what we’re up against…
Independent restaurants are closing across Denver because the cost of doing business has outpaced what any restaurant can sustain.
A new report from Visit Denver and Denver Economic Development & Opportunity puts the numbers behind what we’ve been living:
Labor costs are up 50–55% since 2019. Denver’s tipped minimum wage has increased 95% in just five years—faster than any comparable city in the country.
It now costs more to run a restaurant in Denver than in New York City. Denver’s minimum wage has reached 259% of the federal rate, compared to NYC’s 228%—but without the population density, tourism infrastructure, or economic scale that helps those cities absorb the costs.
Denver is missing 10,000–15,000 restaurant jobs. Jobs that would exist if the sector had continued on its pre-2020 trajectory. That’s 10,000–15,000 people who would be earning a paycheck in our industry.
Beloved neighborhoods are losing their restaurants. Corridors like RiNo, Colfax, South Broadway, Sunnyside, and LoHi—places that define Denver’s identity—have been described as “dying” or “significantly diminished.”
Denver isn't the only city facing this. Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other major cities are wrestling with the same pressures — but their minimum wages are significantly lower than ours. Closer to home, Edgewater and Boulder are already taking steps to address these challenges in their own communities. Denver, the city hit hardest, has not yet acted.
Earnings have fallen 20% but prices have increased 28%. We’re charging more, making less, and still can’t keep pace with out-of-control costs. It’s bad for restaurants and our customers.
We’re not asking for handouts or exemptions. We’re asking Denver’s elected leaders to look at the data, listen to the people who work in these businesses every day, and take thoughtful action to create a more sustainable operating environment — one that keeps restaurants open, protects tip income for thousands of tipped workers, and creates a path to better wages for kitchen crews who have been left behind.
Restaurants employ nearly one in ten Denver workers. We generate 13% of the city’s sales tax revenue. We are the gathering places, the neighborhood anchors, and the small businesses that make Denver, Denver.
We’re worth fighting for.