Personnel Matters: Shifting Tides In Denver’s Service Industry Labor Pool

by Regan Bervar | Sep 27, 2021 | Editorials

If anything is good for pounding humility into you permanently, it’s the restaurant business.  — Anthony Bourdain

by Luke Schmaltz

By the end of 2019, the Mile High City’s hospitality industry was humming at a fever pitch. The slave-wage, cutthroat, desperation-driven, mercenary mindset which has driven this profession for decades was charging forth at full steam. This pulsating, sweat-drenched beast, however, was unaware that it was about to splat face down onto the floor like a piping hot pizza that was dropped by an underpaid line cook who showed up to work sick.

Research by the Colorado Restaurant Association shows restaurant worker employment numbers are below pre-pandemic levels.  Colorado Restaurant Association image

By late March of 2020, the industry was being systematically gutted by circumstance. In the span of several very long months, many once-coveted, hard-to-land FOH (front of the house) and BOH (back of the house) positions had become vacant and were up for grabs. The “Great Reopening” had revealed a vacuum in the workforce. Much of the previous labor pool, while locked down and on unemployment, have seemingly discovered other options — perhaps pursuits offering better compensation, lower stress and even (gasp) employee benefits.

Surf’s Down

In May of this year, at the onset of patio season, the Colorado Restaurant Association reported that nine out of 10 restaurants were having trouble hiring. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that between February of 2020 and June of 2021, a restaurant labor pool of 234,500 had recovered to a mere 223,600 — nearly 11,000 workers lower than the previous tally. This begs the question, “Where did they all go?”

In some instances, highly valued, seasoned professionals with years of FOH and/or BOH experience have pivoted and moved onto other pursuits. For example, 14-year Denver industry worker Nolan Ackerman (Southside, Goosetown Tavern) says, “I used the pandemic to finish my bachelor’s and get an internship. I’m out, for now.”

Meanwhile across town, Denver industry veterans and wife/husband team Casey Keller and Roy Benoit have pivoted inward, courageously becoming restaurant owners in late summer of 2020 (Wendell’s, 3838 Tennyson St.) Thus far, attracting qualified help has been somewhat of a challenge, “Overall volume and quality of applicants has been… discouraging,” Benoit explains. When asked about where the talent pool of qualified workers has gone, Benoit has a revealing perspective. “I feel that a lot of previously full-time industry folks often have skills or education that makes them marketable in other fields… and the last year has given many of those people the opportunity and/or impetus to pursue those things,” he begins. “There are certainly some people still collecting unemployment; we’ve physically seen this in people scheduling or coming to interviews for the admitted sole purpose of required work searches. I will say, I feel more of those lingering on unemployment may not be industry ‘professionals,’ if you will, but rather newer or shorter-term industry workers.”

Rather than spend time waiting for external circumstances to improve, however, Keller and Benoit have curated their own strategy for cultivating and maintaining a solid crew. “We believe in paying our people well to begin with and ascribe to quality over quantity when it comes to staffing,” Benoit says. “We currently have a very talented and dedicated staff and have done our best to compensate them accordingly. Now, it is possible we’re shorting ourselves some applicants by not openly advertising above industry norm pay, but even with the current pool, we’d prefer to be choosy and give ourselves the opportunity to pay quality staff what they’re worth and continue to do so.”

On the front lines across Denver, newer industry recruits are having to shoulder heroic workloads as people are coming out in droves to rekindle the beloved American pastime of “going out.” Crews of veritable “newbies” are facing hordes of guests in the FOH and torrents of orders in the BOH that would give the most hardened of veterans the heebie jeebies. In some instances, in order to avoid staff burnout, some establishments are having to cut their hours of operation or to simply remain closed on certain days.

Not Always The Case

Bull & Bush Restaurant/Brewery has largely avoided staffing woes.  Image courtesy of David Peterson

Other establishments such as the beloved Bull & Bush on Cherry Creek Dr. have managed to circumvent the labor shortage. Bar-tender Dave Hummel explains the company policy of starting FOH personnel as hosts/hostesses and requiring them to work their way into the higher paying positions of waiting tables and tending bar. This may explain their FOH employee retention rate — even amid the current climate. “The only [labor] shortage we are really having is in the BOH,” he says. Restaurant co-owner David Peterson (with brother Erik) confirms this, saying, “There were a bunch of people chomping at the bit to get back to work. There were a few who opted to stay away and collect unemployment. But, for the most part, we managed to keep most of our staff.” Peterson goes on to explain with a rare tone of optimism, “We have been so busy, unbelievably so, we are breaking record sales.”

This new climate, however, has given rise to a novel phenomenon previously unheard of by most restaurateurs — even a lifelong professional like David Peterson. Recently, an employee of his kitchen staff lobbied for a raise by saying that he could simply go to another restaurant in Cherry Creek and get paid $20 an hour to do far less work because the place would be half as busy. Peterson was unfazed, however, explaining, “Yeah, I get where the guy was coming from. But what he doesn’t realize is that if the place is slow, they might give you the same amount of money, but they are going to cut your hours.”

