A bagel by any other name would be as round

Gib’s. Everybody in Fort Collins knows the name. It has become almost synonymous with “bagel” and has taken over Brian Long’s given name. He’s Gib.

Now Mike Howland is at the helm of Gib’s Bagels, to the resounding approval of the bagel man himself.

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“I just went in to the new store on Olive (until last month, the Olive Street Bakery) in downtown Fort Collins to give it the once over,” Long said. “Mike is doing an awesome job of carrying the name and the culture of the business. I worried about that because I had built it up. We closed the sale in August 2008. We’ve been friends since.”

Howland tells the story of how he and “Gib” met.

“I was in IT with Norlarco when it folded (in 2007),” Howland said. “When Public Service Credit Union took it over, it didn’t seem like a good fit for me, and so I started looking to buy a business. Over that cup of coffee we started talking about my buying Gib’s. He had been doing it for 20 years and was ready for a change.”

Employees stayed after the deal was sealed, and Howland has hired only one new employee in the last year.

“I purchased the Olive Street Bakery last fall and kept it as it was,” Howland said. “But the timing seemed good to have another Gib’s.”

Long agreed timing is everything.

“We tried to open a Gib’s downtown eight years ago,” he said. “But then there were three bagel shops – one of them ours on College Avenue – the market was saturated. Now there are none. It is a good opportunity for Mike.”

Howland explained that he will keep the bakery for wholesale operations, but the store will now be a Gib’s, at the ready for breakfast and the ever-familiar grab-and-go bagel with sun-dried tomato cream cheese.

By the way, Long has taken up a new challenge: health insurance. The name of his new venture? Gib’s Insurance. Of course.

One hotel, many challenges

“Every city needs a full-service hotel and conference center,´ said Bruce Rahmani, now the receiver for – and a potential buyer of – the hotel formerly known as the Clarion in downtown Greeley now in foreclosure. “We are as of April an independent hotel and conference center: The Plaza. So we can begin addressing the special challenges of a full-service hotel.”

Rahmani shares the opinion of many that a hotel just a block away from the Union Colony Civic Center with no competition in the conference market should be doing very well. What is the problem here?

A run of names tells part of the story. Before the hotel was the Plaza Hotel and Conference Center, it was the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center; before that the Best Western Regency Hotel; and before that, the Best Western Ramkota Hotel, once the number one banquet and conference spot in town.

Certainly in the buy-and-sell world of hotel management, names and flags change like Larry King’s wives. But at 701 Eighth St., each change marked a little slippage. In a bad economy, being a little worn around the edges is forgivable. Rats and health violations are not. When Lopiano’s Downtown Grille, the hotel’s contracted restaurant, went down (it closed in 2008), so did the rest of the operation.

“A full-service hotel is more challenging to run than a limited-service hotel,” Rahmani said. “You not only have to know the hotel business, you have to understand how restaurants work. I have that experience. I own the Hickory Prime Steak House in Denver, and co-own others. I have a corporate chef for my hotels who works with the staff here on banquets.”

In addition to bringing the full-service side of the property up to a standard befitting its premier location (he has already added complimentary hot breakfasts for guests), Rahmani is in the process of resolving the more mundane issues of heating and cooling and supplying enough hot water for morning showers in a fully booked hotel.

“I have listened to customers and have done my homework,” he said. “Now that the hotel has finally gone into foreclosure, we can move ahead with negotiations with the bank.”

Since there appears to be no earthly reason why a hotel so well located should be so beset by bad luck, he might also enter into negotiations with descendents of the Cheyenne, who “ceded” all their claims to the land in the Greeley area in 1865.

There are precedents for ancestral interventions. From time to time in the Hawaiian islands, a resort developer will intrude on ancient burial grounds. Little things start to go wrong, and when they do, no one hesitates to bring in a kahuna to bring peace back to a troubled place.

Calling in a Cheyenne shaman might be in order here, just to say, “Hello, we would like to compete with the limited-service hotels near the mall. How about a hand?”

Just a thought.

Spring storms

Changes great and small, plus and minus, have peppered the restaurant business like pea-sized hail this spring.

On the plus side:

The Hobnobber Tavern in Greeley? Back with a shorter name: The Tavern at St. Michaels. St. Michael’s Town Square in west Greeley, developed by David Calvin, looked full of promise in 2003. Then the project’s angels fled, emptying a property that now seemed overpriced. But Brett Hill, a fan of the Hobnobber, paid attention, and when the prices settled down, he and his brother, Brian, bought the property.

Mad Cow Restaurant? Open in Greeley, filling the space once occupied by Salvador Deli. Grilled sandwiches, homemade soups and a full bar will replace deli fare.

On the minus side:

Johnny Carino’s? Gone, at least in Fort Collins. Why? The representative for owner Fired Up Inc. said only, “We did not renew our leases at the Westminster or Fort Collins locations. We look forward to serving you and your family at our other Colorado locations: Lakewood, Greeley, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Loveland, Grand Junction, Longmont, and Parker.”

Starbucks by CSU? Gone. Numerous local coffee spots that did not think this was bad news are still available for that latte fix.

Honey Baked Ham in Fort Collins and Greeley? Gone. Honey Baked kiosks will most likely pop up at King Soopers during ham-heavy holiday seasons, however.

Jane Albritton is a contributing writer for the Northern Colorado Business Report. Her monthly column features restaurant and hospitality industry news. She can be contacted at jane@tigerworks.com.