From Coco to Fueled Collective to Coco again? This month, the Minneapolis coworking company most recently known as Fueled Collective announced that the Coco name is coming back. This comes five years after its rebrand to Fueled Collective. At the time, company founders hoped to transform the brand into a nationwide franchise. But those plans have since changed.

“After a whole bunch of things–including a pandemic–we’ve decided as an ownership group to step out of the franchise model and just refocus our efforts, our energy, and our passion back here in Minnesota and reclaim the name Coco,” said Kyle Coolbroth, founder and CEO of Coco, in an interview with TCB.

The Fueled Collective name originally came about through Coco’s 2018 partnership with Cincinnati-based franchise development firm St. Gregory Development Group and Rameet Chawla, who opened the first Fueled Collective location in New York in 2012. That deal came after several big national names like Industrious and WeWork launched coworking spaces in the Twin Cities. With lower prices, those big brands poached some of Fueled’s customers. But that came at a cost: To this day, WeWork still hasn’t turned a profit.

When Coco took on the Fueled name, company founders had envisioned a franchise concept that could lead up to 250 other locations throughout the country. However, due to a mix of the pandemic and other factors, they only opened seven other locations in Chicago, Ohio, and New York, said Coolbroth. “We tried something together, and we decided we wanted to go in a different direction. And everybody involved just said, ‘Okay, that’s great.’ We’re gonna support them. They’ll support us,” he said.

Although Fueled Collective is no longer in Minnesota, the co-working brand will remain alive and active in its hometown Cincinnati.

“A global pandemic and a constantly shifting economy called for a new direction and ultimately, a return to our roots,” Coco said in its announcement. “As a result, ‘Coco’ is coming back in early April with a fresh look and feel, and the same relentless focus on creating collaborative, creative work environments for individuals, as well as remote and hybrid companies.”

Coco’s shift is in contrast to fellow Minneapolis coworking brand The Coven. In late 2022, The Coven rolled out plans to franchise nationally, with a focus on “underdog” cities like the Twin Cities.

But Coolbroth said he still wants to grow Coco, just not via franchising.

What’s New with Coco? 

Coco, founded in 2009, is still operating its two current locations in Minneapolis: one in the Grain Exchange building downtown and another in Northeast. And it plans to add a few more.

“When we started back then it was more like a movement–it was more of a cause. [Now], it’s become an industry,” noted Coolbroth.

Coco previously had an Uptown location, but it shut down due to damage from unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. The company also had a St. Paul space, but founders opted not to renew the lease there.

Its website announcement also shares it’ll be “re-envisioning” its membership.

“Our mission is to be to become your neighborhood workplace. When we think about what is the neighborhood, there is both the physical and geographic neighborhood, but what is the neighborhood that Coco itself reaches? And what do we create as the neighborhood?” Coolbroth said.

He added that the company plans to “look at different concepts in different areas, and see what works and what serves the community best.”

“Coworking is not a single thing. It’s not monolithic.”