Father-son duo converting Lafayette Burger King to brewery/barbecue joint

LAFAYETTE —  Restaurant design firm Trapp Associates Ltd. in Boulder plans to open a barbecue restaurant and brewery in Lafayette early next year, repurposing a closed Burger King.

Uturn BBQ will be the first restaurant opened by the father-and-son team of Tim and Shem Trapp, though Trapp Associates has designed more than 350 restaurants/breweries throughout the United States, including local projects Fresh Thymes and the Walnut Brewery, and for national chains including Rock Bottom Restaurants, Gordon Biersch and Jim ’N Nicks BBQ.

The Trapps are remodeling the 3,800-square-foot former burger joint at 599 Crossing Drive. In September, attorney Mark Licata, president of the GoldKing Realty Group, purchased the building for $740,000 from the Lukas Family Limited Partnership. Licata is leasing the building to the Trapps.

Uturn BBQ will offer “premium” barbecue and signature beers available through indoor/outdoor seating and a drive-thru. The Trapps will incorporate a seven-barrel brewing system and an in-house meat-smoker.

Shem Trapp, vice president of Trapp Associates, said the firm wants to “foster the community essence of barbecue. … That experience might just be picking up barbecue and a six-pack, and enjoying it up in the mountains with your friends and family.”

The Uturn team includes collaborators from past projects including Bill Heckler and SquareOne Holdings, which partnered with Trapp Associates on Balter Beerworks and STIR in Tennessee. Heckler is a former head chef of CraftWorks, which runs Gordon Biersch and Rock Bottom.

Uturn’s beer is being created by Alex Violette, former head brewer at Upslope Brewery in Boulder.

on Facebook on LinkedIn