Twin Cities co-working company CoCo said it will change its name as part of a new franchising concept it is launching with partners in Cincinnati and New York.
Under the agreement, CoCo will become Fueled Collective, which describes itself as part co-working space, part social club. The Cincinnati prototype opened this week and features a full-service bar that opens to members after 5 p.m. with event space and a private dining area.
In an e-mail to members on Wednesday, co-founders Kyle Coolbroth and Don Ball said the concept blends co-working during the day with after-hours hospitality. Beyond the name change, they said that not much will change in the Twin Cities business on a day-to-day basis, and that membership plans and pricing will stay the same.
No financial details of the deal were provided.
Under the arrangement, Coolbroth, current CEO of CoCo, will become the CEO of Fueled Collective. CoCo's chief creative officer Ball will become Collective's chief social officer.
They will remain in charge of the CoCo community in the Twin Cities but said they hope to provide the opportunity for others to own their own Fueled Collective franchises across the U.S.
CoCo was the first Twin Cities co-working and collaborative office space in 2010 and now has spaces in St. Paul's Lowertown, the downtown Minneapolis Grain Exchange building, Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood, northeast Minneapolis and Chicago's West Loop.
In recent years, other companies such as WeWork and Industrious have begun to open co-working office spaces in the Twin Cities, offering the option of short-term office leases.
