If you had told Eli Mason ten years ago that he would own and run a restaurant that was listed in Southern Magazine’s Best Diners in the South, he would have laughed at you. But Eli of Blue Collar Cafe in Niceville has just that sort of humility about him. Although he went to culinary school and has worked his entire adult life in the food industry, he still places himself at the table with any one of his customers, a regular Joe making a regular paycheck; thus the name Blue Collar Cafe.
“My whole family are blue collar people, fishermen and restaurateurs, we have been here our whole lives,” Eli said. “I have always wanted people from all walks of life to be able to experience gourmet-style breakfast and coffee without having to spend a lot of money.”
Before opening his own restaurant, Eli managed kitchens, then owned fast food franchises, then oversaw large restaurant chains regionally in Florida and Texas. However, when diagnosed with a rare bone disease, he had to rethink his pace and landed with an idea for a coffee shop.
“I went through all these surgeries and it kind of slowed me down,” Eli said. “I had both hips replaced in 2012 and my knees and ankles replaced in 2013. I did not know if I would be able to do the restaurant business anymore, but I found a guy who was getting rid of his coffee equipment, and I thought it would be slow-paced.”
But as humble as he is, Eli can’t do anything halfway, so soon enough Blue Collar Cafe was turning heads. His homemade bagels and maple bacon, his house-roasted coffee and small-town charm caused his slow-paced idea to grow at gaining speeds.
"We basically outgrew our Fort Walton location, and I started looking for places in my hometown of Niceville,” Eli said. “After Southern Living Magazine put us in as Best Diners in the South in 2019, it kind of blew up everything and we got a lot of attention from it.”
No longer a hidden gem, Blue Collar Cafe is known for its American staple breakfast specials where everything is freshly made and cooked to order.
The most popular menu item by far, Eli said, is The Breakfast On a Bagel also known as The BOB. It consists of a homemade bagel with maple bacon and a cheese omelet. Bagel choices include everything bagels, poppy-seed bagels, garlic onion bagels, sweet bagels, and of course, plain bagels.
“Everything we do at Blue Collar is big, fresh and good,” Eli said. “We like to call it Texas-sized; our bagels are as big as your head! We have also never changed our prices for the 10 years we have been open, and we always kept the same top-quality food-wise.”
Blue Collar Cafe is a true hometown success story, and Eli says he really owes it all to his family and community who have banded together to support his dream.
“It's a true family business, " Eli said. "My mother has been involved in the business from the get-go and my girlfriend is a big part of the business. We are part of everything here in Niceville. It took me a couple of years before we gained trust and regulars but it's now, truly a community restaurant.”
“I have always wanted people to be able to experience gourmet-style breakfast and coffee without having to spend a lot of money.”