Interview with Ben Jacobs and Matt Chandra, co-owners and co-founders
Q: How did you get involved in this business?
A: We recognized that American Indian cuisine was severely underrepresented and wanted to take the opportunity to fill that gap. We saw what Ben’s parents were doing at Grayhorse: An American Indian Eatery, and used that as a launching pad to create an even more accessible concept with our fast-casual approach and comfortable, family-style environment.
Q: What distinguishes you from other businesses in your category?
A: Founded in 2008, Tocabe is the only American Indian-owned and -operated restaurant in metro Denver and is available at two locations in north Denver and Greenwood Village. Tocabe creates a fresh take on American Indian cuisine using Ben’s family recipes from Grayhorse: An American Indian Eatery, along with additional Osage recipes. In 2012, Tocabe was featured on the hit Food Network show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” and the restaurant was also recently voted No. 1 in Denver in a Zagat survey of top fast-casual chains.
Q: What do you like best about your line of work?
A: That we get to hang out together all the time and eat great food! We love being able to bring awareness and a voice to a culinary experience that is somewhat unknown to the general public. We truly appreciate being able to educate our patrons about American Indian culture through food.
Q: What is your business’ biggest challenge?
A: Sometimes it can be difficult to entice people to come experience our food and environment because our food is unfamiliar — many people at first glance don’t know what American Indian food means. Additionally, the fast-casual concept is booming in Denver right now, which is creating a lot of competition and making it more difficult to stand out from the crowd.
Q: Something people might be surprised to learn about you or your business:
A: We travel to tribal and reservation communities to work with them on their community development and that is also where we learn different cooking techniques and new recipes. It is very important to us to work toward creating a voice for Native American cuisine and native foods. We spend a lot of time working with tribal-owned and native-owned businesses to bring in traditional foods and help grow that supply chain.
Profile
Business: Tocabe, An American Indian Eatery
Address: 8181 E. Araphoe Road, Greenwood Village
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon-8 p.m. Sunday
Founded: 2008
Contact: 720-485-6738; ; @tocabe
Employees:41
