November 27, 2023

EXPERIENCE 143 | Dishing Up Great Food & Stewarding Legendary Restaurants with Alan Jantzen, Owner and Restaurateur at Silver Grill Cafe and Vern’s Place

2 hours 31 minutes

For almost 30 years, Alan Jantzen was the man behind the scenes for what became one of the Fort Collins restaurant industry’s most dominant organizations - Hot Corner Concepts. Featuring amazing brands including Moot House, Austin’s American Grill, Big Al’s Burgers & Dogs, and Comet Chicken, Hot Corner Concepts set the standard for quality and consistency in our region. Along the journey, Alan was given many opportunities and lots of responsibility, but was never granted an opportunity to become an owner, and in the spring of 2021 he started looking for what’s next.

In September of 2021, he shot his shot - asking 42-year owner/operator John Arnolfo if he could buy the Silver Grill Cafe. “Absolutely not!” was John’s quick answer. But - within a few weeks they had a back-of-the-napkin deal worked out, and by December Alan was the proud owner of Dish Up, LLC DBA Silver Grill Cafe. In the meantime, Alan was approached by Val and Nick Lanteri, owners of Vern’s Place since 1990, to see if he was interested in stewarding their restaurant into its’ next chapter! He pushed pause on that conversation in the moment, but by mid-summer of 2022, Alan and his wife Jackie started Dish Up II, LLC DBA Vern’s Place, and now operate two classic restaurant institutions, with a total of 167 years of history - 90 years at Silver Grill Cafe and 77 years at Vern’s Place!

Alan got his start in the restaurant business as a teenager, and his mom drove him back and forth to Greeley from his hometown of Ault for a dishwashing job until he’d saved enough money to buy a car. He moved to Fort Collins and got a job at Moot House in his early 20’s, and was soon the right-hand-man for Scott McCarthy and Steve Taylor, then-partners in their first restaurant. His stories of restaurant launches and turnarounds and successes continues from there, and based on our conversation the successes at Silver Grill and Vern’s are very likely to continue. So please tune and enjoy my inspiring conversation with Alan Jantzen.

Check out Vern's Place
Check out Silver Grill Cafe

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

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