Noble Riot has fallen on its sword.
The wine bar in Denver’s River North Art District decided not to reopen its doors for good last week after being closed since late May. Troy Bowen opened the spot at 1336 27th St., known for its small-batch wines and fried chicken buckets, in 2019.
“I tried to assemble a method of going forward after our initial closure,” Bowen told BusinessDen. “But I kind of was just at the end of my personal abilities and rope. My nervous system needed to reset.”
Bowen said a maintenance issue caused the initial closure, which he first thought would be temporary. But after evaluating his books, which saw ballooning labor and food costs, he decided it’d be best to close Noble. Sales were down 26% from 2023 to 2024, he said.
“Ask just about any restaurant owner, especially a small business or a small group, how small of a repair it would take to make them freak out and lose sleep,” Bowen said. “It wouldn’t be as much as you think. It’s razor-thin right now.”
Bowen also said the city’s rising minimum wage created a culture shift within his staff. When he opened in April 2019, he said, it felt like everyone was on the same page. But as more operators became outspoken about the regular pay hikes, he said, restaurant workers across the city saw their bosses as “a different species.”
Bowen also had several long-time staffers leave during the early part of the year, which kept him preoccupied with training and new hires at a time when other issues were bogging down the business. His staff size stayed between five and 10 during Noble’s entire run.
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Gratuity patterns also saw a big shift. When Noble first opened, the restaurant didn’t accept tips, although it included an optional 18% service charge on bills. In 2022, Bowen upped the charge to 20% and allowed tips. By the end, that number sat at 23%, with tips still allowed.
“In 2019, that would have been absolutely egregious, and we would have been laughed out of the city,” he said. “But by the end it was we’d see people tipping on top of the 23%.”
He said someone else has since taken over his lease at the 2,000-square-foot space, which is owned by the national retail real estate firm Edens. The sommelier, who got his start in the New York City wine scene in 2005, wants Noble to exist in some form in the future, but he doesn’t have any concrete plans yet.
He said he plans to teach classes and host Noble pop-ups in rotating venues in the meantime.
“In general, Denver now is much more inviting for out-of-towners than for people who live here and work here,” Bowen added. “It’s much easier for a national brand to move here and make progress versus someone like me who grew up here and doesn’t have the national portfolio but wants to have a small business and bring jobs here.”
Over the last year-and-a-half, Bowen said, he’s had several meetings with local and state officials to air his concerns. He said they were receptive to hearing him out but nothing has really changed.
Mayor Mike Johnston also used the opportunity to pitch him on opening along the 16th Street Mall – something Bowen never considered. He thinks the focus on the downtown corridor is a little misguided.
“All the things we were asking for in RiNo, (Johnston) was going to provide for 16th,” Bowen said. “Maybe making sure that’s a really good spot for tourism and a showpiece will bring up a larger part of the economy. But it still feels like I don’t go to 16th. I don’t see my friends going down there. It’s tourists. It feels a little bit that we were left behind.”
Noble Riot joins First Draft Taproom & Kitchen in calling it quits in RiNo recently. The self-serve beer hall shuttered last month after a 10-year run.
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