Restaurateur Tim Veldhuizen aims to build on eclectic Greeley successes
Restaurateur aims to build on eclectic Greeley successes
GREELEY — Entrenched in Loveland at the time as owner of three restaurants, Tim Veldhuizen passed several years back when a customer proposed taking the 4th Street Chophouse concept and opening another location in Greeley. The idea stuck with Veldhuizen, however.
Veldhuizen sold his stakes in his Loveland restaurants in 2008 to move to his wife’s native Argentina. But when he returned to Colorado four years later looking for opportunity, he took a drive through Greeley and was hooked.
“The fact is, it’s a really nice town and has a lot of opportunity,” Veldhuizen said in a recent interview.
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Veldhuizen quickly seized on that opportunity, opening the Greeley Chophouse in early 2013, buying Moody’s American Grill later that year, and then opening the 1908 Speakeasy last summer. But he’s far from done. Veldhuizen said he’s got more concepts he’s looking to open — both in Greeley and beyond. He said that in his “fantasy world” he’d have as many as 20 restaurants along the northern Front Range.
“I’d like to develop a real strong, diverse Colorado company,” said Veldhuizen, who lives in Loveland again following the return from Argentina. “So hopefully we can get there.
“I think there’s still a few good opportunities in the Fort Collins market. I think there’s some opportunities in Loveland, Windsor, Estes Park, Longmont. I think there are still some open markets in all of those towns. So really the question is to find what would be the next best move.”
For Veldhuizen, a variety of styles is the name of the game, with Italian, breakfast, pizza and others high on his list. He’s also been looking lately for a place to open a craft brewery in Greeley.
While he doesn’t have a name for his overarching family of restaurants yet, he envisions the brewery providing a common theme.
“One of the things we’d like to do is get in on the brewing craze,” Veldhuizen said. “I think when we do that, we’ll kind of use the name of the brewery to thread everything together.”
Veldhuizen, a chef by trade, had co-owned the 4th Street Chophouse, McGraff’s American Grill and Cippoletti, an Italian restaurant that has since rebranded to Pourhouse Bar and Grill. While in Argentina, he opened the American-food-themed Colorado Grill before selling that to his chef there when he left.
Since his return, he’s worked with chef David Malthaner on shaping his current Greeley establishments. Veldhuizen said he’s not a “franchise guy,” and is eyeing everything from hotdogs to steaks and “anything in between” for his next ventures.
“That’s what makes it fun for me is to have the opportunity to do a variety of different things,” Veldhuizen said.
GREELEY — Entrenched in Loveland at the time as owner of three restaurants, Tim Veldhuizen passed several years back when a customer proposed taking the 4th Street Chophouse concept and opening another location in Greeley. The idea stuck with Veldhuizen, however.
Veldhuizen sold his stakes in his Loveland restaurants in 2008 to move to his wife’s native Argentina. But when he returned to Colorado four years later looking for opportunity, he took a drive through Greeley and was hooked.
“The fact is, it’s a really nice town and has a lot of opportunity,” Veldhuizen said…
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