 “With us, you’re not a price tag. The moment you walk through our doors, you become part of a family.” These are the wise words from the team at Chapel Motorcycle in Murray, Utah and this attitude is one of the many reasons we chose Chapel as our December Business of the Month! Read all about the business that strives to be the best motorcycle shop, parts and accessories vendor in the industry below! UMLF: Tell us about yourself and your background? Chapel: Our team includes Karl Baird, Kolby Reber, and Colleen Reber Baird. We are the owners of The Chapel Motorcycle Shop. We also have a very solid management team including Mitch Fichialos and Robin Neilsen, plus 5 other full-time employees and 2 part-time employees.
UMLF: What inspired you to start the Chapel Motorcycle Shop? Chapel: On Paper, The Chapel Motorcycle Shop has only existed since 2015, but the dream and drive began long before that when brothers Karl and Kolby were riding their motorcycles both street bikes and dirt bikes as kids. We were always surrounded by motorcycles. We realized there was something missing in Utah’s motorcycle market. Our family mechanic was retiring, the dealerships treated customers and staff poorly, and the shop with a true personality was closing down. Instead of accepting the fate of Utah’s motorcycle market, we decided to make a move, and after that point, The Chapel was born. Along with our parents (investors) and an amazing determination to succeed we started The Chapel Motorcycle Shop. What started as a long-time dream quickly became a local meeting spot and social hub for bikers of all walks of life from the beginner to the lifelong biker and everyone in between. It was clear from the beginning that the community wanted a change and we were that change. We believe in treating everyone with respect. UMLF: You describe yourself as a one-stop-shop for all Utah Motorcyclists. Tell us about all the awesome services you offer? Chapel: The Chapel Motorcycle Shop has a department dedicated to style. It is called Chapel Customs, within this department, we have multiple commercial embroidery machines, a Vinyl plotter, weeding stations for the vinyl, along with multiple heat presses for both shirts and hats, plus other accessories. Pretty much if we can brand it, we will! This is offered to all of our clientele including small businesses, local clubs, and organizations along with our own apparel. The Chapel Motorcycle Shop continues to service all new and current clientele with a Full-Service Motorcycle Service Shop & Design Studio. The Chapel also continues to aggressively market our services to the current Harley-Davidson market from Logan to Provo, and from Tooele to Heber City. We also market to the rest of the V-Twin market that includes the non-Harley lines. The other motorcycle brands such as Indian, Victory, Triumph, Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki, are also markets/brands that we target. We are able to provide services from tires and minor repairs to full high performance and custom applications. This allows us to provide apparel, parts, and accessories to this client base as well. The full-service shop includes custom work and fabrication for items like sissy bars, custom bike modifications, lowering kits, bobber kits, engine builds, fiberglass and LED light kits. Some of these items include outsourcing to local specialists to complete portions of the builds. The Chapel Motorcycle Shop has a Trademarked logo which we use for clothing lines, advertising, and branding of our services and motorcycle lifestyle. Our custom apparel and items include our logos on shirts, hoodies, patches, hats, leather apparel, sunglasses, bandanas, handlebars, pegs, and many other items. UMLF: You celebrated 5 years in business this year. Congrats, how does that feel? Chapel: It feels great to reach these goals and to be stable when we do it. Everyone talks about reaching the 5 years mark but until you can do it with your own company, and a strong team surrounding you it really feels good. I would say hitting 5 years and having a solid plan to move forward to the next 5 years we are very excited. The first 5 years have been a roller coaster, to say the least. We have seen some very dark and challenging days along with some major highlights from ribbon cuttings, to securing large customer accounts and seeing our company grow from 3 people to 12 employees. UMLF: Every business has its highs and lows. Tell us about a challenge you faced as a small business owner and how you overcame it? Chapel: A low for our company would be when a major supporter, an advisor to our company, a husband and father to the 3 Business owners (Dee Baird) passed away in March 2018. During this time we were also dealing with a very bad person (ex-business partner) with whom we had done business and were paying for it. His goal was to sink our company and take everyone down with it. All said and done we were able to overcome these hurdles and become a top motorcycle shop in the state. Another challenge for our team would be the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. All of our social events have been canceled due to Covid-19. One of our top sources of income was instantly taken away. We sat down and figured out what we needed to do. After a meeting with our team, it was clear what needed to be done. We put our best foot forward, doubled down on our team members, and set out to have a great year of business no matter what happened. As of 11/29/2020, we can say we are still going strong and are now one of the best motorcycle shops in the state. UMLF: How do you believe the Utah Microloan Fund has helped your business? Chapel: The UMLF has been there for us as a small business when most lenders wouldn’t even return a phone call. As a company, we are very grateful for the relationship we have with the UMLF. Our first loan with the UMLF came at a time when we needed financial support. We were a new business and needed funds for operations. As we have grown over the last 5 years we have been able to keep a strong relationship with the UMLF. From the very first application to today we are always learning new tricks and absorbing all the advice and valuable info that the UMLF team has to offer. As a business owner and an advisor to many other companies and friends, I always include the UMLF, as part of my advice to any start-up. To check out more with Chapel Motorcycle visit:
Great Basin Coffee Company’s (GBCC) Roastery is located in South Provo on historic U.S Route 89. Tucked away within an industrial complex, their unsuspecting location is where owners Alex Kopelson and Michael Cunnif roast coffee, play with friends and concoct new products that are meaningful to them and their community. Visitors are always welcome into their shop to drink coffee and talk about life.
