Downtown has lost another restaurant.
Mono Mono Hot Korean Fried Chicken closed last week for good after four years at 1550 Blake St.
Owner J.W. Lee, who operates 21 other restaurants in Colorado and one in New York City, said rising costs combined with a downtick in business contributed to the spot’s downfall.
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Lee said sales are down anywhere from 25% to 35% this year across his entire fleet of restaurants, which operate under Seoul Hospitality Group. He said about a third of his ingredients, such as spices and herbs, come from Korea, and costs for those have jumped 20% since President Donald Trump’s tariffs took effect.
“Before any of this, my calculations were negative,” Lee said, explaining that Mono Mono wasn’t expected to turn a profit even before the macroeconomic factors set in. “And if I have to pay more money for ingredients and more for employees, well, I didn’t see any hope in this.”
Denver’s rising minimum wage was a factor, Lee said. Not only was it more of an expense, but it added confusion for the restaurateur, who has spots across Lakewood, Aurora and Colorado Springs as well.
He said the differences occasionally created a contentious culture, with some staff saying they wanted to work only in his Denver restaurants. The issue came up so often that, at the beginning of this year, he changed company policy to make it so employees work in only one city.
Signage was also a problem, not only for Lee but for the entire 1500 block of Blake Street. After he and several others on the block were cited by Denver for various code violations, he scrambled to try to find a replacement beacon.
But between navigating the Community Planning and Development Department, the Landmark Preservation Commission and a private signmaker, he ended up taking the restaurant’s signage down in early summer to avoid fines and never replaced it. Other restaurants on the block, like D’Corazon Mexican Restaurant, also sit unmarked.
“It’s ridiculous — like, come on. In general, in the city of Denver, it’s a nightmare,” he said. “It’s such a headache running what feels like different businesses in the same state.”
Lee said he still has time left on his Blake Street lease but is working with his landlord and other local operators to try to get the space filled.
Mono Mono is the fifth closing of the year for Lee, who also shuttered a ramen spot in Riverfront Park and three other concepts in Aurora. He also plans to close Mono GoGo, a fast-casual version of Mono Mono, in Lakewood by the end of the month.
Lee still has a downtown Denver presence. Menya Noodle Bar at the corner of 16th and Champa streets is still rolling despite being “hit hard” by mall construction, he said. The eatery recently added a patio, so he’s going to let it stay for a year or two more and reevaluate.
For future spots, Lee said he is avoiding Denver and wants to focus on Colorado Springs and Fort Collins.
“I have hope that it will get better. It’s just a matter of how I can survive in this period,” Lee said. “I have to go through this pain, and if I have this much pain, I know a lot of other restaurant operators have a lot of big pains too. We just got to work hard.”