Panera Bread teams up to help Care and Share Food Bank

Panera Bread is rolling out a line of new breakfast sandwiches, and, in the process, hopes to help fill up the shelves at the Care and Share Food Bank of Southern Colorado. Starting Friday, June 20, Panera Bread will launch a line of grilled breakfast sandwiches in Colorado Springs and around the state. Through June 29, Panera customers who donate a non-perishable breakfast item to Care and Share will receive a free breakfast sandwich. Panera has three varieties of its new breakfast sandwiches: egg and cheese; bacon, egg and cheese; and sausage, egg and cheese. Breads of the World, a Panera franchisee, owns and operates 22 Panera Bread locations in Colorado, including four in Colorado Springs. More information: www.panera-colorado.com.

Local Village Inn restaurant shuts down

The parent of Village Inn yielded to the weakening economy and its heavy debt, filing for bankruptcy and closing 56 restaurants across the country. In Colorado, four restaurants shut down Wednesday, including the one at 8050 N. Academy Blvd. in Colorado Springs. Denver-based Vicorp Restaurants hopes to stay alive through its Chapter 11 petition, keeping its remaining 343 Village Inn and Bakers Square restaurants open.

Hooters turns 25

Hooters is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with a $25,000 giveaway on the 25th of every month. Each customer will receive a scratch card with the possibility of winning an instant $25,000 or be entered into a second chance drawing in which 25 customers will win $1,000.

Six businessmen in Clearwater, Fla., opened the first Hooters in 1983. Hooters has since grown to more than 440 locations in 43 states and 25 countries, including two locations in Colorado Springs.

Two Colorado foodie companies link products

Two Colorado-based companies have created a tasty partnership.

Beginning this month, Village Inn restaurants are offering a bite of Boulder Sausage.

As part of Village Inn's Legendary Restaurants and Recipes promotion, the restaurant chain owned by VICORP Restaurants of Denver is offering Boulder Sausage skillet dishes, a Boulder Sausage platter and a Boulder Italian Sausage sandwich. Also new at Village Inn this month are two pot roast recipes from the Dorset Inn in Vermont.

The Legendary Restaurants and Recipes promotion started in the fall of 2007 with blueberry stuffed French toast from the Maples Inn in Maine and a handful of recipes made with seasonings from the Perini Ranch Steakhouse in Texas. More new dishes following the theme will be added throughout this year.

Smoothie King opens in Springs

Three Colorado Springs residents have opened a Smoothie King at 9275 N. Union Blvd., in the King Soopers shopping center at the Marketplace at Briargate. The store offers more than 50 made-to-order smoothies plus healthy living products such as energy bars and vitamin supplements. Smoothie King is a New Orleans-based franchise company with roughly 450 stores in 34 states.

Former Vegas chef departs local hospital for his own gig

Chester Wright, head chef at the new Memorial Hospital North, has moved on.

The former executive chef at the Mirage in Las Vegas started working at the hospital when it opened in April and recently received funding to open his own restaurant in northern Colorado, said Joy Powell, Memorial Hospital North's vice president and administrator.

The hospital's Garden Terrace Cafe, which is building a reputation on serving gourmet-inspired healthy cuisine, is run by independent contractor Sodexho, which is narrowing the list of chef candidates, Powell said.

Four finalists are competing in a cooking contest with five-course meals administrators taste as part of the selection process for the job.

"We have people from the community coming daily to eat lunch and dinner here because of the good food and great prices," Powell said.

Spicky Pickle opening in Springs

The Spicy Pickle is opening Tuesday at 1466 W. Garden of the Gods Road, the first of three locations planned in Colorado Springs. The Denver-based franchise has about two-dozen restaurants in Colorado and elsewhere.

What’s on the menu? From the Spicy Pickle Web site: “Spicy Pickle restaurants serve high quality meats and fine Italian artisan breads, along with a wide choice of ten different cheeses, twenty-one different toppings, and fifteen proprietary spreads to create healthy and delicious panini and sub sandwiches with flavors from around the world.”

Krumbz crumbles

Robert "Chef Rob" Lemoine and girlfriend Pamela Raver opened Krumbz cake and pastry shop in early June at 321 N. Tejon St., the former Tejon Street Grocery and Deli. Within a month, they were gone, said Scott Long, who owns the building.

