When Nicholas Kayser was given the choice to either close his West Highland restaurant or rebrand it, he decided to be fiscally responsible.
“Rebranding isn’t free,” the Rooted Craft American Kitchen co-owner said. “A sign alone costs $20,000.”
Rooted Craft American Kitchen, located at 3940 W. 32nd Ave., held its last day of service on April 28. The original location, which opened in Boulder’s Avanti Food and Beverage food hall in 2020, will remain open.
Rooted Craft Kitchen opened in Denver’s Highland neighborhood, pictured on May 23, 2023. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
Chef Kayser and his business partner Scott Ericson opened Rooted’s Denver outpost in West Highland in May last year.The two live in the neighborhood and wanted to offer an approachable, family-friendly option with farm-to-table fare after finding success in Boulder.
“But unfortunately right now the state of restaurants doesn’t suggest that a price point at that level with all the production and moving parts it needs is a successful venture in Colorado,” Kayser said. “Independently-owned, casual concepts don’t translate.”
Two months after opening, Kayser and Ericson found themselves in a trademark battle with employee-owned Edible Beats restaurant group, which owns Root Down and Vital Root. It has since been settled under the agreement that the West Highland location, located 2 miles from Root Down and a mile from Vital Root, would change its name.
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“I wanted to open a Rooted Craft Kitchen. “You have to have your heart in it, and I didn’t have the heart to change it and operate something that just felt patchworked.”
But the duo doesn’t consider this a failure. “Education through experience,” Kayser said. And when one door closes, another opens.
The Rooted owners are resetting their focus to Eat‘Ya Pizza, their new Roman pizza-style shop opening on May 17 in the historic Sugar Cube building on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver.