Oskar Blues to close burger restaurants in Longmont, Denver

This story has been edited to include comments from an interview with Dale Katechis.

LONGMONT — Oskar Blues Brewery is in the process of closing its CHUBurger restaurants to focus on its other two restaurants in the northern Boulder Valley.

The brewery said it would shut down its Longmont burger restaurant Feb. 29, while its location in Denver’s River North District closed at the end of 2019. It cited increasing food and labor costs as key reasons for the closures, and said the Longmont location’s lease at 1225 Ken Pratt Blvd. is due to expire.

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Oskar Blues plans to shift its dining focus on OB Grill & Brew in Lyons and Homemade Liquids & Solids in Longmont with additional menu items and various remodels.

Founder Dale Katechis told BizWest that about 30 people worked at the CHUBurger locations, but they have been offered opportunities to work at the other brewery’s restaurants.

Katechis said closures are meant to consolidate the brewery’s focus on its self-branded eateries.

“We got a little scattered with some of our branding exercises with some of these offshoot concepts like CHUBurger, and I think we found our bread and butter is at Oskar Blues,” he said.

Oskar Blues made no mention of changes to its brewing operations in its statement, and Katechis said CHUBurger wasn’t a major seller of beer for the company. The brewery previously said its beer sales in groceries and liquor stores grew by a third last year, primarily driven by the switch from a 12-can sample pack to a 15-can size.