Meet Isaac Olson | Co-Owner: MECO Coffee Collective

We had the good fortune of connecting with Isaac Olson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Isaac, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My partner, Shane Stinn, and I have worked in the corporate and independently owned Food and Beverage industry for our entire working careers. We worked the day to day, helped open other peoples businesses and also ran some of those said business. While working as a Food and Beverage Director for a locally owned business, it became clear that our 60 hour work weeks dedicated to someone else’s business could be and should be executed for ourselves. The amount of time and dedication towards making another small business owners establishment thrive had always been a passion of ours and some day you just wake up and say, “why not do this for us”? We had always had a spark inside ourselves to own our own business and at some point, you need to just ignite that spark and take that risk. We weighed out the pros and cons of starting our own company and knew that the passion, ambition and hours that had been put forth for others would set us on the right path to be successful on our own. Taking the leap of faith is easier said than done and leaving behind a 70k a year job is not easy and is quite terrifying, yet we all know the saying that “nothing good in life comes easy” and we sure stood by that saying during the process of opening our first business back in 2018. Our biggest motivating factor pushing us towards opening our own business was the fact that if we could do it for them, we could do it for ourselves and that reality is very often true for most!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Business life has always been intriguing to us. Our brains never fail to remind us on a daily basis that we can do anything that we set our minds too. It has always been a keen interest of ours to own and operate our own business, and through the many other organizations that we have worked for, we have come to realize that managing people and a successful business establishment is a very passionate skill of ours. There is nothing more rewarding than stepping back and looking at what you built, branded and successfully created. The journey is never easy and after running a handful of brewpubs, bars and grills, you tend to acquire knowledge that you didn’t even know you were absorbing. A lot of information can be learned by just sitting back and opening your eyes to what is being presented around you. From an early age, both Shane and I learned that, in most cases, if you surround yourself with managers, directors and owners, a slew of information will rub off on you. Both of us are self taught business owners and there is something to be said for that.

We opened our first business, Monzu Food Truck back in August of 2018. This was planned to be a stepping stone for bigger and better endeavors in the future. While in the trawls of growing our food truck business, we launched our five ingredient, cheddar cheese cracker company, MECO Cheesy Bits in December of 2019. As we all are brutally reminded, COVID hit in March of 2020 just as we were starting to hire our first food truck employee and expand our cracker business across Boulder County. We had no choice but to shut everything down and evaluate where we were going from here. Now, we are firm believers in finding a silver lining through a storm and we are also firm believers in creating a FAIL PLAN for every business that we open. A fail plan is key in any business endeavor because it gives you an out with the least amount of financial, mental and emotional hardship. In July of 2020, we made the painful decision to execute our fail plan and sold our food truck business. We were able to hold on to MECO Cheesy Bits while going out and finding enough income and stability to keep our heads above water, and we were able to maintain what few accounts we had left while working full time jobs.

The reality of “once a business owner, always a business owner” started to sink in around March of 2021 and we hit the ground running again and began the search for a new, pandemic proof business venture that would be created towards surviving anything but also allow for expansion of MECO Cheesy Bits. In June of 2021, MECO Coffee Collective was formed and we found a wonderful space on Main Street in Longmont, Colorado to bring our concept of local coffee, local retailers and a space to bake and expand our cracker company. Being our first brick and mortar, this was a whole different beast and came with its own set of lessons to learn yet we were excited to be able to continue to branch out our MECO Cheesy Bits branding as well as our passions for all things hospitality related.

We were some of the fortunate individuals that planned and formed our business not only for success but also for failure. The reality of this world sometimes is that some are terrified of both success and of failure, both of which play hand in hand, leading to never experiencing either one. If you can prepare yourself for failure, and see it as a learning experience versus a defeat, then most likely you will achieve success through your failures. How else are you going to learn? We failed, we learned, we failed again and now we are here.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This is always a hard question because there are so many wonderful places to experience in Colorado. Living in Longmont has its own amazing perks and we would most definitely start there. We would start our day taking our dogs to Union Res where they can go for a swim and we can enjoy a nice walk around the lake. From there, we would set out on our walk around downtown Longmont and pop in to some local shops to get a bit of retail therapy taken care of focusing our attentions on the offerings from Bricks Retail, Snarkington’s, The Magic Fairy Candle and more, all being locally owned shops right in the heart of Longmont! Of course, we are thirsty and hungry at this point so who wouldn’t want a refreshing beer at Longspeak Pub, a branch off of Mountain Sun Pub in Boulder, CO where you can enjoy a refreshing F.Y.I.P.A, a local staple. After a few beers, we would take them across the street and enjoy a toasted sub from Cheeba Hut and sit and enjoy some conversation from their outgoing employees. Nothing beats a Cheeba Hut toasted sub! We couldn’t skip out on the opportunity to show off our own shop, MECO Coffee Collective, which is right next door to Longspeak Pub and Cheeba Hut, where you can enjoy a locally roasted cup of coffee, a handmade pastry and browse our selection of locally crafted retail products. After our adventurous day, we would do what any visitor to Colorado would do and go relax at the new Beer Garden at Lefthand brewing while potentially enjoying a snack or dinner from one of Colorados local food trucks, the Rolling Lobster being one of our favorites.

On another day, we very well might start off with a fresh biscuit sandwich from Biscuit Mike’s food truck and grab a cup of coffee from locally owned Java Stop and then make our way down to Boulders Pearl Street Mall where they can enjoy a very different local scene of street vendors, eclectic restaurants and breweries. One of our favorite places to go would be Bramble and Hare, a farm to table sister restaurant of the famous Black Cat Bistro. Seeings how we would be in Boulder already, we would not miss the opportunity to head up the mountain to Ned, where we can enjoy a little more rustic setting and grab a local brew from one of their breweries in the mountains.

The options are endless, however for a special treat on another day, we would head to Erie, Colorado and dine at Piripi Restaurant in the heart of downtown Erie. What an experience that would be with their craft cocktails and almost all gluten free menu items and of course their amazing covered, rooftop patio overlooking the center of town. With all being said and done, we would have to have a night cap back in Longmont, Colorado at Wibby Brewing company which is close to home and a perfect way to end your day!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Like many endeavors in life, it takes a village to open and operate a small business. Our family and friends have always been a huge support for us in anything that we decide to take on. During the opening of or current business, MECO Coffee Collective in Longmont, CO, we had a very limited timeframe to sign a lease, set up and prepare for our Grand Opening. Our friends Ian McGilp, Tina Troy, Sophia Worster and Molly Reed deserve the recognition of getting us through the crunch times of set up, renovations, mental breakdowns and celebrations! Without our friends, we would not have gotten through as easily. Of course, our parents, whether Isaac’s parents in Maine or Shane’s parents in Colorado, were great support systems for us all the while just being there for support and encouragement on a daily basis. I could say that all the business books, marketing seminars and networking meetings helped, and they did, but the luxury of having supportive friends and family around you every step of the way is really what allowed us to succeed and for that we are truly blessed and grateful.

Website: www.mecolongmont.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mecolongmont/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mecolongmont

Image Credits
Photos By: Isaac Olson