At first glance, it appears that new Denver restaurants and bars far outpaced those closing in March, with the debut of 29 spots while we reported just nine closures. However, seven of those nine closures were within city limits, while more than half of the openings were in the suburbs — a trend that continues to grow.
Matt Cianni, co-owner of new Englewood eatery The Barn, said that when he was looking for potential spaces, he wanted to be “as close to Denver as possible without being in Denver,” adding that “working downtown and dealing with the city [of Denver] and the way they deal with permits, I think they really hurt the industry with them coming back after COVID.”
That’s a sentiment shared by many owners and operators. In response, the city has launched programs attempting to streamline the permitting process, but we’ve yet to hear any success stories from those efforts…