Our Alumni Came Back — And They Brought a Food Truck
Some guest speakers arrive with a slideshow. Ours arrived with an espresso machine, a menu, and a truck parked right outside our building. This week, Western Community College welcomed back two of our own Bachelor of Hospitality Management (BHM) graduates, Jaswinder Kaur and Jaspreet Singh, who returned to campus to share how they turned a food truck idea into The Kohi Bar, a mobile coffee and food business now serving the streets of Vancouver — and then set up shop just outside our doors so students could taste the results for themselves.
A Talk, Then a Q&A That Wouldn’t Quit
The session began as a conversation about entrepreneurship, but it quickly turned into one of the liveliest Q&As we’ve hosted. Students wanted to know everything: how the couple financed their truck, how they navigated city permits, what it actually costs to get a food business off the ground, and how they built a following without ever launching a website. Jaswinder and Jaspreet answered it all candidly — including the parts that didn’t go smoothly, like refiling paperwork with two different city offices before anyone accepted it, and the early days of testing which street corners actually brought in customers.
That honesty was the point. Our instructor framed the session as a chance for students to learn from real mistakes rather than a polished success story, and the couple leaned into it, walking through the permits, the budget, and the trial and error of finding the right parking spot on the right day of the week.
From the Classroom to the Curb
After the talk wrapped up, the class headed downstairs to see The Kohi Bar in person, parked just outside campus. Jaswinder and Jaspreet took the time to set up and walk students through the truck itself — the layout, the equipment, and the espresso machine at the center of it all — before serving up coffee and food to everyone who came by.
To make the visit even better for our students, The Kohi Bar came with special offers just for WCC — and a grand prize giveaway to close out the day. It was a hands-on look at what a BHM education can lead to, served up on the spot.
Why It Matters to Us
Jaswinder and Jaspreet are proof of something we tell every incoming BHM cohort: this program isn’t only preparation for working in someone else’s hospitality business — it’s a foundation for building your own. Watching two of our graduates come back to campus, truck and all, to walk current students through exactly how they did it is the kind of full-circle moment that makes our program feel real. We’re grateful they took the time, and we can’t wait to see where The Kohi Bar goes next.
Western Community College’s Bachelor of Hospitality Management program prepares students for careers across the hospitality and tourism industry — including the ones they build themselves. To learn more, visit wcc.ca
