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Downtown Partnership, Chamber and restaurant association urge council to consider relief for restaurants
Summary
Business groups — including the Downtown Boulder Partnership, Boulder Chamber and Colorado Restaurant Association — told the council that restaurants face narrow margins and closure risk; several urged the city to convene a task force or pursue targeted relief instead of retaining policies that harm employers.
Representatives of downtown businesses and statewide trade groups asked the Boulder City Council on July 30 to consider targeted supports for restaurants facing rising costs and shrinking visitation.
Tammy Dorr, CEO of the Downtown Boulder Partnership, told council that 85% of downtown restaurants are locally owned, operate on low margins and support broader downtown activity; she urged the city to establish a restaurant industry and workforce task force to bring owners, workers, labor representatives and experts together to develop longer-term, mutually supported solutions.
Jonathan Singer, senior director of policy programs at the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, and Jade Re Wood, government affairs coordinator for the Colorado Restaurant Association, described industry-wide trends including a decline in restaurant employment and closures statewide; the CRA cited nearly 498 restaurant closures in 2025 statewide. They recommended collaborative problem-solving and suggested the task force model to develop durable solutions rather than a one-off policy change.
Council members repeatedly returned to the idea of a task force during debate, with several members urging that the group be convened quickly and include labor, landlords, and other stakeholders to identify options that might include fee adjustments, permitting relief, or other city-led supports to sustain local restaurants while protecting workers' pay.