Roasting specialty coffee is their foundation and they source great coffees from their friends at Coffee Co-Mission and then roast it on our Diedrich IR-12 where they put methodical love and attention into each small batch. GBCC has a handful of awesome products ranging from roasted coffee, cold-brewed coffee, Great Basin Coffee themed merchandise and their favorite coffee gear. They also love collaborating with other local companies to make other bomb products like buzz bean brownies, espresso yogurt, and even honey kombucha. For everything mentioned above and more, Great Basin Coffee Company is our November Small Business of the month! Keep reading to learn more: UMLF: Tell us about yourself and your background? How did you get into coffee? Alex: Both Mike and I were wildland firefighters working for the state of Utah on a hotshot crew. We always loved drinking coffee as it kept us going. We wanted to start a business together and after learning more about the coffee industry fell in love with it and decided to start roasting. It has been 3 years now and it has been a rollercoaster! UMLF: What inspired you to start Great Basin Coffee? Alex: We wanted to start Great Basin coffee to control our destiny, make something incredible, and give back to people and the environment. We wanted to share a product that we love with the people in our lives and with others that have the same goals as we do. Coffee is motivating. It is connecting. UMLF: How did you come up with the name? Alex: We have played and worked in the Great Basin region for a long time. It is a region that is meaningful to us because it gives you a sense of adventure and being in the outdoors. That’s what the brand means to us. UMLF: You have AMAZING package art, can you tell us more about your designs? Alex: We are inspired by nature and historical design from the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) era. The old work projects commissioned at this time were timeless and beautiful and really captured the beauty of the great American outdoors. We work with Chris Draney a graphic designer to design and implement all these labels. We named each coffee after a place, tree, or country of origin and made a label to match. UMLF: What are some of your favorite blends and recommended preparations? Alex: We love single origin coffees but we also love blends. Coffee is a seasonal product so blends help us maintain a consistent flavor profile year round. We make coffee every way imaginable depending on the situation. We currently love our espresso machine and make a lot of dairy-free drinks using our Lone Peak Espresso, our flagship espresso blend. UMLF: Every business has its highs and lows. Tell us about a challenge you faced as a small business owner and how you overcame it? Alex: There are too many to recount a specific one haha. Having no prior business ownership experience, it has been a huge learning curve. We have made a lot of mistakes but we have overcome them this far by continuing to work and improve as we go. There isn’t a one size fits all solution to any problem. It takes dedication and passion to keep working through your mistakes. UMLF: How do you believe the Utah Microloan Fund has helped your business? Alex: The UMLF has helped our business immensely. Just by building our application and applying for the loan we learned so much about our finances and business needs. We also worked with SCORE to prepare for the loan application and committee review. With the funds we received we were able to improve upon our processes and start marketing to grow our business. We love the UMLF! To get your coffee on visit:  A vegan and gluten-free food truck that tastes amazing? Say what?! That's right! You can't beet the Hearty Beet, our October Business of the Month. Keep reading as we learn about what inspired owner Brittney Jones to start her own food truck in the heart of St. George, Utah.
UMLF: Tell us about yourself and your background? Brittney: I am a food truck dreamer. I thought it sounded like a fun job and I was right. It's very fun and it's hard work, but the fun kind of hard work. I stumbled upon Plant-based cuisine 9 years ago at a cooking class. I have a passion for nutrition, raw food, whole food and plant-based food. I am in the "second" part of my life, my children are now college students and I am ready to focus on what I want to do. Any job I have had, desk job or otherwise, I would always cook and bake for people and I just wanted to talk about food and the food truck was always on my mind. UMLF: What inspired you to start the Hearty Beet? Brittney: It seemed less scary than opening a restaurant and it's something I could do alone if I need to. I am also part of a vegan community that knows there are not a lot of options for plant-based-whole food eaters in Southern Utah. I also wanted something for my kids to experience because they haven't had jobs and this type of hard work. I also want to be my own boss for sure. UMLF: How did you come up with the name? Brittney: I love beet juice and just eating plain whole cooked beets, they are a beautiful color and give you so much energy. They are also a heart-healthy food. And it explains my whole hearty foods; The Hearty Beet. The vegetable on my food truck also attracts customers because they know it will be healthy food. UMLF: You have such a tasty looking menu, what are some of your favorite items we need to try? Brittney: Everything on our menu is scratch-made, no processed sugar, gluten-free (except for pita), and vegan. Here are some of my faves:
Brittney: I am running into challenges all along. I'll have one day where I feel this is a crazy thing I'm doing and the next day I make one connection with someone that gets me a parking place or an event, and things lookup. Right now I think further ahead when I know things will get better and we'll have more events that I can participate in. UMLF: How do you believe the Utah Microloan Fund has helped your business? Brittney: The UMLF gave me a loan to start my business. They helped me get (Covid-19) loan relief. They have my back if I need help with social media and marketing. They have provided classes throughout the COVID shutdown. And they got me access to their Banking on Women program which I love. UMLF: Where can people find you? Brittney: I am literally roaming the St. George area right now. I am moving around until I find the right fit for me. I also have been at any event I can get in to. Follow me on social media to see where we are at! To eat the rainbow, visit:
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