DENVER — It's hard for Troy Guard to identify just one reason why he plans to expand his restaurant group in Texas instead of Colorado. He said it feels, overwhelmingly, like his only option.
He's far from alone — as The Colorado Sun first reported — several Denver chefs are searching for opportunities outside of Colorado.
Guard, who is the owner and executive chef of TAG Restaurant Group, has a handful of restaurants in downtown Denver. He recently decided to move to Houston.
“I continue to speak highly of Denver. I love it here, and that's never going to change, but there's just some things that are... There's a lot of hurdles and hoops and tricky things to maneuver here," Guard explained. “We already all work hard, right? But why do I want to keep banging my head on the wall for what? You know, just to get in trouble again, by the city for something.”
Guard stressed he and the restaurant group are not leaving Denver, as their headquarters will remain at Guard and Grace.
However, surviving the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic and currently living with high property taxes, insurance costs, and inflation has Guard believing the restaurants will be more successful in Texas.
“We want to be the employer of choice, health insurance, pet insurance, days off, vacations, I mean, you name it. We try to do it all, and it just seems like it's never quite enough," Guard said. “I would love to give everything as cheap as I can... As far as food, we're doing the best we can. It's just a bummer to see so much red tape and flags, because we're bringing money into the city, right? We have tax dollars coming in. We're giving jobs, and then you [the city] make it harder.”
The CEO and founder of the Culinary Creative Group, Juan Padro, said they have 18 locations in Denver. Those include restaurants, coffee shops and cocktail bars.
“I would argue that Denver is probably, if not the most, certainly, one of the most difficult cities in America to operate a restaurant in," Padro said. “It's been difficult in terms of permitting. And also, I think, just some of the overregulation by the city."
Padro believes the first step to healing the economics of the restaurant industry in Denver is to define different categories of restaurants instead of lumping them all together.
He said the top priority of all restaurants is taking care of their employees.
“Everybody is on the same page. We want people to make more money. That's an important element. But, you know, if restaurants are going out of business, you're losing jobs, right?” Padro said. “Who buys from the rural workforce? Right? Restaurants do. They buy from ranchers and farmers and dairy producers and bread makers and right? That's a big, big, big issue in the state of Colorado. How do we create jobs in our rural areas? So maybe we incentivize restaurants, our local restaurants in particular to buy from our local produce, buy from our local ranchers, buy all our local beer, keep the money in the economy.”
Padro is currently looking at other states to expand their restaurant group.
“When you model it out, it's more economical to open up in the West Village of New York in this instance, than it would be for me to open a restaurant in Denver," Padro said about one spot he is considering in New York.
Padro and Guard agree Denver must start working collaboratively to protect their restaurants and the people who run them.
“Generally, restaurants have been seen as stepping stone jobs. And, you know, it's not a stepping stone job, it's a legitimate career, and there's a path forward in this career, and people can go out and they can earn good incomes and they could do what they love," Padro said.