Bar Car retains a core staff through superior treatment of employees in a preferred establishment in which to work.  Jeremy Matzke image

Just across Colorado Boulevard to the North, another long-cherished mainstay establishment has a similar story. Bar Car is a one-of-a-kind blink-and-you’ll-miss-it type of place. Owner Jeremy Matzke believes their company policies helped them deflect the post-shutdown woes. “Speaking strictly from a small, well established locally owned bar, our reputation has held strong, [as] we are a desired place to work,” He begins. “We firmly believe in treating our employees as humans with opinions and feelings and make extra efforts to treat our employees with grace and [as] part of our family … we feel this philosophy is much stronger than most incentives.”

A Nationwide Phenomenon

Former Denver bartender-turned NYC drink slinger Donald Murphy, left, believes the service industry labor shortage is a nationwide problem.  Donald Murphy photo

Shifting focus to the nation as a whole, it is becoming clear this is not just a Denver phenomenon — but something possibly taking place from coast to coast. Former Denver bartender Donald Murphy aka “Murph” (Splinters from the Pine, Pasquini’s Uptown) now works as senior drink-slinger and art curator at Upper East Side Manhattan’s esteemed Merrion Square. “This is a nationwide problem,” he attests. “All of the career people who had time off during Covid decided to collect their UI benefits as though they were finally recouping the would-be tips from every time they got stiffed,” he begins. “A lot of people realized, with all that time off, they never really wanted these jobs in the first place. In order to thrive in this industry, you have to truly enjoy serving people, helping guests have a good time, and talking shit with strangers.” Murph goes on to explain that amid the political/presidential madhouse that began in 2016, working in the FOH is not nearly as fun because of a combative, general populace that is divided by social ideals like never before. Many people, when out in public, are either intentionally rude or overly sensitive. This might explain the unattractiveness of the service industry to many entry-level people. “Social division has made working in restaurants and bars not nearly as enjoyable,” he says.

Lopsided Demographics

Back in Denver, the labor shortage seems to be prevalent in some areas and nonexistent in others. For example, many businesses in the LoDo district, the Highlands and the RiNo district are short staffed while outliers in more suburban areas are not. This might also be explained by the average restaurant worker wage compared to the costs of living in these areas. After all, who wants to commute into a congested area, search for parking (if you even have a car), wait on people who live in the neighborhood and make more money than you (entitled a**holes), and then commute back home to your meager dwelling every day?

To combat this, restaurant owners, at least some, are adopting new business models with a variety of adaptations. Some feature higher hourly wages while others offer profit sharing for untipped workers and others are doing the unheard of by offering benefits to part-time, tipped employees. Yesterday’s service industry professionals who have moved on may catch wind of this and be taken aback in utter disbelief. Whether it brings them back into the fold, however, seems rather unlikely — but only time will tell.

The Gutsiest Writer In Town: Author Julian Rubinstein’s Mission To Reveal ‘Invisible Denver’

by Regan Bervar | Aug 27, 2021 | Editorials

“Courage is grace under pressure.” Ernest Hemmingway

by Luke Schmaltz

Not since the heyday of Gonzo Journalism has a Colorado writer immersed themselves in a story to such a degree, they become temporarily synonymous with the subject of their investigation.

This level of dedication explains why author Julian Rubinstein is laying low. Because for now — he is responsible for introducing oblivious residents of the Mile High City and the world at large to “Invisible Denver.”

Book: The Holly, an epic saga about “Invisible Denver,” is available at julianrubinstein.com.

Rubinstein recently published a book titled The Holly — a factual, multi-generational account of people, events, and places in and around a specific sector of Northeast Denver. This residential and commercial district is home to a variety of small businesses, community centers, a library, post office, the Center for African American Health, and more, Holly Square is also the site of countless gang-related incidents and deadly encounters over the last 30+ years.

A Work In Progress

The area is well known for conflict between Denver gangs and the DPD. Yet, Holly Square also bears the fruits of the efforts of former gangster-turned activist Terrance Roberts and various philanthropists and community outreach groups. On the surface, there is evidence of an influx of big money bolstering new development such as the Nancy P. Anschutz Center/Boys & Girls Club which opened in 2013. This has a seemingly synergistic effect on long-established neighborhood institutions, namely the shops and businesses in the Park Hill Center. On a deeper level, however, linger the ghosts of a community long-affected by civic dysfunction and gang warfare.

The Promised Land

Beginning in the 1950s, Rubinstein reports, this area was the Plymouth Rock of a migrating African American populace fleeing the Jim Crow South in search of a better life. Among them was Terrence Roberts’ grandmother, Ernestine Boyd, who was soon followed by most of her immediate family — whom she managed to move to Denver one by one from an Arkansas cotton plantation. “Most people don’t associate Denver with having much of an African American population or culture,” Rubinstein begins. “But of course, there is a very strong one that begins very early,” he explains. The Holly is the de facto epicenter of what Rubinstein’s book reveals as “Invisible Denver” a subculture extending across multiple neighborhoods that most folks beyond the zip codes therein are unaware of.

