The LoCo Experience

Houska Automotive in Fort Collins was started in 1952, by Dennis’s father - Charles “Chuck” Houska, and still operates from the original location at 899 Riverside Avenue in Fort Collins.  Chuck had been a B-17 Mechanic in WWII, and opened the business not long after moving to Northern Colorado.  Dennis was crawling around the shop before he could walk, and never really worked anywhere else. He took over the business in 1974, and Chuck continued to work there nearly until his death in 1985.  

LJ became “Little John” when he started working at the shop in his high school days, there being three other Johns already on the team, and the nickname is the one he’s known by in nearly every circle today.  Houska has been growing ever since it started with two bays and only Chuck as the mechanic, and now includes a Tire & Lube Center, a Fleet Maintenance Division, and a Heavy Truck Center and a team of over 50 - all on one big campus near the intersection of Riverside and Lemay in Fort Collins.  LJ has been overseeing day-to-day operations for several years, and though Dennis still carries the President title - he’s not spotted around the shop too often.  Dennis’s wife Noreen, and LJ wife Jen both play key roles within the business too, and have for many years.  Service and Community are core values at Houska, and they treat their team like family - resulting in many long-term employees and customers over their 70+ years in business.  Please enjoy my conversation with Dennis and LJ Houska of Houska Automotive.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

We're sharing  Curt's blog from November, which is titled Grateful for a Great and Full 10 Years, a. k. a. The Loco Think Tank Story. "Last month marked the 10th anniversary of the last paycheck that didn’t come from my own business account, and of my first days as an entrepreneur. " We hope you enjoy!

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

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

Today we welcomed Aaron Everitt back to The LoCo Experience studios for our Northern Colorado real estate and water update, and as usual we got into all kinds of additional topics.  Aaron had recently been a part of a historical tour of sorts, and we had some discussion about the history of Fort Collins, and the many subdivisions that his family enterprise built throughout the last 50+ years -, and we spent a lot of time talking about water - rising cots, declining liquidity (so to speak), and the impacts to new home inventory and pricing in various markets.  

From there, we get a business update from InMotion, and discuss a new LLC Aaron has recently formed, Best Craft - which handles distribution chores for several microbrewery enterprises along with craft distillers and even a soon-to-come THC water product.  We jump from there into some discussion around the Israel/Hamas situation  and into our usual liberty topics.  Aaron has been releasing a series of Video Essays on X.com - written essays transformed into storyboard-type videos, he’s been getting a lot of traction and engagement with titles such as INFLATION and THE GRIEVANCES and WHAT IF WE ARE THE BAD GUYS.  

As usual, it’s a no-topics-off-limits kind of conversation, and as always - I learned some new things and so will you! - so please join me for my most recent conversation with Aaron Everitt on The LoCo Experience! 

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Jake Jorgovan is a serial entrepreneur and podcast industry expert, whom I first met at a Colorado Podcasters gathering in 2022.  He’s the Founder of Content Allies, a B2B podcast strategy, production, and promotion agency, and the owner of Listen Network, a targeted podcast promotion and cross-promotion network.  He’s the co-host of Leaders of B2B Podcast and A Guide to B2B Podcasting.  Jake has worked with some of the largest B2B companies in the world, including Meta, Siemens, Gusto, Alibaba, and Amazon Web Services, to name a few.  Jake is a recent transplant to Fort Collins, giving yet another example to Choice City status of my home community.  

Jake provides listeners a behind-the-scenes look at a high-growth agency, and shares many tips and latest techniques they use for their clients to grow podcast listenership and build community.  

Please tune in and meet yet another inspiring and entertaining Northern Colorado entrepreneur, my new friend and our latest guest - Jake Jorgovan.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

I met Dr. Heather Rubin at the Innovation Showcase Event held at the Warehouse Innovation Hub in Loveland in late August.  Heather took home 2 of the 4 awards presented that day - the Most Disruptive Business Model and the People’s Choice Award!  

Heather’s journey is an inspiring one, and I was struck throughout how her focus on collaboration was the key to unlocking this potentially disruptive journey.  Initially hired as a consultant to evaluate university research technology, Heather fell in love with the opportunity to co-found the venture, and is raising funds and building a team to reimagine composite materials technology.  From the website “Our advanced composite manufacturing technology utilizes a well-controlled, self-propagating, frontal polymerization process to cure high-performance composites quickly and effectively.”  For the lay-men and lay-women out there - they make a fancy resin stuff that hardens like a flame front, quickly and with minimal heat required to launch or cure, which could change industries ranging from natural gas pipeline repairs to on-site manufacturing of windmill blades and much, much more!  

