A 5-year-old restaurant’s closing isn’t often a proud moment for its owner. But Biju’s Little Curry Shop on 26th Street, which closes at the end of October, might just be an exception.
Owner Biju Thomas says he’s easing out of the daily restaurant grind to focus more on national and international franchising of his South Indian fast-casual concept, as well as the potential release of a food product line in grocery stores.
He’ll also continue to operate two other Little Curry Shops, on Tennyson Street and inside Broadway Market, so the RiNo location of the home-grown concept will be the only closure.
“I don’t think Denver needs any more (Biju’s Little Curry Shops),” Thomas told The Denver Post this week. “Does Denver need more of what we do? I don’t think it does.”
After five years building curry bowls around the corner from Denver’s unofficial new restaurant row, Larimer Street, Thomas says business has just become too expensive and too competitive to continue running.
A few restaurants in the neighborhood are consistently busy, he says, while the rest are “just kind of on that edge” of success and failure.
“Looking around now, Denver’s not that strong of a restaurant market,” Thomas said. “If you go to Chicago, people are still waiting around at 10 o’clock to get in (to restaurants). Most days, most places (in Denver) are dark by 8:30.”
The concept of a fast-casual curry shop, new to Denver in 2014, could still be novel and successful in cities like Chicago and Dallas, or even abroad in England and India, Thomas said.
So now, he’s looking for other restaurant groups to partner with in order to expand, while back home in Denver, he’ll tweak his remaining brick-and-mortar spot to include more beers on tap, a combination of counter and table service and weekend brunch, starting around October.
Biju’s food hall stall at Broadway Market is “cranking along” since its opening in February, Thomas said. But he has since pulled out of an opportunity to open in another food hall, he said, and he doesn’t see more in his future.
“I’m fried after dealing with hiring and managing staff for the last five years,” he said. “I’m cooked.” So while customers and the public are concerned for his closure, Thomas said, friends in the industry are congratulating the restaurateur on a creative move out of a competitive market.
In the end, his is as good a lesson as any for the larger Denver dining scene. “Just opening (more restaurants),” Thomas said, “doesn’t mean anything.”
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