Long, who also owns the neighboring Tejon Street Wine Shoppe, said he learned Krumbz had closed when he found the store’s sign tossed in the trash. “He moved out overnight,” Long said of Lemoine.

Lemoine acknowledes he gave no warning. The rent was too high and business was too slow the first month, he said. “We started with really low capital,” he said.

Downtown Jamba Juice closing

Downtown Colorado Springs suffered another loss today as Jamba Juice, 15 E. Bijou St., was set to close its doors for good at 7 p.m. The downtown smoothie and juice shop opened 10 years ago as Zuka Juice.

“It’s our last day,” said franchise owner Dean Patzel. “Kind of a sad finish to 10 years.”

Patzel and his wife, Diane, own three other Jamba Juice stores in the Springs. They’re staying open, he said.

The downtown location was not an underperformer, he said. In fact, business has been up, possibly because of the closings in recent months of Michelle’s and Cold Stone Creamery downtown. But the shop was at an age that it needed a face-lift, he said, and corporate wanted a site with higher volume and more exposure.

“I agree with them,” Patzel said. “We’re excited about growth and we’d like to pursue opening a few more stores in town. This is kind of the first step in that whole process.”

It'z is on its way

It’z, a family dining and entertainment center, has broken ground on the east side of Colorado Springs.

The 45,000-square-foot facility will be at 3035 New Center Point at First & Main Town Center. Slated to open in March 2008, it will be the first It’z in Colorado and the third in the nation.

It’z offers an all-you-can-eat Italian buffet with four themed dining areas and entertainment including indoor rides, bowling and more than 150 video games.

A taste of New York may be coming to Springs

Johnny’s Lunch, a 71-year-old dining institution in Jamestown, N.Y, has ambitious expansion plans — and Colorado Springs is part of those plans.

Johnny’s has just begun to expand; the first Johnny’s restaurant outside Jamestown is set to open Tuesday in Toledo, Ohio. George Goulson, Johnny’s chief development officer, said there are commitments for more than 100 franchises and he expects to have deals for 500 by the end of the year.

Johnny’s is in talks with a Colorado Springs group to build 14 or so restaurants in the Springs area, he said. Goulson was in town recently for the Multi-Unit Franchising Conference and Expo 2007 at The Broadmoor hotel.

“We have had a number of people that have shown interest in various parts of Colorado, including Denver, but we haven’t begun discussions yet with them,” Goulson said. “We are in serious discussions with the Colorado Springs group.”

Johnny’s menu includes hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, shakes and rice pudding, with carryout and sit-down service.

2006 Burrito EZ

Chipotle Mexican Grill wants to make the last-minute rush to file your taxes a little bit taxing with a free burrito.
Here’s what to do: Visit Chipotle this weekend and buy a burrito, taco, burrito bol or salad. Save your receipt. Fill out the all-in-fun 2006 BurritoEZ form available at Chipotle. Then return Monday (April 16), the day before tax day, with your receipt and form to get a free burrito.

Pizza party

Colorado Springs is getting its second Chuck E. Cheese’s family fun restaurant.
Hiring has begun at a Chuck E. Cheese’s built at 2925 Geyser Drive, near the Colorado Springs World Arena. The restaurant has a tentative opening date of May 7, a spokesperson for CEC Entertainment Inc. said.

Irving, Texas-based CEC consists of about 485 corporately owned and operated Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurants and 45 franchise restaurants.

The Springs’ other Chuck E. Cheese’s, which started out as ShowBiz Pizza Place, is at 5156 N. Academy Blvd.

Tastes like chicken!

Starting April 16, Chipotle Mexican Grill will serve only naturally raised chicken at its Colorado restaurants. With that step, Colorado will join a select group of other Chipotle markets nationwide serving all naturally raised meat. In addition to its use of naturally raised meats, Chipotle recently began serving sour cream that’s free of the synthetic hormone rBGH in all of its restaurants.

