Hidden Gems: Meet Megan Kranzler and Danielle Cogan of Bright Side Coffee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Kranzler and Danielle Cogan.

Hi Megan and Danielle, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We met in College in 2012 at the University of Northern Colorado, and became fast friends and roommates! We’ve both always been drawn to the coffee scene and made it a point to work in many different facets of the industry during and after college. That included working for and managing local coffee shops, working as a sales rep for prominent industry brands, as well as working on the distribution/call center side of things.

We became enamored with the coffee shop culture and, without realizing it, slowly began developing our dream coffee business. Every hang-out and phone call eventually turned into a dreaming session, and then in 2019, the dream became a reality in the shape of a 1969 Forester Trailer! At the time, we lived in different cities in Northern Colorado, so we decided that instead of choosing a permanent home for a coffee shop, we’d make it a mobile concept and give ourselves the freedom to travel anywhere. The rest of 2019 and most of 2020 were spent renovating a vintage camper and building our dream business.

We were officially up and running by September of 2020. It was incredibly important to us that our mobile café felt like a real coffee shop and not a metal box with the only allure being the promise of coffee. We focused on all the details you’d find at your favorite coffee spot: Textured ceilings, old brick walls, plants, a gorgeous espresso machine, a creative menu board, fun branding, etc.

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our little mobile coffee shop over the last 3.5 years, and continue to dream up new ways for Bright Side to thrive… including officially going FULL-TIME with it this fall!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Unfortunately, every road to a successful business seems to have many bumps along it. We’ve had our fair share of “bumps”, from getting scammed on the actual purchase of our trailer, getting lost in the mountains and nearly stuck at a dead end en route to a wedding, leaking or frozen pipes, tires exploding through the trailer while driving, a stolen generator, and more!

However, it seems that the most common struggle we find ourselves in, is being taken seriously as 20 something year old women running a business. It’s honestly wild the amount of times we have to re-explain ourselves or reiterate the fact that we are indeed the owners, and no, our husbands don’t drive the trailer to locations for us, and yes, we’ve hitched up many many times before.

We’ve become experts at brushing it off, standing our ground, and adapting quickly through every struggle though. It can be enjoyable to look back on those moments and either laugh it off or admire how we handled it.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Bright Side Coffee Co. ?
We are a full-service coffee shop on wheels! We offer something for everyone with fun espresso-based drinks, homemade chai, loose leaf tea, customizable lemonades, rotating smoothies and so much more. Because we’ve been in and around this industry for 11+ years now, we understand that one size does not fit all!

If it’s a cortado one minute, and a blended mocha with extra whip the next minute, we’ll be happy everyone came to find something they’re excited about. Our goal from the beginning has always been to make our customers feel welcome and excited to be here.

The coffee world is captivating, but can also be intimidating to a newcomer, so at Bright Side, we make it a priority for it to feel approachable and fun!

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
We’ve been so fortunate to have an absolute army of supporters in our corner from day one. Our partners and families played a huge role in our initial leap of faith to begin the business. We didn’t know the first thing about renovating a camper, so a huge thanks is due to Megan’s dad, Kevin, and our friend Ethan.

Our coffee roaster, Kyle, of Wander Coffee, has been a huge supporter of ours from the inception of Bright Side as well. He’s the one making the magic beans that keep the people coming back!

Our logo was created by Tanner Barkin, or Moore Collection, and it’s been the backbone of our aesthetic. Our community up in Northern Colorado is honestly unmatched, and the support we’ve been shown is so special!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brightsidecoffeetrailer.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightsidecoffeetrailer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrightSideCoffeeTrailer/

Image Credits
Stephanie Hindi (Hindi Rose Photography) and Austin Hannon