It is uncommon to find a college student who is also an entrepreneur, but someone who juggles their own business, full-time academics and Division I athletics at the same time is even more rare.
Bryant Keeney did that as a full-time student-athlete and entrepreneur this fall. He is a senior midfielder on the Massachusetts soccer team who founded K’s Nutrition (short for Keeney’s Nutrition), a cafe at 377 College St. in Amherst that was open until earlier this month. Bryant got the inspiration to start up the business from his previous job, where he also made nutritional drinks.
“I actually worked at a similar spot,” Bryant said. “I started saving up money and it came to a point where I kind of wanted to start my own thing.”
K’s Nutrition was a diverse nutrition store that served drinks, refreshers, protein shakes and coffee. “Just from my own life, I always have a drink, whether it is water or something else,” Bryant said. He wanted his vision of owning his own cafe to become a reality, so he built K’s Nutrition from the ground up and led the decision-making within the business.
Bryant saved lots of money making K’s Nutrition largely due to him building the place from scratch. That included the store’s floors, tables, counter and plumbing. He did all this while keeping up with the intense regimen that a Division I soccer player has to go through.
“[Bryant] decided to build this place and he built everything by hand, [watching] lots of YouTube videos for the benches, tables, chairs and everything else,” Bryant’s mother Tammy Keeney said. “He built the plumbing, the floors, the tiles – he tiled three times because he didn’t know how to do it–and it was a lot cheaper for him to do it. He probably saved 20 to 30 thousand dollars doing it himself.”
The student-athlete was determined to save up enough money to start his business. Building the place himself helped, but driving for DoorDash and Instacart were also methods for extra cash, as well as picking up shifts making drinks at his previous job. Bryant also used the money he earned and invested it smartly. All of this gave him enough profit to finally open his cafe in October of 2022.
“[Bryant’s] inspiration was that he wanted people to go to his place and feel safe and have a nice drink,” Tammy said. “This place [was] meant to bring a community vibe to it.”
K’s Nutrition had a vibrant atmosphere, the walls were colorful and the seating was comfortable. The menu sat on a large chalkboard on the wall, filled with bright colors and various items including protein and energy shakes.
“It was a great place to go to if you wanted to get energized or refreshed,” Alexas Sales, a UMass student who lived relatively close to K’s, said.
“I believe there is a pretty large demand for [energy shakes]. It is also a healthier alternative to energy drinks in the morning,” Bryant said.
Generally, natural energy shakes or supplements are more beneficial to the human body than energy drinks. Energy drinks are more likely to lead to negative effects on the body and overall health, such as heart palpitations and other chronic issues. Natural energy supplements, like the ones Bryant sold, have more positive effects on health such as high vitamin intake.
Although Bryant was set on building and growing K’s Nutrition once it opened, he had other priorities that took shape, such as playing soccer at the Division I level.
Bryant grew up in Westfield, Massachusetts, where he played high school soccer at Pope Francis Preparatory School in Springfield. He was named to the All-Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Second Team in high school and was a four-year letter winner and all-state selection as a senior.
After transferring in from Division III Westfield State prior to last season, Bryant saw spot minutes as a midfielder in both 2023 and 2024 for UMass. Over 32 games played with the Minutemen, the senior logged two assists and three shots on goal. Living just 40 minutes away from campus, the opportunity to play for his hometown team was one that Bryant didn’t take for granted.
Playing for UMass soccer was important for his business as Bryant’s teammates supported him both on and off the pitch, and it showed this past summer.
“We took the team out [to K’s Nutrition] during [the] preseason and before we went bowling, the whole team dropped in to get some smoothies and some protein shakes,” head coach Fran O’Leary said. “It was a lot of fun… everybody has been there.”
The team bonding experience at K’s was an early moment in one of the most successful seasons in UMass soccer history. As a senior, Bryant got to be a part of a 13-win Minutemen team that made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
The big year was led by O’Leary, a veteran soccer coach who has worked with UMass since 2015. Native to Dublin, Ireland, O’Leary has coached soccer at both the collegiate and professional levels. His time coaching has pushed Bryant to the player he is today.
“[Bryant’s] a very mature lad, motivated, driven, level-headed,” O’Leary said. “Every day he comes and brings everything into practice…He’s always one of the first on the pitch and he obviously has a lot on his plate, from soccer to his studies to the business.”
Bryant’s work ethic is relentless, but that can only get you so far by yourself.
The four-year letter winner wasn’t always there to work every shift at K’s, as classes and soccer took up a lot of his time. While Bryant was away, some of his family members like Tammy looked after the place.
“He [was] in and out most of the time, taking five classes and going to practice or games,” Tammy said. “I [ran] it most of the time, mostly because it [was] peak soccer season, and we [needed] to communicate a lot. He sometimes [talked] to me [from] home because it [saved] money.”
Bryant’s family was crucial to the business’s success, as his father handled the catering while his mother ran the store for him when he was away. “It’s been extremely monumental, they [helped] me with a lot of different aspects,” Bryant said. “I [couldn’t] really do it without them.”
Having family in a business can be important for prospective entrepreneurs. Family is more likely to be loyal and committed to their business in the long term. There are some risks involved as well, but Bryant managed to balance his relationships with his entrepreneurial venture.
Bryant acknowledged that balancing everything on his plate was a challenge, especially when it came to running his business from afar. Dealing with entrepreneurship and athletics at the same time is a large hurdle on its own, and when you add in schoolwork, it can be hard to decide what needs to take priority.
Unfortunately for its customers, K’s Nutrition had to close down in early December due to the expiration of its lease on the property. A sign on the storefront’s front door said it all: “Unfortunately our lease has ended. We are going to move on, thank you.”
This was a surprise and shock to many, especially its regulars.
“I am really sad that it shut down,” Sales said. “ It was kind of my go-to spot for drinks.”
“We decided not to renew as I was presented with some other promising opportunities,” Bryant said. It’s not yet known what those opportunities are.
K’s Nutrition served Bryant well while it was open, and in his senior season, the business succeeded while his soccer team succeeded. Despite its eventual closing, the cafe can be used as an inspiration to other college entrepreneurs.
Bryant’s resilience to build his own cafe from scratch—including the flooring, tables and plumbing—is a remarkable testament to his ambition and passion for achieving his lifelong goals. While K’s Nutrition may or may not return someday, Bryant’s ambition and entrepreneurial spirit suggest even greater opportunities lie ahead for him.
Adam Kysiak can be reached at [email protected].