More free coffee

Hey, wait a minute, says Darin Clark, owner of the Pikes Perk

at 1616 S. 8th St. Why does Starbucks get an article about its free coffee giveaway for a paltry two hours on March 15 (Business section, March 14)

For the past year since he bought the business, Clark has been giving away free coffee EVERY DAY. That's right. Stop by Pikes Perk if you want a complimentary cup of brewed coffee between 5:30 and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 3:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 to 2 p.m. Sunday.

And, customers can choose a 12-, 16- or 20-ounce cup.

The reason for his generosity is simple, Clark says. "It's the half hour before I close, and it's either give it away or throw it away."

Downtown soup restaurant to open in late March

Bad weather and delays in obtaining permits from the city planning office have pushed back the Original SoupMan’s opening at 10 S. Tejon St. to the end of March, says owner Debra Canale. Interior painting starts March 5 and Canale says the rest of the work “should go quickly after that. If everything goes as planned, we should be open by the third week in March, but it should be no later than the last week of March.” The restaurant is part of the franchise gourmet soup operation owned by the chef, Al Yeganeh, made famous on the “Seinfeld” sitcom as “The Soup Nazi.”

A serving of restaurant news

In the heart of downtown, at 729 Manitou Ave., it seems like a prime location for a quality eatery and yet no one seems to be able to make it work for the long term. The latest attempt, operating under the name Ned's on Manitou — A Funky California Cafe and Bakery in Colorado, just shut down after about a year under the management of four Southern California transplants, Adam James, Samantha Sloan, Eddie Curry and Kit James. The phone's been disconnected and there's a sign in the window saying "Ned's is history." Manitou Bakery, Breadheads and Sugar Magnolia’s were all "history" at that location before Ned's. ...

Ranch Steakhouse manager Steve Abeyta says the Garden of Gods restaurant is not going to undergo an immediate name change, in the aftermath of its split with minority partner Mike Callicrate. "We're putting in a bar and making a number of changes," Abeyta said, "so we've decided to wait until we are further along with that." Callicrate left when majority ownership decided to stop serving no-hormone, no-antibiotic Ranch Direct meats. ....

With COSMIX making access a persistent problem, the New South Wales restaurant at 5905 Corporate Dr., on the city's north side, is shutting down for the next few months to do some remodeling.

Cowgirls Subs moving to Colorado Springs

Cowgirls Subs, an independent sandwich shop, is moving from Sheridan, Wyio. into a 1,400-square-foot space in the art deco Padgett Building at 301 E. Platte Ave. Building co-owner Pat Mika said the restaurant has a five-year lease and is expected to open around April 1. Pat Blair of the Sheridan Press newspaper said Cowgirls had been in Sheridan, a city of about 16,000, for more than two years and was widely praised for its soups, sandwiches and deserts. "Colorado Springs is getting a small gem," Blair said. Also, Mercury LDO, which specializes in large-document scanning and printing, signed a seven-year lease with a five-year option to occupy a 6,000-square-foot space in the recently remodeled Padgett building last August. One 3,000-square-foot space remains.

Washington pizza chain coming to the Springs

Garlic Jim’s Famous Gourmet Pizza of Everett, Wash., has signed a sub-franchise agreement to open 25 stores in Colorado Springs and Denver by 2011. Solomon Franchise Development Inc. will open its first Denver store in May and sub-franchise the remaining 24 units to other operators. "Through my experience in the pizza marketplace, I've identified Garlic Jim's as a company that will be successful, and I want to be a part of it," said Valerie Solomon, president of SFD. From 2004 to 2006, Garlic Jim’s has grown from two to 36 units, and the company has 93 units under development or contract.

A side order of restaurant news

Champps Entertainment Inc. of Littleton has agreed to sell its assets to a New York private equity firm. Champps owns and operates 49 restaurants and franchises or licenses another 13. Champp's has a restaurant at The Promenade Shops at Briargate plus two in the Denver metro area, at the Park Meadows and Aspen Grove shopping centers. Under the terms of the deal, an investment entity formed by Kinderhook will pay $75 million for the company and assume all of its liabilities, including outstanding debt. The Champps corporate entity will remain a publicly held company and intends to invest the proceeds from the sale into another business. ....

The Taco Bell restaurant at 405 East Platte Ave. - long a favorite of Palmer High students - is closed at least until March in order for the franchisee to do a complete remodel to a more modern design that the chain calls "Bold Choice." ...