New York University when she noticed a trend toward better coffee. People wanted higher quality and better baked goods, but people were still using big brand names.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armed with ideas and some encouragement from their dad, who is a venture capitalist, the pair created Dona Chai. Today, the company\u2019s masala chai and turmeric tea concentrates are mixed with milk and served hot. Its soda flavors include Juniper Lime Spice, Turmeric Honeybush and Pink Peppercorn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of learning and trial and error for us at first,\u201d Rothstein said. \u201cIt took about two years for us to realize we would be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that point, Dona Chai products started getting sold at Whole Foods locations, and the company eclipsed $600,000 in revenue after developing trade-show popularity.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven then it still took a couple of months,\u201d Rothstein said, adding that selling a new tea in a retail location requires customers to change something about their morning routine for the product to draw demand. \u201cIt took working with customers and baristas. But after that, we saw inventory turn rapidly, and we realized we would be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Rothstein reflects on his success, he credits K, the liberal arts and the K-Plan<\/em><\/a>, Kalamazoo College\u2019s distinctive approach to the liberal arts and sciences, for teaching him to think differently and solve problems. Rothstein added a corporate finance course, led by Associate Professor of Economics and Business<\/a> Tim Moffit \u201980, was among his favorites at K.<\/p>\n

Although he had first attended Johns Hopkins, Rothstein quickly learned he wanted a different experience, and meeting Kalamazoo College men\u2019s tennis coach Mark Riley convinced him to switch schools.<\/p>\n

Riley is \u201cthe type of guy who can put his arm around you and nurture you, or he can push you beyond what you think you can do,\u201d said Rothstein, who competed in tennis<\/a> and studied abroad<\/a> in Aberdeen, Scotland, in his years at K. \u201cOnce I got to K I realized it had a lot of Mark Rileys. That included everyone from my professors to the general staff, to the trainers, to the Registrar\u2019s Office and others. I can\u2019t thank Kalamazoo College enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about Rothstein, his sister, Dona Chai and others honored in the 30 Under 30 Food and Drink category<\/a> at Forbes\u2019 website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kalamazoo College alumnus Peter Rothstein \u201914 is celebrating his selection in the 2019 edition of 30 Under 30, Forbes\u2019 annual list of 600 young visionaries from 20 industries. Rothstein, originally from West Bloomfield, Michigan, is the director of operations for Brooklyn, New York-based Dona Chai. He and his sister, Amy, founded the company, crafting tea […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":11619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[232],"tags":[127,93,56,104,47],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-11617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-business","tag-career-development","tag-economics","tag-k-plan","tag-study-abroad"],"yoast_head":"\r\n30 Under 30: Forbes Honors K Alumnus Rothstein - News and Events<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Peter Rothstein '14 is celebrating his selection in the 2019 edition of 30 Under 30, Forbes\u2019 list of 600 visionaries from 20 industries.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"30 Under 30: Forbes Honors K Alumnus Rothstein\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tea leaves couldn\u2019t have predicted a coffee-shop-inspired success for Rothstein after he graduated from K with a business degree.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News and Events\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-13T21:21:20+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-17T19:09:44+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andy Brown\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/12\/Peter-Rothstein-30-Under-30-Honoree.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andy Brown\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/\",\"name\":\"30 Under 30: Forbes Honors K Alumnus Rothstein - News and Events\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/12\/Peter-Rothstein-30-Under-30-Honoree.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-13T21:21:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-17T19:09:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8b54e37c984840c05e9ec797b6616166\"},\"description\":\"Peter Rothstein '14 is celebrating his selection in the 2019 edition of 30 Under 30, Forbes\u2019 list of 600 visionaries from 20 industries.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/12\/Peter-Rothstein-30-Under-30-Honoree.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/12\/Peter-Rothstein-30-Under-30-Honoree.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":1746,\"caption\":\"Peter Rothstein '14 and his sister, Amy, were included in the 2019 edition of 30 Under 30, Forbes' annual list of 600 young visionaries from 20 industries. 