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— Retail Properties Quarterly — May 2016
I
t’s no secret the restaurant
industry is a major force in our
economy.With $782.7 billion
in sales nationally – and over
$10.9 billion last year in Colo-
rado alone – restaurant employees
make up 10 percent of the workforce
nationally. In Colorado, eateries have
a larger percent of
the pie – account-
ing for 12 percent
of the workforce.
These numbers
are expected to
increase with Colo-
rado sales projected
to grow to $11.6 bil-
lion in 2016, accord-
ing to the National
Restaurant Associa-
tion.
Enter the fast-
casual segment. A
$38 billion industry,
fast-casual is the fastest-growing seg-
ment of the restaurant industry and
a big deal in Colorado. This hybrid
restaurant concept offers quick ser-
vice with sit-down ambiance and
customizable, healthy food choices.
Now representing nearly one-quarter
of the total fast-food sales, fast-casual
was brought to national prominence
by Denver’s own Chipotle, and the
area’s diverse, affluent, educated and
healthy population who flocked to
the original shop near the University
of Denver to beta test the concept.
Denver has a long history of fast-
casual innovation, going back to 1932
when Louis Ballast of the Humpty
Dumpty Drive-In on Speer Boulevard
(credited as the state’s first drive-in)
filed paperwork to trademark the
cheeseburger.
Today, innovation and technology
have joined together to spawn dozens
of new chains, many of which were
tried by Colorado residents. Brand
names like Noodles & Co., Qdoba,
Quiznos, Smashburger, Tokyo Joe’s,
Modern Market (previously Mod-
Market), Larkburger and Mad Greens
are familiar to anyone in the metro-
politan area, but many people do not
realize the role the population plays
in testing these concepts for a nation-
al audience.
Denver provides the perfect melting
pot of demographics for fast-casual
chains to be developed and tested.
The people drawn to the metropoli-
tan area are connected by the fact
they typically are well educated,
highly active people looking for fast,
healthy food options to fuel their life-
styles.With double the restaurants
per capita of any other state and a
younger-than-average and increasing
millennial population with a superior
food aesthetic, the region offers a
highly competitive restaurant envi-
ronment and a ripe proving-ground
for new concepts.
Justin Kliewer
Managing director,
Newmark Grubb
Knight Frank,
Denver
Restaurant Trends
