Beverly Hogan isn’t a coffee drinker, but when she saw an opportunity to open a shop near her west side child care center, she took it.
“I would see senior citizens going up to the gas station getting coffee,” the Detroiter said. “So, I said, ‘That’s what we’re gonna do, open a coffee shop.’”
Hogan’s daughter, Beverly Beal Jr., also jumped on board and, in 2024, they opened Brew-ti-ful Coffee House in Detroit’s Weatherby neighborhood.
The mother and daughter say that they do it out of love for the community, where there aren’t enough third spaces to spend time in fellowship with neighbors.
Hogan and Beal said they wanted to open the shop for their fellow Detroiters.
“We do serve coffee, but it’s definitely a hub for people,” Beal, 36, added. “We have people who come here to work or meet, so it’s very community-focused.”
Along with coffee, tea, sandwiches and soups, Brew-ti-ful is serving up a selection of community activities. Recent events include a discussion on mental health with nonprofit Be a Friend Inc. and a coloring book session with The Coloring and Elevation Experience.
Brew-ti-ful barista is one of the many hats Hogan and Beal wear.
Hogan, 59, is also a lifeline for parents and children in her community via Busy Minds Child Care Center next door to the coffee shop, and Bright Minds Child Care Center down the street at Plymouth Road and Evergreen. Another partnership venture for Hogan and her daughter is GiftBiz, a nonprofit that offers resources to new entrepreneurs. Beal runs her own law firm and recently launched the non-alcoholic spirit brand Fine Line.
While she sometimes gets overwhelmed, Beal enjoys having many things to juggle.
“It feels like this is what I was supposed to be doing,” she said.
Beal has no food and beverage background and said that at first couldn’t imagine opening a coffee shop, but when the idea came up, she said she “would be doing myself a disservice not to see it through.”
Like her daughter, Hogan said she has no plans of slowing down.
“When I lay in the bed, sometimes I go to sleep with the computer right there,” she said. “I don’t want to retire, I like working.”
Shaping young minds
Hogan has been running two child care centers for more than 15 years, with Busy Minds opening in 2005 and Bright Minds in 2010.
Initially, she wasn’t interested in a career in education, but after she was laid off from an automotive job in the early 2000s, Hogan became a high school teacher at the now-shuttered Marilyn F. Lundy Academy on the city’s east side. She stayed there for a few years before Hogan said that her mother suggested that she open a child care center.
“We were driving down here on Plymouth and I saw the building was up for lease, and my mom said, ‘Bev, open up your own daycare,’” Hogan told BridgeDetroit during a recent visit to the center. “One of my girlfriends was helping me, and it just grew and grew.”
Busy Minds and Bright Minds serve infants as young as six weeks to children up to the age of 12. Hogan believes she has served thousands of kids in the past 20 years at her centers, which once included a facility in Livonia called Beautiful Minds. That location closed about three years ago, she said.
The majority of the children at her two remaining centers come from the Weatherby neighborhood. Since the centers are in a low-income area, Hogan and her 20 staff members make sure the children receive breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner, she said.
Related:
- This Detroiter built her career on ‘the art of giving’
- This retired firefighter battles Detroit’s home repair crisis
- Detroiter builds purpose through film, advocacy for Deaf community
- Why this Detroiter takes her mobile salon to homeless shelters
Hogan also tries to make tuition affordable for families. Prices vary, but enrolling an infant five days a week can cost about $300 a week. However, payments for parents may be significantly lower through the state’s Child Development and Care program, a subsidy that reimburses providers for child care costs for low-income families. In Michigan, the cost of center-based child care can run more than $12,000 per year for an infant or a toddler, or around $230 per week.
“I have helped so many kids in this neighborhood, and now I’m teaching their kids,” she said.
One of the kids Hogan’s helped over the years is Chareese Moye, the director of Bright Minds Child Care Center. Moye, now 34, has worked for Hogan since she was 14 years old. Moye said Hogan appeared at a career day event at her high school and Moye expressed her interest in child care. Hogan has taken Moye under her wing since, she said.
“I love kids, so just being around kids and helping them is my main thing and offering a good support system for them,” Moye said.
Hogan showed her mentee the ropes of the business, with Moye starting out as a child care assistant before going to college to get a bachelor’s degree in education and working her way up to director in 2011.
Moye couldn’t imagine working anywhere else. She said not only is Hogan a mentor career-wise, but in life as well.
“She’s for her community. She’s never the type that’s not going to help you be successful,” Moye said of Hogan. “And she’s a great person, a great leader.
“I know she has a daughter, but I’m her second daughter,” Moye added with a laugh.
Paying it forward
After starting her law firm in 2019, Beal decided to expand her horizons, opening Brew-ti-ful with Hogan and GiftBiz.
GiftBiz assists new and existing entrepreneurs in Detroit who need to raise capital. Beal said she already works with entrepreneurs and small businesses through her law firm, and she wanted GiftBiz to be an extension of that.
“They can go on our website and make a gift registry as if they’re getting married or having a baby,” she said. “They (the entrepreneurs) put everything they need for their business on their list, and then we host an event for them, like a business shower and we get everything that’s on their list. We try to find entrepreneurs who are coming out of an incubator or accelerator who don’t know where to go from there.”
Beal is the CEO of GiftBiz and Hogan is the CFO, overseeing the organization’s accounting and financial operations.
“I also mentor some of her (Beal’s) clients, and I give them the reality of being an entrepreneur,” Hogan said.
So far, the nonprofit has set up 21 gift registries and has amassed 1,799 subscribers, which includes people who are either starting businesses or supporting entrepreneurs in their communities, according to Beal.
Meanwhile, Beal does it all at Brew-ti-ful, from making drinks and running the cash register to doing inventory. She also has a team helping, which mostly consists of young people from the community.
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Tamara Jewel stayed at the coffee shop for hours, working off of a laptop. The Detroiter discovered Brew-ti-ful about five months ago and visits two or three times a week. Jewel’s favorite drink is the matcha latte with vanilla while her go-to sandwich is the turkey croissant.
“It’s a vibe,” she said. “I can sit and do my work and get good drinks and food.”
Finding a ‘Fine Line’
Beal said her latest project is the spirits brand, Fine Line. A few weeks ago, she gave a sneak peek of the brand during a Black Friday event at Brew-ti-ful.
The non-alcoholic brand features zero-calorie “vodka” and “tequila,” both with prebiotics.
The drinks, also vegan and gluten-free, are now available for purchase on the Fine Line website. The drinks can also be found at Brew-ti-ful, Beal said.
Beal and Hogan have even more in store for 2026.
The mother and daughter plan to open a second Brew-ti-ful location on McNichols and Schaefer on the city’s northwest side. Next door to the coffee shop will be ShipBiz, where people can receive and mail out packages from Amazon, FedEx and UPS, Hogan said.
“I feel like it’s another extension of our love for entrepreneurship,” Beal said. “We want to have a shipping destination for entrepreneurs, so whether you’re shipping out, whether you’re receiving. We’ll also have mailboxes there that you can use as your business address.”
Hogan said she couldn’t be prouder of her daughter’s many accomplishments.
During an October interview with BridgeDetroit in the coffee shop, Hogan and Beal sat next to each other at one of the tables. Hogan’s face lit up when talking about Beal.
“I’m very excited about all of her achievements,” she said. “I try to give her the best help that I can give. I’m so proud.”
“I’m glad you’re proud of me,” Beal replied, smiling back.