Tavern at St. Michael’s to close on May 24

GREELEY — If you’ve been craving the poutine or mac and cheese or bangers and mash, you might want to get a jump on your next outing to The Tavern at St. Michael’s Square.

Come May 24, the doors will permanently close. After 16 years, head chef and owner Chad Young said he made the excruciating decision to shutter the southwest Greeley tavern at 2918 67th Ave., after years of financial struggle.

“We’ve been struggling for a bit now, and it came time,” Young said in an interview with BizWest. “We’re tired, physically, emotionally, and  financially exhausted. We can’t keep it up anymore.”

After two years of double-digit sales reductions, in addition to increasing prices, he decided they had nothing left.

“With fuel prices going up, all of our costs have increased,” Young explained.  “As an example, we’re paying the same price per pound on tomatoes as we are for ground beef. It’s pretty ridiculous.”

The Tavern is one of a handful of popular restaurant closures announced in the last year. Boulder’s Dark Horse closed in March after 51 years.  In January, Roma restaurant in Evans closed, as did the Pepper Pod in Hudson  after a century of operations. La Petite French Bakery in Greeley closed last fall. Old Chicago in Loveland’s Centerra Marketplace closed in March 2025.

For years, businesses in the St. Michael’s area had difficulty operating because they were a bit out of the way at 59th Avenue and U.S. Highway 34 Bypass. Things changed a bit when the new UCHealth Greeley hospital and more residences popped up around him, Young said.

“It has gotten better, but we still are out of the way, and it takes a bit of effort to get over here,” Young said.  “But 16 years later, people are still saying, ‘I had no idea this was here.’”

Young said the restaurant industry hasn’t been the same since the Pandemic. But time has a way of wearing any good entrepreneur down.

“Since we first opened with increases in costs, our rent has almost doubled. Granted, that’s 16 years, but it’s still hard to maintain, when everything goes up, then we raise prices and people get mad, like we all do. It’s just reality. We just can’t” keep going, Young said. “But the last two, two-and-a-half years have been the hardest. First it was the price of eggs, then chicken, then ground beef. So it’s been a steady increase over the last several years.”

Young, a lifelong Greeley resident, started at the restaurant when it was Hobnobber Tavern in 2007. He took over as head chef in 2010, then purchased the Tavern with his wife, Wendi, in 2012.

Today, he’s working 100 hours a week, and he manages 13 employees. “I’m not 20 anymore,” he said. “Those 100 hour weeks are a lot harder at 53 than they were 15 years ago.”

Young said he has no exit ramp for himself just yet, but he chose to give employees a little time to find something new before closing. He’s also hoping customers will drop in one last time or two before that fay, with hopes of infusing some cash to his employees and business to help pay down some debt.

Until then, he said, nothing will change. They’ll still have clam chowder on Fridays, a $7 burger special on Saturdays, brunch and bottomless mimosas on Sundays, and $5 Moscow mules and meatloaf on Mondays.

The Tavern is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Happy hour is 3-6 p.m. on weekdays.

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