Tuan Nguyen, 29, and Dan Edwards, 28, opened their coffee shop in October, a chemical-free environment – with the exception of lots of caffeine – that offers a place to hang out for local teenagers in Raymond.
The Mad Monkey CafA?© is the brainchild of two young entrepreneurs, the type of businesses owners state officials are looking to keep in Maine.
“I’d like to see the state change its policies on making it easier for young people to open businesses,” said Nguyen, who suggested that with hard-to-get building permits and zoning restrictions a potential business owner would be more inclined to leave the state than to stay and build.
Representative Sue Austin, who serves on the State Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Business, Research and Economic Development, said retaining potential young business owners is a serious and constant problem for the state.
“There are tremendous challenges to retain or relocate young people,” Austin said. “It’s difficult for anybody because of the regulations, and at the same time people tell me that there are ways to get the support which makes it a little easier to start up a business.”
The support to which Austin refers includes the University of Maine system, which provides guidance to young people who want to start up their businesses, and the Libra Foundation, who three times a year awards grants to young people who are interested in starting businesses in Maine.
“Our goal is to keep young people in the state. We find that people between the ages of 18 to 25 are at their most mobile,” said Erik Hayward, president of Libra Futures Fund.
However, according to Austin, it is questionable as to whether the support systems in place in Maine are enough to keep young people in the state in the face of a complicated and drawn out process of starting a business like the Mad Monkey CafA?©.
“I’d simply do away with a lot of the regulations,” Austin said.
Edwards, who uses the Web site www.myspace.com and relies on word of mouth to promote his cafA?©, said he has several friends who moved to New Hampshire and elsewhere because of fewer restrictions there.
“State regulations in New Hampshire are more conducive to opening businesses, but we managed to do it in Maine,” he said. “It wasn’t easy.”
Although The Mad Monkey CafA?© does not have an entertainers’ license, local bands do play there for free (the owners are in fact launching a CD compilation this month of every band that has played there), providing an incentive for local teenagers to focus their energy on the music.
“It’s just something to do,” said Asa Brum, 12, a regular at the cafA?©.
Asa’s mother, Wendy, who owns Barney’s Seafood Market on Route 302 in Raymond, said the cafA?© is a great outlet for creative kids with nothing to do, and it is a place she knows is safe.
“I know Tuan and Dan…they’re good guys and their good with kids. And I always know where Asa is,” she said.
Nguyen said that in an area with little to do for young people, it comes down to a matter of perspective.
“It really has less to do with the area than it does with your attitude. You just have to make the best of it,” he said.
Troy Locke, 32, owner of the ice cream parlor The Dugout in Raymond, dreamed up the idea for his shop one night before going to bed.
“I came up with the names on the menu: “sliders,” “slingers,” etc…” he said. “My wife said it was a horrible idea, just another way to talk about baseball.”
But on May 1, 2003, Locke got the “go ahead” for his shop, hooking up with Jeff Shane of Shane’s Ice Cream, his supplier and friend who advised him on the business, making his dream come true.
“Then all of a sudden my wife changed her mind and said it was a great idea,” he said.
However, even with a business degree, Locke said it was incredibly difficult to start his business.
“I have friends who grew up in Maine, but they ended up leaving the state because it’s easier to start up a business somewhere else,” he said.
With loans, town ordinances and building permits – or “headaches” as Locke calls them – the process from conception to realization is a long one.
But Locke said he was determined to start a business in Windham.
“Maine is where I grew up, and this is where I decided to start a business,” he said.
Tuan Nguyen and Dan Edwards opened the Mad Monkey Caf
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