DENVER, Colo. — For the last four years, Roy Benoit and wife Casey Keller have prided themselves on serving up good food and good memories at Wendell’s Diner on Tennyson Street in Denver.
“It's not a clock-in-clock-out type of gig, but I wouldn't trade it for the world,” Benoit said.
A colorful letterboard above the bar bears a list of Wendell’s regulars — some don’t even live in the state, but they make it a point to stop by every time they’re in town.
“We've gotten to know these people, and we've become a part of this community, and it's been phenomenal to be able to do that,” Benoit said.
In a few weeks however, Wendell’s Diner anticipates finding itself on the growing list of Denver restaurants that have gone out of business.
“It's like every week there's a couple places closing and those are people, and those are lives,” he said. “[Our bartender] has a husband, and she has kids. When we go away, she has to find another job as well. You know, you don't see those stories. You just see, oh well, that place is gone.”
A new bill introduced this week by Reps. Steven Woodrow and Alex Valdez and Sen. Judy Amabile hope to ease the burden for restaurant owners like Benoit.
House Bill 1208, also known as the Restaurant Relief Bill, would make it so restaurants are only paying out a portion of tipped workers’ paychecks while tips make up the difference.
The bill will not decrease the non-tipped wage in any part of Colorado.
The Colorado Restaurant Association said this will save businesses money or let them allocate it elsewhere.
“It'll allow restaurant owners to be able to give more of their money to the back-of-the-house workers, which continually get left behind every time we see a minimum wage increase,” said Colorado Restaurant Association President and CEO Sonia Riggs.
On Friday, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce announced its support of the bill, which would particularly help restaurant owners in places like Denver where the minimum wage is higher.
“When we passed the minimum wage local government bill several years ago, we ended up unintentionally not kind of correcting the ratio of tip credit to minimum wage. And we need to keep that the same, because restaurants are very slim margin businesses, and they really use that money to both provide for other employees within the restaurant, but more importantly, to keep their small business going,” said Rep. Valdez.
According to data from the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, 92% of restaurants raised their menu prices, 68% reduced staff or cut hours and many have struggled to keep up with wage increases, especially for back-of-house employees so far in 2025.
About 80% of restaurant closures in Colorado have happened in Denver.
“It’s changing our landscape of a vibrant community into one where we're seeing doors shut every day, and it's just tragic,” Riggs added
Owners like Benoit said the bill is a step in the right direction, but their time feels like it is running out on Tennyson Street.
“It might be past the point where it makes a difference for us, and I know a lot of places, a lot of smaller places like us, sometimes things are a little bit too, little too late," he said.
The first hearing on the Restaurant Relief Bill will be held on Feb. 20.
