The Who’s Who

  • The Renegade

    The service industry has been consistently shifting for the past two decades and has grown immensely in scope for what consumers expect from small businesses to provide to gain their business. Josh has been at the center of these dynamic shifts during the entire development of his career, while being a part of the team or leading the whole business in adapting to the changing environment.

    He started his path working in kitchens as a line cook, which quickly shifted into becoming Chef de Cuisine and then Executive Chef. He soon realized that in order to run a successful business he would need to learn all facets of small business. He shifted into FOH Operations and while doing so, he gained a firm grasp on both departments. As the final piece, he began working side-by-side with ownership on all the little things that go into creating the strong cornerstones of a successful business.

    Josh’s path led him to cooking personally for former President Obama, opening 5,000 sqft restaurants, to restructuring 3 concepts at a time, leading teams over 100, national brand events, article pieces like Thrillist, Boston Magazine, and Boston Globe, among others. He has worked in almost every state in New England, as well as New York, Las Vegas and now here in beautiful Colorado. He has made a point to work in every area of the service industry from dishwasher to fully autonomous operator, in every type of concept the industry could provide him to sink his drive into. He did so meticulously through both impactful failures and successes with one single goal, to be able to both create and maintain success.

    Josh sits on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Restaurant Association, Mile High Chapter.

Founder

  • Tony created Qdoba Mexican Grill and as President, led the concept to 75 locations, including 30 company and 45 franchise locations. Qdoba sold for $45 million, delivering an IRR over 20% to all investors. Today, Qdoba operates over 700 locations with sales over $1 billion. He is also a co-founder of Fire Bowl Café, a successful chain of Asian fast casual restaurants. Tony has owned restaurants for over 30 years. All operate today.

    Tony believes in elevating fast food by using the best ingredients in dishes concocted by the best chefs. He strives to assemble and inspire teams of people with good energy and a desire to always improve, develop systems to support managers, and reward high performers at all levels.

    Concept creation and evolution, management systems and operational efficiencies are Tony's main focuses. He also is extremely knowledgable in franchise development, site selection, construction, and legal and finance areas.

    The beginning of his career started with Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in the Global Leveraged Finance Group in New York. Soon after, Tony transitioned to a Vice President in private equity.

    Tony graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA in Finance. Working in restaurants certainly helped to finance his college expenses.

  • The Aesthetic

    Originally from Northeast Pennsylvania, Kristy graduated with a Bachelor's in English from PSU and has been supplying her personal splashes of color in every venture since. While managing her family’s lawn care business for 10 years, Kristy quickly realized successfully operating a business requires more than most think. Intrigued, she methodically worked her way through each position within the company (yes, even out in the field with knee-high rubber boots and chemical-resistant clothing), until she was confident she could run the ship solo if it came down to it.

    Over the next 5 years, Kristy burst out of the Northeast PA bubble and landed in the City of Angels, where she worked in PR while also picking up side jobs at bistros and brewhouses. From there, she high-tailed it to Denver and continued to broaden her wisdom in the restaurant industry. Between cultivating cohesion and elevating company culture amongst teams, implementing organized systems for use across food truck events, and discovering exactly what kind of grit it takes to open a restaurant, Kristy found an excuse to pepper in some of her operational aptitude and aesthetic innovation on every occasion.

    Sometimes plans don’t go exactly as forecasted, and if anything drove that home, it was the 2020 Pandemic. But through it all, Kristy has found that adapting and applying sensible structure to each and every situation is how you come out on top.

Managing Partner

Partner