Potbelly Restaurant to close, head to auction block

RED FEATHER LAKES – The Potbelly Restaurant, a popular
community gathering spot in Red Feather Lakes in north Larimer County, is
closing on Labor Day, Sept. 5, and is set to be sold at auction on Nov. 23.

 Known more recently as the Potbelly Deli and Bar, the
restaurant at 24340 W. County Road 74E has been a community and visitor
favorite for decades.

 Dave Duty, who owned and ran the facility with his wife,
Laury, said the business was doing fine but a $280,000 balloon payment on the
note for the business came due and he could not get financing to keep it going.

“No commercial loans are being written
whatsoever,” he said. “It’s really an unfortunate thing for us and
the entire village.”

The Dutys purchased the business in 2006 and have run the
Potbelly for the last five years. Duty said the Potbelly had “a record
summer” but got behind on payments last winter – traditionally a slow time
for the business. Then the balloon payment came due.

“We’re kind of the last one standing,” Duty
said of the Potbelly and its local competition. He said the High Country Inn
has had four different owners in the last five years and has been closed for
almost a year. Another local eating establishment, the Sportsman Café, is only
open for breakfast. The Red Feather Café, once located in the heart of the
village, burned to the ground in 2006 and was never rebuilt.

Duty said beneficiaries of the Potbelly closing will
include the Western Ridge Restaurant in Glacier View Meadows about 10 miles
south of Red Feather Lakes and Beaver Meadow Resort, about 10 miles north.

Duty, a retired government worker, said he will have to
look for other employment, as will his wife, daughter and son-in-law, all of
whom worked at the Potbelly.

The restaurant is owned by Mary Ann Rogers, who lives in
Florida, Duty said. There’s also a first lien holder, Virgina Kolle, who lives
in Texas, he said.

Duty said he’s had the business for sale for the last two
and a half years and recently dropped the asking price to $797,000, which
included a house and six acres.

“It’s a turnkey business and nobody could come up
with the down payment,” he said.

Duty said he hopes the Potbelly will somehow find new
owners but he’s not optimistic that will happen soon, with the auction set just
as winter settles in.

It’s not an easy business, Duty noted. “We have not
had a day off in five years,” he said. “You have to give it your
heart and soul, survive the winter and have a bang-up summer to keep it going.

“I’m hoping Red Feather will come out OK because
once this place closes, it’s going to have a big impact on the rest of the
village,” he said.