New Local Food and Drink Options at Stedman’s Cafe

Mammel Hall –
Stedman’s Cafe, a student-run Cafe that also serves as a learning laboratory, continues to expand its local food and beverage offerings for its customers.

In the Fall of 2024, the Cafe added smoothies from local company Busy Vegan. The Omaha-based company is owned and operated by alumna Alecia Steed, who earned her degree in exercise science from UNO in 2014. Steed spent several years as a Physical Therapy assistant before she founded Busy Vegan in 2021 with the goal of making vegan food more accessible. She puts her own spin on traditional American dishes while still ensuring great taste.

“My mission is to guide our community to healthy eating habits while on the go. I wanted to provide a healthier option than just going to a fast-food joint,” Steed said. Eventually Steed plans to open a brick and mortar location where she can have a drive thru, but for now, you can find Busy Vegan options at Stedman’s and you can always order online at busyveganomaha.com. Steed also provides catering and meal prep.

In November, Stedman’s started offering salads and power bites from Busy Vegan as well.

“Stedman’s can be leveraged as a beta test lab, but our local business partners can also try out new products they have before they launch them on a full scale,” said Alex Wewel, Assistant Director of the Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, & Franchising (CIEF). Stedman’s is supported by CIEF.

“We really like partnering with UNO alumni-own companies. We’ve incorporated Viva Fit Kitchen, which is owned and operated by CBA Alumna Alejandra Valdez. We have O Cookie O’s which is a mother-son business, and the son is a UNO alum. But we are also looking to bring in some different types of hot food from Kathmandu Momo station (located at Inner Rail in Aksarben). We are trying to figure out how to work with them to either get frozen momos (dumplings) or would they make them fresh? This is just another way Stedman’s functions as a learning lab. It is a safe space to fail,” Wewel said.

It is not only local businesses that can benefit from Stedman’s but even students who have product ideas are invited to work with the Café.

“We have a student in our living-learning community who is from Kyoto, Japan and is working on importing a certain type of Matcha (green tea) that they only have in Japan so that could be another type of thing that we could offer. He is talking to the Tea Smith to figure out what a partnership with them might look like to get that particular matcha on their menu. So, if students have ideas or bakery items they make that they want to test out in Stedman’s they should talk to me,” Wewel said.

Ton contact Alex, you can email her at alwewel@unomaha.edu