A Big, Scary Idea To Save Denver Restaurants
Ask diners. Ask servers. Ask restaurateurs. You can even ask the governor! They’ll all tell you it's time to talk about the crisis happening in Denver’s restaurants. But everyone defines it a little differently. Some are sick and tired of paying $20 for a mediocre cheeseburger. Others point to recent reports of restaurants closing — more than one in five since 2021 — and no one can agree on what to do. One of city’s most successful restaurateurs, Culinary Creative Group founder and CEO Juan Padró, has been lobbying local politicians, and he joins producer Paul Karolyi alongside former president of Bell Policy Center Scott Wasserman to talk through a big idea they think can help.
For background, Culinary Creative Group owns more than a dozen bars and restaurants in Denver, including A5, Mister Oso, Bar Dough Fox and the Hen, and the various Tap & Burgers. If all this jargon about Colorado’s minimum wage law is still confusing, we recommend this helpful breakdown from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and this glossary from our newsletter Hey Denver.
What do you think should be done about Denver’s restaurant “crisis”? Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: 720-500-5418
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