Restaurateur Troy Guard will open five new restaurants in the next nine months, adding to the nine restaurants that currently comprise his local culinary empire, from to Los Chingones.
“It’s a really tough business,” he said of the razor-thin margins. “I’ve lost a lot of hair over the years. But it’s what I love to do.”
Last year, revenues from his restaurants added up to between $15 million and $20 million.
Things didn’t look so promising back in 2009, when he opened his first restaurant on Larimer Street.
Guard’s culinary reputation, honed at owned by the Sullivan Restaurant Group, had led Larimer Associates CEO Jeff Hermanson to recruit him to start TAG, a chic spot where local ingredients are combined into classic and contemporary dishes.
A talented chef, Guard had worked with such celebrated chefs as Roy Yamaguchi, a pioneer of Hawaiian-inspired cuisine, and Richard Sandoval at Zengo, Denver’s first Latin-Asian fusion restaurant.
Hermanson loved , which combined his Hawaiian roots with Pan-Asian inspirations. But just a few months after TAG opened, it teetered on closing. Hermanson hurried over to stage an “intervention.”
“He opened this great restaurant as an extension of his persona but was on the verge of running it into the ground,” said Hermanson.
He had lots of customers, but his bottom line was “horrendous,” said Hermanson, who pulled out the financial books and showed him how his operating costs were way too high.
“I had this conversation with him, and he got it — he really got it,” Hermanson said. “In a short period of time, he got a handle on it, and his restaurant became one of the most profitable on the block.”
Since then, Guard has built a reputation for fusing culinary talent with business acumen. He recently returned from a trip to Washington, where he received the 2016 Small Business Person of the Year award from the Small Business Council of America.
David Sternberg, executive vice president of Brookfield Office Properties, which owns two of Denver’s tallest office towers — Republic Plaza and 1801 California — first met Guard when he was talking to potential chefs who might open a restaurant at the latter space.
“Troy had wonderful ideas,” said Sternberg. “He was very focused, and we thought he was a very good businessperson.”
When Sternberg started the $5 million renovation of Republic Plaza, he talked to Guard about opening an outpost of his fast-casual concept, Bubu, which will open in that space in September.
“He’s an extraordinary partner with a great mind,” said Sternberg.
To succeed in the competitive restaurant business, Guard is quick to tweak a concept if it’s not working — which is why he closed Bubu in Lowry, which opened in February 2015.
He’d expected its Asian-fusion menu of shared plates and ramen bowls to be popular, but soon discovered an obstacle in the suburbs that didn’t exist in downtown Denver, where Bubu debuted in a lower-level space on Larimer Square.
“Not everyone wants to eat out,” he said. “It’s a handful with kids. People want (food) they can relate to, and that travels well.”
Lots of families preferred take-out meals that could easily be transported back home for a family dinner. Chinese food seemed to fit all those requirements.
So he closed last week, and it will reopen on May 20 as Lucky Cat, which will serve traditional Chinese dishes. Take-out meals will be part old school — cartons, chopsticks, fortune cookies — and part modern, with curbside service. There will be two dedicated parking spaces for those who want quick pickups, or if the bill is paid with a credit card, they’ll deliver the food right to the car.
People can also eat at the restaurant, which has a patio and a family-night menu along with happy-hour snacks like sushi.
The opening of Lucky Cat will kick off a busy season for Guard, who will open five more restaurants by February.
Mister Tuna, a new concept, will open in July in the on Brighton Boulevard in River North.
Bubu will open in the in September.
In October, he’ll open two restaurants in Stapleton’s Eastbridge Town Center — a third Los Chingones, and a new breakfast concept that’s still unnamed.
In February 2017, he’ll open a restaurant in the Highland neighborhood — most likely a tavern or TAG Burger Bar, he said, because that neighborhood already has lots of taquerias.
For all his restaurants, Guard has been recruited by people who want a Guard restaurant in their space, and then he starts his decision-making process.
First, he considers whether he likes the neighborhood. Then he analyzes whether he has enough staff — and the right people — to open the space.
And then he starts walking the area, and talking to people about what type of restaurant they need.
That’s how it worked as he developed the nameless Eastbridge breakfast joint — which he describes as a combination of a Denny’s, Sam’s No. 3 and Snooze.
“More and more people are working from home,” he said. “They want a place to hang out, have a meeting and eat. There’s nothing really out there in Stapleton, where I’ve lived for four years.”
His other new concept, Mister Tuna, isn’t a seafood place — even though the name might suggest that.
“Mister Tuna was my dad’s nickname,” Guard said. “We grew up in Hawaii, and we used to eat with a lot of people all the time.”
So Mister Tuna celebrates social eating and gathering together in RiNo, which is one of his favorite neighborhoods.
“It’s up-and-coming,” he said. “We’re a bit early going in, so things might be tight for a while until the area develops, but I feel strongly about that location.”
Colleen O’Connor: 303-954-1083, coconnor@denverpost.com or @coconnordp