More inspiring than the RapiCure opportunity is Heather’s journey to this point.  Raised in a working class family in Baltimore, Heather is a first-generation college student that found her initial inspiration in a Ben Carson scholarship when she was still in elementary school.  She’s an amazing example for female founders raising funds and building teams everywhere, and my sense is we’ve only seen the beginning of Heather’s impact on the world.  I’m excited to share her journey to this point, and to watch as her company and community impact scale from here, so please enjoy my inspiring and entertaining conversation with Dr. Heather Rubin, PhD and CEO.  

https://www.rapicuresolutions.com/

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Marc Torres started his journey with Cheba Hut in perfect “cheba” fashion - a failed drug test foiled his job prospects with the City of Fort Collins, and a snarky friend said “you should go work at Cheba Hut, I bet they don’t drug test!”.  Marc started on the front line (and claims he remains an excellent sandwich maker) and worked his way up in the ranks to store manager, and eventually became the primary trainer for new franchisees.  He managed a premier location owned by the founder of Cheba Hut, Scott Jennings, and developed many of the systems and training processes that allowed the chain to grow and provide a consistent experience in new locations.  The stories of LoCo Think Tank and Cheba Hut are long intertwined - it was Scott that famously told your host in 2015 - “Bear, you should park that F&$%in’ food trailer in your backyard and go get a job”.  

A few years into his time with Cheba Hut, Marc got a DUI, and a year later - another one.  This began the “indentured servant” phase of his career, when Scott sent him to live and open a new location in Greeley - and where he reconnected with his now-wife.  He continued to bring value to the franchise, moving to Arizona for a few years to work on (mostly unsuccessful) West Coast expansion efforts, and then returning to Fort Collins as Director of Operations in 2010.  He became COO in 2014, and partnered with Scott and another franchisee to build an HQ-supported super-franchisee designed to open new locations and grow the brand and systems for further growth - and it’s been working.  They’ve recently been among the fastest-growing franchises in the industry; now boast 55 locations and expect to bring 5 more online before year-end, and open another 12-15 locations in 2024!   

Marc has been a LoCo Think Tank member almost as long as LoCo Think Tank has existed, originally part of the Thinkers Too chapter and a founding member of our first Next Level chapter.  He’s a driven and authentic leader, a first generation college graduate, and you’re going to love his heart - so please join as we share the special journey of Marc Torres and Cheba Hut “Toasted” Subs.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Greg Roeder is a 2nd time guest on The LoCo Experience, and was my guest with then-partner and co-founder Josh Guernsey of Waypoint Real Estate, in Episode 45.  They were celebrating their 5th anniversary and had already grown to a staff of over 30 - focused on commercial brokerage, market data, and property management.  Greg, however, was increasingly focused on residential real estate, and providing white-glove service to a discerning clientele.  In March of 2023, Greg made the decision to join Sotheby’s so that he could better focus on this segment - and not be a distraction to Waypoint’s commercial focus.  

After starting and quickly growing a company that has become a force in Northern Colorado commercial real estate, Greg is back out largely on his own, and working to build on an already strong reputation in luxury real estate. 

Greg's special passion is vacation property as income property, helping discerning buyers not only find a place for their family to spend a few weeks each year, but also to diversify their income sources and geographic holdings.  In the time since recording this show, Greg has become a new member of a LoCo Think Tank Builders chapter!  This episode is full of great stories and learning from Greg’s career in Northern Colorado real estate, so please join me and enjoy my most recent conversation with Greg Roeder.

Instagram: @greg_roeder
LinkedIn: Greg Roeder
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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

I was introduced to Cameron Singh by our mutual friend, Fort Collins Mayor Emeritus Wade Troxell, and we’ve enjoyed some wonderful conversations in the few short weeks since.  During the first, Cameron shared his experiences in the aviation industry, how he’d come to Northern Colorado, and the vision of creating a world-class private plane services company with Discovery Air - a Water Valley Company.  He was serving as the Director of Business Development, and was the point person for bringing the many pieces together on this multi-year project.  And - he shared even more about his passion projects - leadership training, coaching, writing books and creating leadership podcasts.  We hit it off, and set a date to record this podcast about 2 weeks out.

A few days before the podcast session, Cameron texted to share that he was no longer with Discovery Air! - and do I still want him to do the show?  He was all in on the leadership path, out of the nest of secure employment and ready to test his wings - of course I still wanted him on!  As we got into the podcast and Cameron shared more about his journey, it was clear to me that he was on the right path - for him - and that his journey of personal growth and passion for supporting others in their journeys was a true calling.  Cameron’s first book is called Navigation and Discovery, and listeners of this episode will pick up many nuggets from his career journey and the “why” conversation that unfolds - if you’re ready - the time is now!  So please listen and learn, and be inspired by my conversation with Cameron Singh.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Kristin Todd joined the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado in April of 2021, continuing a career of impact in the realm of philanthropy.  Prior to joining the Community Foundation, she spent over 15 years with Daniels Fund based in Denver but serving much of the Rocky Mountain Region, and before that was with El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs.  

In this episode, you will learn all about the behind-the-scenes of foundation work, and particularly the differences in how these various organizations operate - and what makes the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado special.  Their mission is to create transformational community impact by inspiring philanthropy and engaging the region - and they do this in multiple ways.  Some are financial - with endowments and donor advised funds, and cause matchmaking - and the others are focused on convening and connections.  The Community Foundation is a leading voice in embracing regionalism in Northern Colorado - helping diverse communities with their own agendas work together to solve difficult challenges.  

Kristin has had a high-impact and interesting journey at every stop of the way, from growing up in New Orleans to college in Georgia and then a season working with a lobbying firm in Washington DC before finding her calling in philanthropy.  She’s wise, charming, and far smarter than your host, so settle in and learn from and about Kristin Todd, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain