Emily Kelly, co-owner, prepares a coffee drink for a customer at Red Frog Coffee in Longmont. Paul Litman
BY SUMMER STAIR
“Meet me at the Frog!” Maybe you’ve heard it, perhaps you’ve said it or it could even be a new phrase to you. Either way, let’s clarify “the Frog.” Red Frog Coffee in Longmont, which is locally owned and operated by sister and brother team Emily and Jason Kelly, is a business dedicated to not only keeping things local but to organic, shade grown and fair trade coffee.
Often mistaken as being married because of how well they work together, Emily and Jason just shrug and laugh at the comment because working together is the easy part. Being the two oldest children in the family, they often found themselves leading activities and working together to keep things running smoothly.
“We grew up doing everything together,” Jason says. “And now it’s what we’re doing years later. It is similar to how we played as kids.”
While the two worked hard to open the shop together in May 2010, it’s Emily who runs the daily business. Jason, while involved in the decision making, works from afar in his home in Japan as a writer and making the custom-mixed, constantly evolving music played in the coffee shop.
“I’m proud of Em,” Jason says. “She’s on the front lines, and I’m sitting back watching what she’s been dreaming about for 10 years.”
While opening her own coffee shop has been a long-time dream for Emily, it was in Estes Park at Kind Coffee, which she now serves in her own shop, where she learned her trade and grew her love for coffee.
Originally from Allenspark, Emily and Jason both developed a love for hot drinks at a young age when they would drink them after playing outside in the cold, snowy weather. But it was the coinciding events of Emily’s talent and need to play out her dream of owning her own shop, and Jason having enough money to finance it that allowed them to stop dreaming and start doing.
Deciding on a location in Longmont, where a Starbucks had previously been located, they were set until they headed to the bank for a little startup capital.
Jason and Emily faced their first road block when they couldn’t get a 20 percent bank loan due to the tightened restrictions banks imposed in the down economy.
“The down economy was a challenge, because we wanted a nice buffer zone to have a financial cushion,” Jason says. “We knew going in that most businesses fail because of money and not having any bank money was a hurdle.”
Despite being turned down for a loan, Emily and Jason decided to push forward on their own and be self-funded.
“There’s a lot of luck and a big leap of faith opening a business on your own, but being turned down made us so determined to do it…a Colorado Frontier kind of thing,” Jason says. “Now we are a year into it and we feel good.”
“It’s a triumph,” Emily says. And customers seem to feel the same way. Feedback commonly heard is that the atmosphere is inviting and relaxing, and recently Red Frog was voted No. 3 in the local Readers’ Choice Awards. “It was good to know we could be No. 3 doing what we love to do.”
With a focus of keeping products local, natural and sustainable, Red Frog hopes its homey presence draws more customers and events. For Emily, perfecting the shop is what makes owning it so much fun.
“It’s being able to fix it how I want to and I can try my ideas,” she says. “It’s fun to tweak it, play with it and make it perfect.”
Even though it is still early-on in their business venture, Emily and Jason hope to some day expand their current shop’s patio and eventually open another location that will include a bakery in it where Emily can make her homemade baked goods.
But until then, if you haven’t already, stop by and taste some of Red Frog’s customer favorites which include a hot or cold Mexican Mocha, a cup of Red Velvet or a small Slice of Heaven.
