Old meets new at Union Bar and Soda Fountain

FORT COLLINS — Does the idea of combining a bar serving alcohol with a family-friendly diner and soda fountain sound a bit odd? Union Bar and Soda Fountain co-owner Ty Fulcher says it shouldn’t — if you’re at all familiar with American history.

“A lot of soda fountains were inspired off of apothecaries, the old drug stores that were using tinctures and soda waters for medicines,” Fulcher said. Mineral springs that bubbled up from the Earth were believed to have healing powers, “and the pharmacies added soda fountains.”

From its focus on fun, bubbly drinks to its sparkling sodas, shakes and malts and classic diner food, Union — which opened Feb. 28 in Old Town Fort Collins — is a step back in time, a tribute to that slice of American history, right down to the vintage green mixer displayed on a wall that was used to make fountain drinks at Sol & Dicks in Fort Collins in the 1940s.

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“Union’s a modern take on a classic American soda fountain and diner,” Fulcher said. “Malts and milkshakes. Egg creams. Phosphates. All our sodas are made here and made to order. Our craft cocktails have beautiful garnishes, fresh flavors — more of a bright, patio sipping type drink.”

The bar keeps to the old-pharmacy theme, serving “over the counter” non-alcoholic drinks and
“prescription only” adult beverages.

Along with the shakes and malts, “Our food side is inspired by diners as well,” Fulcher said. Chef Joel Ryan, who ran The Kitchen’s kitchen for its first two years and also had been corporate chef for Oracle’s Broomfield campus, “came up with a bunch of classics. His fried chicken we feature on Mondays. He’s also come up with some great burgers, a Monte Cristo and a croquet monsieur,” a sandwich on toast with béchamel, egg and ham.

Breakfast items are served all day, and one of Fulcher’s favorites is the “Blue Collar American,” featuring two fried eggs, potato hash, pecanwood-smoked bacon, toast and jam for $8.95.

The menu features such items as house-made doughnuts, a vegetarian mushroom-walnut burger and a sea salt-caramel milkshake. And where else could you find a ginger or hibiscus float or a maple-flavored egg cream, the New York favorite made not with eggs but with milk, syrup and soda?

Soda fountains reached their heyday in the ‘40s and ‘50s as community gathering places, and that social aspect comes naturally for Fulcher and partner Ryan Houdek. The pair also opened the popular Social basement speakeasy on Old Town Square. “I had worked for Ryan previously at The Melting Pot and always tried to open my own place,” Fulcher said, “and he’s been a business mentor for years.” Houdek also owns the Rodizio Grill location in Old Town.

“We thought Social was an instant success, but this is even more,” Fulcher said. In a spring 2017 article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan, the pair said they expected between 5,000 and 8,000 customers per month at Union — but after just five months, Fulcher said, “we’re just about to hit 100,000 guests through the door.”

Union can seat 175 people inside and 125 on the patio, and crowds like that mean jobs for “just under 80 employees,” Fulcher said. “We’re doing 1,000 (customers) on Saturdays alone, so we’ve got to have a strong staff to keep it running.”

Union sits on the site of what had been Jefferson Park, a 29,000-square-foot private parcel owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, which leased it back to the city. The park had become infamous as a gathering place for transients, and the railroad put it up for sale in 2013, but with a deed restriction that said it couldn’t be used for a park, day-care center, homeless shelter “or anything like that around the train tracks,” Fulcher said. That restriction meant the city wasn’t interested in buying it, so Blue Ocean Enterprises scooped it up in 2014 for possible use as a parking lot.

However, when the city and its Downtown Development Authority partnered with the developers of the Elizabeth Hotel across the street to build a parking garage, Blue Ocean, the real estate investment firm started by OtterBox founder Curt Richardson and his wife, Nancy, approached Fulcher and Houdek.

“The price got out of hand as a lease, though,” Fulcher said, “so we offered to buy the land from Blue Ocean. So we built a 6,200-square-foot building, but we utilized all 29,000 square feet by keeping the west area grassy — we wanted some greenness still in Old Town — and on the other side of the building is where we did our patio.

“That patio is definitely in demand in summer.”

Fulcher and Houdek haven’t brought in live music yet, or even a jukebox. “There are outlets on the patio, though, and we do have a record player that we end up throwing some vinyl on,” Fulcher said. “But the side to a record is only 20 minutes or so, and then you’ve got to go over and flip it. When we’re busy, that doesn’t work so well.”

The future looks bright, given Union’s proximity both to Old Town and the burgeoning River District, the Elizabeth Hotel and the new Ginger and Baker restaurant, two doors down in an old feed mill. But does that mean expansion for the Union Bar and Soda Fountain?

“Right now, we’re just focused on keeping it running, and to keep seeing the fun happen,” Fulcher said. “It’s so entertaining and rewarding to see ages of 3 on up to 95 enjoying it — the 3-year-olds loving the ice cream and the 95-year-olds reminiscing about when they did it when they were young.

“Any time you can evoke an emotion through our food and drink, we’ve done our job at that point.”