Let’s face it, we Coloradoans love to eat good and healthy food. We live an active life here as one of the most active states in the nation. So who has time to eat at home? We’re busy. We have fishing, skiing, camping, biking and so many events to do that make us hungry that we can’t get home fast enough. This might explain why this month and over the past year the leisure and hospitality sector continues to grow. In July jobs rose to 298,700 in that sector helping keep the job rate in Colorado at a steady 6.9 percent.
Craft Beers and Brewpubs go perfectly with Food and Jobs
Throughout the recession one of Colorado’s frothiest markets has been the craft beer scene. Craft breweries number more than 2,400 nationwide and nearly 200 in Colorado alone. Overall, craft beer is only 6 percent of the beer market. But so much of the Colorado beer market supports brewpubs as well as local multi-tap restaurants like the Falling Rock, Fresh Craft and Cheeky Monk which, not only serve great beers, but exceptional food as well. In essence, brewpubs need to account for a wait and kitchen staff as well as a brewing staff. That’s good news when you consider that 1,600 craft breweries are being planned nationwide in addition to the number that already are operating right now — twelve open in the Denver area before the Great American Beer Festival in October. And the craft beer guzzling isn’t going to slow down anytime soon. Locally crafted beer is something more people are seeking out, meaning taps will continue to flow and jobs will continue to grow.
Denver's Healthy Appetite for Growth
Even though restaurant sales remained flat through the first seven months of this year, the upscale, quick-service, fast-casual chain restaurants lunged forward. This week the NPD Group released its survey showing the top three locations with the most fast-casual restaurants per resident were Fort Collins-Loveland area, Denver, Aurora and Broomfield area and Boulder. In other words, per capita, Coloradoans have and eat at more fast-casual restaurants than the rest of the nation. Fort Collins-Loveland area is way above the national average, with 13.14 fast casual chain locations per 100,000 residents.
Now if we were a fat state like say, New York with a mayor’s urgent agenda to cut the fat and trim his fellow statesmen, then this would be horrible news. But Colorado still remains the skinniest state in the nation and one of the most entrepreneurial in the restaurant business. Colorado is the springboard for fast growing, home-grown, healthier alternatives to fast food restaurants like Smashburger, Chipotle Mexican Grill and the Noodles & Company.
David Prokupek, the CEO of Smashburger recently told USA Today that, “We want to become the Starbucks of burgers.” He plans to expand from his current 200 locations to 1,000 units in the next five years, an increase of sales from $250 million to $1 billion.
Being that these types of restaurants tailor their menus to take local tastes into account our appetites, our thirst and our jobs are all in a good health.
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