The next time you go into one of Troy Guard’s restaurants, your server might be a screen.
The prominent chef is rolling out a new way to order at the recently opened Big Wave Taco, a Mexican concept that replaced Guard’s Los Chingones outpost in Denver’s Central Park neighborhood a month ago.
At 10155 E. 29th Drive, instead of the traditional tableside waiter, customers can now order their tacos and margs from a kiosk, through a QR code or walk up to the bar.
“We’re just trying something a little different,” Guard said of the switch. “Everyone’s having challenges with a whole lot of things. It’s like tetris every day, and I’m just trying to survive.”
The biggest one of those is Denver’s rising minimum wage for tipped workers, Guard said, along with reduced customer spending and a slow city permitting process. He said sales have dipped 15% this year at his restaurant group’s three “casual” concepts — Los Chingones, TAG Burger Bar and HashTAG. That’s coming off a year when business was down about 10%.
The one spot the Hawaiian-native isn’t looking to change is upscale downtown steakhouse Guard and Grace. He said it’s his only local restaurant where revenue and profit are up.
“People go to Los Chingones or HashTAG for $20 to $24,” he said. “But now they’re looking to spend a dollar or two less. Central Park has been more challenging because it’s a neighborhood community and people are watching their money a little closer.”
Guard doesn’t know if Big Wave — which he previously operated in an area food hall — will stick at the building, which also houses Hashtag and TAG Burger Bar locations. He said numbers haven’t been where he wants them so far, but he’s optimistic that will turn around once school is back in session, football season starts and the word gets out more.
Los Chingones had operated in Central Park since 2017. If Big Wave doesn’t work out, Guard said he could pull from the myriad of concepts he’s done since opening his first spot, TAG, in 2009.
“I’ve done quite a bit of concepts, so I think it might be kinda fun to change it up,” he said, mentioning a seafood restaurant and pizza joint as possible replacements. “But I don’t know if it’ll be in three months or six months if at all.”
If nothing else, though, Big Wave will be the first run of a model that will likely be replicated at his other Denver restaurants. At the original Los Chingones in RiNo, Guard said he’s going to add QR codes with menus and ordering options to the tables. At an upcoming HashTAG in Wheat Ridge, breakfastgoers will order from a kiosk, get a number and walk up to a window to pick up their food.
“I don’t know if it’ll start next week or next year, but we are doing our due diligence and seeing where our numbers land,” Guard said. “It just sucks right now.”
The Colorado business climate drove Guard to move a year ago to Houston, where he opened a Guard and Grace in 2019. He still comes back to Denver weekly but said has no plans to open something new in Denver “for a long time.”
But Guard did say he has three letters of intent out for spaces in Texas’ largest city. He’s also slated to open Guard and Grace in Charlotte next year and will sign another lease for that brand soon, he said.
He said opening in other cities is smoother than in Denver, where his last three spots were delayed.
Done Deal, a cocktail bar in Republic Plaza, missed its target opening date by a year. The downtown HashTAG, which opened at the corner of 17th and Lawrence in April, was 14 months behind. The one in Wheat Ridge has had its launch pushed back a year and a half, he said.
“I’ve had talks with the city and mayor, and quite honestly, nothing else has been done,” Guard added, referring to Denver. “I don’t like to bad mouth, but I’ll just take my business elsewhere if that’s what it comes down to. I’m just frustrated.”