The Story That Hit Home

The germ for The Holly was planted in 2013, when a national news piece caught Rubinstein’s attention (a Denver native) while he was living in New York City. It involved former Bloods gang member-turned anti-gang activist Terrance Roberts, who was involved in a shooting incident in Holly Square that nearly claimed the life of then-active Bloods gang member Hasan Jones.

Over the next seven years, Rubinstein would immerse himself in the subculture of The Holly. “I didn’t know what I was going to find, and I didn’t expect to find what I did,” he explains. “It ended up feeling like a responsibility that I didn’t always want.” The book is an opus driven by equal amounts journalistic curiosity, humanist compassion, and nerves of pure steel. He documents in great detail how he was able to gradually befriend Roberts, Roberts’ father George (a funeral preacher), and an extended network of characters who don’t normally associate with Caucasian journalists.

Dysfunction Junction

Perhaps the most disturbing set of circumstances Rubinstein uncovers are those demonstrating the monumental failure of Denver law enforcement to address and reverse the ongoing crisis of gang violence. His reporting reveals that active gang members were recruited by city-appointed officials and placed on payroll to perform “outreach” to the community’s at-risk youth. “For much of the time I felt like I was doing government oversight work,” Rubinstein explains. Rubinstein refers to this as the “urban war industrial complex,” and he demonstrates that as certain government-sponsored “anti-gang” programs were implemented, the violence only increased.

Internal Perspectives, Conflicting Opinions

Author: Julian Rubinstein is a Denver native who was compelled to return home and uncover the truth about “Invisible Denver.”

Rubinstein’s story presents a comprehensive, multi-generational account of local African American history, gang culture, activism, anti-activism, and urban development. Folks who want to get to know “Invisible Denver” can start by reading The Holly.

Like many journalists, Rubinstein is not without detractors. One such figure is Jeff S. Fard — founder of Brother Jeff’s Cultural Center, and a well-known figure in the Northeast Denver community. He is a lecturer, multimedia journalist, and community organizer. He is also a regular guest on a local radio show hosted by longtime Denver on-air personality Peter Boyles.

Brother Jeff’s outspoken criticism of Rubinstein on Boyles’ 710 AM KNUS radio show has brought more than a few questions to the fore. When asked about his ire toward Rubinstein’s reporting in The Holly, he replied with a litany of misreported facts such as incorrect ages, school attendance statuses, and gang affiliations, and more. Brother Jeff attests, “ If these basic facts are not correct, how much can larger facts be trusted?”

Infractions, Minor And Otherwise

Rubinstein has taken note of these oversights, and vows to correct them in future editions. “Well, thankfully these are minor infractions,” he explains.

Brother Jeff: While Brother Jeff credits Rubinstein with making some good points, he has far more critical bones to pick with The Holly.

Brother Jeff has bigger fish to fry. “Initially, I thought The Holly was a product of journalism and reporting,” he states. “It only took me a few pages … to realize the book is more of Terrance Roberts’ story as told to Julian Rubinstein. I have many questions for Julian. For example, does Roberts receive any royalty payments from the book? Was he paid? If so, that departs from any journalistic effort I am familiar with. I have been around Roberts long enough to hear his voice and tone in much of The Holly.

Brother Jeff continues his invective, “Flames burned down The Holly, and now, the opening of unresolved issues and wounds are tearing the community apart again. In fact, after 400 pages most walk about asking, what is that book all about?”

One of Rubinstein’s main revelations in The Holly is evidence of police corruption. Specifically, in the claims that active gang members are recruited by DPD and other official agencies to, ironically, work in the capacity of anti-gang outreach for at-risk youth. Rubinstein cites numerous sources and instances to support this claim, yet Brother Jeff has a different story to tell concerning this issue.

An Ongoing Debate

Focus: Terrance Roberts, seen here rallying for the community, is the primary focus of The Holly.

When asked about police corruption, as reported in The Holly, Brother Jeff states, “Initially, community and city collaborations regarding youth were done through a program known as Safe City. Mayor Webb placed this within the Manager of Safety office. That office is more than the police. It is Sheriff, fire, and even the Independent Monitor. Later GRID and Safe City kinda merged and Safe City became Safety Programs. This work is also under the Manager of Safety. I don’t know too much about police recruiting anyone from community based programs,” he explains. “They may have recruited confidential informants etc…, but no one I know would know anything about that.”

Meanwhile, Rubinstein denies having a partnership with Roberts, and is quick to defend his revelations about misappropriation of government funds for anti-gang, community outreach. “Because Brother Jeff didn’t hear of any DOJ funding doesn’t mean it wasn’t there,” he explains.

As with most polarized issues, the complaints are many and the grudges run deep — indicating the disputes arising from The Holly will smolder on. Which, alas, may help make Invisible Denver not so invisible.