Louie Louie's Piano Bar opens; Red Swing and Batch Slapped breweries and Formosa Bites announce closures; ICONS secures a space; ice cream at Ice Guys + more food & drink news
It’s rough out there, personally I feel it’s a Colorado issue over any one single city’s issue, high labor costs and the delays brought on by permitting and then waiting for those approvals in the build
Out process of getting a new restaurant started are the two prime issues I see that business can’t over come these aren’t just in the Springs they are a constant struggle thought the Denver Metro area as well. I can’t think of a time in the last 18 months where a new restaurant gave us an opening date that didn’t get pushed back by 3 months.
If I was to pick one issue that plagues the Springs though is the unfortunately how spread out everything is. I mean sure there’s the pockets like Tejon or OCC and Manitou but those pockets are dense and very established I can only imagine how hard it would be to secure a spot if one ever came up. The flip side of that is having all the food halls within walking distance of each other provides issues of an abundance and no single location can shine. How do you get repeat customers if you can check out a different food hall each of the days you’re in the office and in each food hall there’s 5 choices.
Sorry that was long 😅 I work in food distribution in both the Denver and Colorado Springs area and these are basically daily conversations for us.
Wow, feeling bummed out now! That’s a bunch of bad news, sorry to hear about all of this. Especially Red Swing, it wasn’t our go-to spot (Metric and Goat Patch are), but I enjoyed it. I was just there on Mother’s Day with a friend and at one point we were two of three people there; it had filled up a bit by the time we left.
My initial thought, besides the terrible permitting issues that we as outsiders have been aware of many times while waiting on new places to open (Weldwerks, aforementioned Red Swing)… PATIOS. I love my town but in all of our travels, I am struck by how many amazing patios we visit elsewhere but the same can’t be said about here. The few restaurants that do, we avoid on nice days knowing that they’ll be full (Edelweiss, Amanda’s Fonda, Jose Muldoons, etc). Conversely, we’ll choose to not go to a beer spot/bar specifically because they do not have a patio (or nice one) and we simply *must* be outside. I noticed that several of the places in trouble or closed that you mentioned don’t have amazing patios. Unobstructed views of parking lots, east-facing, designated smoking area, and/or shaded by the tall buildings across the street do not make for a nice patio. Our weather is just too nice to not have a fabulous array of lovely patios choices everywhere.
My other thought was about the ease/familiarity of chain restaurants for our more transient residents (military families), but I know that’s already been a topic of discussion.
Appreciate you keeping us all up-to-date on food news, even if the news is sad.
PS - the ‘announcement’ for RS’s replacement showed up on Instagram last night. I’m very excited but I hope the location isn’t the problem!
It’s rough out there, personally I feel it’s a Colorado issue over any one single city’s issue, high labor costs and the delays brought on by permitting and then waiting for those approvals in the build
Out process of getting a new restaurant started are the two prime issues I see that business can’t over come these aren’t just in the Springs they are a constant struggle thought the Denver Metro area as well. I can’t think of a time in the last 18 months where a new restaurant gave us an opening date that didn’t get pushed back by 3 months.
If I was to pick one issue that plagues the Springs though is the unfortunately how spread out everything is. I mean sure there’s the pockets like Tejon or OCC and Manitou but those pockets are dense and very established I can only imagine how hard it would be to secure a spot if one ever came up. The flip side of that is having all the food halls within walking distance of each other provides issues of an abundance and no single location can shine. How do you get repeat customers if you can check out a different food hall each of the days you’re in the office and in each food hall there’s 5 choices.
Sorry that was long 😅 I work in food distribution in both the Denver and Colorado Springs area and these are basically daily conversations for us.
Wow, feeling bummed out now! That’s a bunch of bad news, sorry to hear about all of this. Especially Red Swing, it wasn’t our go-to spot (Metric and Goat Patch are), but I enjoyed it. I was just there on Mother’s Day with a friend and at one point we were two of three people there; it had filled up a bit by the time we left.
My initial thought, besides the terrible permitting issues that we as outsiders have been aware of many times while waiting on new places to open (Weldwerks, aforementioned Red Swing)… PATIOS. I love my town but in all of our travels, I am struck by how many amazing patios we visit elsewhere but the same can’t be said about here. The few restaurants that do, we avoid on nice days knowing that they’ll be full (Edelweiss, Amanda’s Fonda, Jose Muldoons, etc). Conversely, we’ll choose to not go to a beer spot/bar specifically because they do not have a patio (or nice one) and we simply *must* be outside. I noticed that several of the places in trouble or closed that you mentioned don’t have amazing patios. Unobstructed views of parking lots, east-facing, designated smoking area, and/or shaded by the tall buildings across the street do not make for a nice patio. Our weather is just too nice to not have a fabulous array of lovely patios choices everywhere.
My other thought was about the ease/familiarity of chain restaurants for our more transient residents (military families), but I know that’s already been a topic of discussion.
Appreciate you keeping us all up-to-date on food news, even if the news is sad.
PS - the ‘announcement’ for RS’s replacement showed up on Instagram last night. I’m very excited but I hope the location isn’t the problem!