Bonfire Oyster Co. already has 3 times as many events scheduled this year than it had last year

Tim Harty, The Business Times

After making do with a 6-foot-wide and 8-foot-long food trailer and a tent to serve fresh oysters at events on the Western Slope, Bonfire Oyster Co. decided this year to go big.

Bonfire owner Michael Haley bought a food trailer that is 8 feet wide and 23 feet long, which is nearly four times larger than other trailer. And it’s necessary, because something else is getting bigger for the business that started in 2021: demand for its oysters.

Haley said Bonfire Oyster Co. worked 48 events in 2024. That’s setting up at places such as Palisade winery Savauge Spectrum and Grand Junction brewery Base Camp Beer Works, or catering events such as weddings, birthday parties and office parties.

This year, he already has 142 events scheduled, nearly triple the previous year.

The new, bigger trailer allows Bonfire Oyster Co. to do things it couldn’t do previously wherever it resided. But it didn’t replace the previous trailer and tent. It was an addition.

“Now, we can do multiple events in one day,” Haley said. “We can drop this trailer off at a winery or wherever we’re at that day, and then we can go off and do another event, another winery or do catering. So, it allows us to do multiple things.”

It likely means he will hire two more employees to complement the existing two.

They’ve already been busy in January, which is new for Bonfire Oyster Co. and necessitated by the big purchase to start the year.

“We actually started early this year because we had the new trailer, so we can kind of work out the menu and figure out how the new trailer works and all that sort of stuff before we get into the busy season,” Haley said. “Because we didn’t want to start in the busy season and (have to) figure things out. Normally we are shut down during this point, but not this year.”

The bigger food trailer is a welcome addition to a business that operates out of Grand Junction’s Business Incubator Center, 2591 Legacy Way, an organization Haley praises for what it does for start-up businesses.

“We’ve grown a lot, and this allows us to do everything inside,” Haley said. “Before, we had just the tent setup, so holding down a tent, trying to shuck oysters or grilling at the same time, it was extremely hard.

“So, this allows us to be indoors, out of the weather, but also allows us to do more as a company, because we have a big grill and fryers and all that sort of stuff. It allows us to expand on our menu, which is really nice.”

Haley expects one other thing to grow a little this year and perhaps a lot more in following years: the region his business will serve. Bonfire Oyster Co. in previous years has set up its food trailer in Gunnison, thanks to Buckle Family Wine inviting them, and has done catering jobs in the Aspen area. Haley wants to become a frequent presence in Moab, UT, and Denver. And he dares to dream of doing business in other surrounding states in addition to Utah.

The larger food trailer was this year’s investment, but Haley said Bonfire Oyster Co.’s growth almost went in a different direction.

“We were trying to get a brick and mortar,” he said, “but then we kind of decided to hold off and just continue with doing the food trailer, just kind of expand more and get out there more before we end up doing a brick and mortar, just kind of so people know we’re here sort of thing.”

An actual restaurant still has its appeal and remains in the plans if Bonfire Oyster Co. continues to grow.

“We are looking into doing a brick and mortar here in Junction, Palisade, just because we’ve been here for so long, and a lot of the customers ask us when we’re going to,” Haley said. “So, they want it. They want us to have a brick and mortar.”

MORE ABOUT BONFIRE OYSTER CO.

WHERE TO FIND THEM

Because the business is mobile, Bonfire Oyster Co. owner Michael Haley said people can track where it will be on its business website: bonfireoysterco.com.

“We post our events on our website, in our social media, where we’re gonna be that week,” he said. “We have about a month in advance, so people can find us. … We have a lot of return customers and then just word of mouth. We still have people that don’t know about us, and they find out about us when they show up to a winery or just with random friends.”

SHUCKOLOGY 101

Bonfire Oyster Co. also occasionally hosts oyster shucking classes. And, yes, they call it Shuckology.

“People come in, and we teach them about oysters and how to shuck them,” Haley said, admitting it’s not as easy as it sounds at first, but most people learn quickly.

So, if you want to learn to shuck, check its website and social media for the next session.

FRESH OYSTERS

When Haley says Bonfire Oyster Co. sources its oysters fresh, he means it.

With access to 27 different aquaculture farms through co-ops, he said, “We can get fresh daily lists, so we can choose our oysters, and we’ll select them the day before an event. They’ll pull them out of the ocean. They’re bagged and on a plane and to us in the morning, so then people can get the freshest oysters as possible for the events. So, all of our stuff is fresh.”

NOT HIS FIRST RODEO

Bonfire Oyster Co. was a startup business that still operates out of the Grand Junction Business Incubator, 2591 Legacy Way. But when Haley went to the incubator, anyone who’d been around there more than five years said, “Hey, Michael! Welcome back!”

Haley said he and his wife, Natasha, operated a food truck called Ganic Grub, a field-to-fork concept, for about six years. They sold it in early 2016 and took a break as Michael said he went back to work in the oilfield, and Natasha went off to do catering for big catering companies. They also moved to Arizona.

They made their way back to Grand Junction and at Thanksgiving and Christmas, “We kind of got tired of the traditional turkey and all that, and we decided to switch it up, and we started doing seafood boils, oysters, but at that time we would just smoke them or grill them,” Haley said.

That was until a friend came over and showed them how to shuck oysters using a spoon.

“We kind of got talking with him and said this is kind of an idea, and he just really kind of pushed us and said, ‘Hey, you should do this,’ so then we started in 2021. And we started with the Business Incubator, which we had done with our previous food truck, which they helped us out a lot.”

HONEY, YOU’RE THE BEST

Haley is sole owner of Bonfire Oyster Co., but he says Natasha provides the brainpower that makes the business run.

“She’s a lot smarter about business than I am,” he said. “I definitely wouldn’t be here without my wife.”

AND FINALLY, I’D LIKE TO THANK…

Haley expressed gratitude to the wineries and breweries that allowed him to set up his trailer and tent and serve oysters.

He couldn’t name them all off the top of his head, but he did mention Restoration Vineyards, Savauge Spectrum Winery and The Blue Beryl Winery, all in Palisade; Base Camp Beer Works in Grand Junction; and Buckle Family Wine in Gunnison.

“They definitely took a chance on us,” Haley said.

And it paid off. That’s how Bonfire’s reputation spread and business grew.

“The company does really well at wineries and breweries, sometimes occasional events that aren’t kind of quite those, but we mainly stick to the wineries and stuff,” he said.

Haley said Bonfire Oyster Co. is going to become a regular at several locations this year, such as Hotel Melrose in downtown Grand Junction on Thursdays and occasional Saturdays, starting in mid-March; Carboy Winery at Mt. Garfield Estate in Palisade on Fridays, beginning in mid-April; and Restoration Vineyards for Sunday brunches.