What started with a simple game of pool has now become a company focused on connecting local businesses with the University of Utah community.
Students Kaleb Begg and Aiden Alringer met during the first week of school while playing pool at Lassonde Studios, a student innovation space and residence. With both students having a yearning to make campus life better, they had the idea for Campus Connect.
Campus Connect is a student-run company that finds the gaps in the university’s dining experience and fills them with local solutions. Alringer and Begg do the behind-the-scenes work to bring new vendors to campus. “It supports local students and the surrounding community,” Begg said.
Their inspiration was born from their own struggles as students. Unable to find healthy and sustainable food options on campus, they were determined to make a change.
When starting this company, they had to become familiar with the Utah dining scene. They contacted Chartwells, the university’s dining company. “We navigated the entire process from scratch — including learning how Chartwells functions and finding a way to collaborate rather than compete,” Begg said.
Their first product and collaboration launched fall 2025 with Mamachari Kombucha, a local Kombucha brand.
One of their most significant values as a company is their collaboration. “It’s unbelievably helpful to find a business partner through Lassonde,” Alringer said. “They can fill in the skills you don’t have, and when you find the right person, you can endure the hard times and find success.”
Balancing academics, a social life, and a startup isn’t easy, but both agree that it is worth it. Their advice for others looking to start a business is simple: Go to networking meetings. Go to Lassonde events. Talk to people.
More articles like this in ‘Student Innovation @ the U!’
Find this article and a lot more in the 2026 “Student Innovation @ the U” report. The publication is presented by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute to celebrate student innovators, change-makers, and entrepreneurs.