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aria-label=\"archive of category Alumni\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/category\/alumni\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Alumni<\/a>","tags_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/business\/\" rel=\"tag\">business<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/career-development\/\" rel=\"tag\">career development<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/economics\/\" rel=\"tag\">economics<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/k-plan\/\" rel=\"tag\">K-Plan<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/study-abroad\/\" rel=\"tag\">study abroad<\/a>","social_share_info":"<a data-share=\"facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/\" class=\"pl-facebook-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/\" class=\"pl-twiiter-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"linkedin\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/rothstein-30-under-30\/\" class=\"pl-linkedin-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-linkedin-in\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a>","wordExcerpt_info":"<p>Kalamazoo College alumnus Peter Rothstein \u201914 is celebrating his selection in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/30-under-30\/2019\/\">2019 edition<\/a> of 30 Under 30, Forbes\u2019 annual list of 600 young visionaries from 20 industries.<\/p>\n<p>Rothstein, originally from West Bloomfield, Michigan, is the director of operations for Brooklyn, New York-based <a href=\"https:\/\/donachai.com\/\">Dona Chai<\/a>. He and his sister, Amy, founded the company, crafting tea concentrates and sodas brewed with spices from around the world. Its products are available at independent coffee shops and Whole Foods stores, mostly on the East and West Coast.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11619\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11619\" style=\"width: 387px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-11619\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2018\/12\/Peter-Rothstein-30-Under-30-Honoree-600x782.jpg\" alt=\"Peter Rothstein, a 30 Under 30 honoree, in a black t-shirt and blue jeans\" width=\"387\" height=\"502\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11619\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peter Rothstein ’14 and his sister, Amy, were included in the 2019 edition of 30 Under 30, Forbes’ annual list of 600 young visionaries from 20 industries. The pair founded the company Dona Chai.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Tea leaves couldn\u2019t have predicted a coffee-shop-inspired success for Rothstein after he graduated from K with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/economics-business\/\">business degree<\/a>. Rothstein admitted he doesn\u2019t care for coffee and the last time he had any was years ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that was when I tried a decaf cappuccino with sugar packets and more sugar packets,\u201d he said. However, in 2014, \u201cAmy was attending New York University when she noticed a trend toward better coffee. People wanted higher quality and better baked goods, but people were still using big brand names.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Armed with ideas and some encouragement from their dad, who is a venture capitalist, the pair created Dona Chai. Today, the company\u2019s masala chai and turmeric tea concentrates are mixed with milk and served hot. Its soda flavors include Juniper Lime Spice, Turmeric Honeybush and Pink Peppercorn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a lot of learning and trial and error for us at first,\u201d Rothstein said. \u201cIt took about two years for us to realize we would be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At that point, Dona Chai products started getting sold at Whole Foods locations, and the company eclipsed $600,000 in revenue after developing trade-show popularity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven then it still took a couple of months,\u201d Rothstein said, adding that selling a new tea in a retail location requires customers to change something about their morning routine for the product to draw demand. \u201cIt took working with customers and baristas. But after that, we saw inventory turn rapidly, and we realized we would be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Rothstein reflects on his success, he credits K, the liberal arts and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/k-plan\/\"><em>K-Plan<\/em><\/a>, Kalamazoo College\u2019s distinctive approach to the liberal arts and sciences, for teaching him to think differently and solve problems. Rothstein added a corporate finance course, led by Associate Professor of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/programs\/economics-business\/\">Economics and Business<\/a> Tim Moffit \u201980, was among his favorites at K.<\/p>\n<p>Although he had first attended Johns Hopkins, Rothstein quickly learned he wanted a different experience, and meeting Kalamazoo College men\u2019s tennis coach Mark Riley convinced him to switch schools.<\/p>\n<p>Riley is \u201cthe type of guy who can put his arm around you and nurture you, or he can push you beyond what you think you can do,\u201d said Rothstein, who competed in <a href=\"https:\/\/hornets.kzoo.edu\/sports\/mten\/index\">tennis<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/k-plan\/study-abroad\/\">studied abroad<\/a> in Aberdeen, Scotland, in his years at K. \u201cOnce I got to K I realized it had a lot of Mark Rileys. That included everyone from my professors to the general staff, to the trainers, to the Registrar\u2019s Office and others. I can\u2019t thank Kalamazoo College enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more about Rothstein, his sister, Dona Chai and others honored in the 30 Under 30 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/30-under-30\/2019\/food-drink\/\">Food and Drink category<\/a> at Forbes\u2019 website.<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11617"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23111,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11617\/revisions\/23111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11617"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=11617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}