After thriving during pandemic, Denver’s Curtis Park Deli to open Boulder outpost

BOULDER — Curtis Park Deli, which operates two sandwich shops in Denver, will open its first location outside of the city next year in Boulder. 

The 10-year-old deli chain will launch its Boulder restaurant at 3000 Pearl Parkway, the site of the new mixed-use development The Reve.

At about 1,300 square feet, the new Curtis Park Deli will be larger than its Denver counterparts and is expected to open by next spring or early summer.

At The Reve, Curtis Park Deli is likely to have significant lunchtime foot traffic.

The project at 30th and Pearl streets includes a 244-unit residential component and about 125,000 square feet of office space that was bought this year by Google.

Initially, the deli’s owners were looking south toward the Denver Tech Center for their next expansion.

But when they were made aware of the availability of space at The Reve, “it just seemed like a natural fit,” Curtis Park Deli partner Dashiell Harrison told BizWest. “Boulder really reflects what we believe in and who we are as a company.”

While the area around 30th and Pearl is rapidly growing, there are still relatively few walkable restaurants for workers to eat lunch, he said.

“We’re striving to fill the needs in that very localized area with good, fast, clean food that you can walk to,” Harrison said.

Curtis Park Deli founding partner Michael Reif is familiar with the Boulder food scene from his time as a student at the University of Colorado.

“It’s always beautiful to be back in Boulder,” Reif said. “I can’t wait to spend some more time there and [opening a new restaurant in the city] is as good an excuse as any to go back and lay some roots down.”

Curtis Park Deli, which expects to hire four or five new workers to staff the Boulder shop, specializes in specialty sandwiches and coffee with fresh ingredients sourced from local vendors, Harrison said.

“If we expect people to support our small business, we need to do the same in kind,” he said. “…To be honest, the product is much better than going with the big [restaurant wholesalers].”

Curtis Park Deli’s concept has proven resistant to the COVID-19-related challenges present across much of the food and beverage industry.

“The pandemic actually really helped us a lot,” Harrison said, because the delis were able to thrive in the new take-out-only paradigm. 

“We never shut down either shop,” he said.

While all of the Curtis Park Delis, including the upcoming Boulder shop, have space for indoor dining, the restaurants remain take-out only. 

“It’s really been great proving that we can survive in that model,” Harrison said. With single-serving, individually wrapped items available quickly, “we were just uniquely set up to do really well. We didn’t incur many supply chain issues with our meats and cheeses.”

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