Published On: September 21st, 2019Categories: Uncategorized

A new foodie destination Rosetta Hall is slated to open in downtown Boulder in early October.

The food hall will offer an eclectic menu, said CEO Donovan Greene.

The food hall is all about fostering relationships with local farmers and ranchers to source top-quality ingredients, and to promote sustainability, he said.

“Great food begins with great ingredients,” Greene said.

Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer

Rosetta Hall, at 1109 Walnut S.t in Boulder, is a new food hall with 10 food concepts and two bars, slated to open in early October.

Rosetta Hall, which is located in a 10,000-square-foot building at 1109 Walnut St., features 10 restaurants and two bars. It also will have space available to rent for private events.

The food concepts represent an amalgam of international flavors that have been refined by Rosetta’s chefs in their unique styles, Greene said. The chefs were selected by a panel of foodie judges. Their passion was reflected in the food they made, he said.

“We did a global survey of food halls to find out the best possible mix for Rosetta Hall,” Greene said.

Among the restaurants at Rosetta Hall will be Eridu, a grain and legume based concept; Jacaranda, an eatery that will bring alive a slice of West Africa with its peanut butter stew, yaji fried rice and the Ghana po’boy; Confit, a casual French bistro; La Tigella, which promises unique Italian flavors; Tierra, a contemporary Mexican restaurant, and Petite Fleur that will offer handcrafted patisserie.

Almost all are first-time restaurant operators, Greene said. Rosetta Hall is providing them with nicely designed kitchen space, top-of-the-line equipment, working capital, and taking care of accounting and bookkeeping to help the chefs succeed.

“We are invested in their success,” Greene said.

As part of the financial arrangement, the restaurant operators pay a percentage of sales to Rosetta, unlike some other food halls where operators pay rent under a traditional lease agreement. Rosetta’s business model transfers financial risks away from chefs to the building owners, Greene said.

For aspiring chefs it’s hard to lease space downtown.

“We are like a record label and they are the artists. Our job is to give them a space to perform,” Greene said.

Patisserie chef Julia Wirichs, owner of Petite Fleur, studied and worked in Europe for eight years, and she can’t wait to get started at Rosetta Hall.

“This is my passion. This is my life. This has been a dream since I was a child,” she said.

In the last few months, she has been researching local markets and experimenting with ingredients to augment her creativity. She plans to price her desserts from $3 to $7.

Modou Jaiteh, who immigrated from Gambia, sees Jacaranda as an opportunity to introduce West African food to new audiences. The menu will feature a lot of rice-based stews and a lot of veggies, he said.

“It’ll be a hybrid of the food I grew up eating,” said Jaiteh, who has worked in New Orleans, New York, and in North Carolina.

The Rosetta Hall opportunity fell into his lap after Jaiteh’s farmer friends got him in touch with Greene. His immediate goal is to get Jacaranda “up and going.” He plans to price his offerings between $8 and $15 to introduce “the food not many know in this country in a good and a profitable way.” He also wants to support local farmers.

Eridu’s chef Aaron Lande also believes in the farm-to-table movement. Sourcing local produce and meats is good business, and also is good for the environment, he said.

Use of the best available local ingredients by Rosetta Hall chefs will help enhance their creations, and turn the place into “a mecca of awesome food,” Lande said.

“We are coming together as a special community of chefs, getting to know and help each other,” said Lande, a former concert violinist and death metal drummer, who previously worked as executive chef for Caffè Sole in Boulder and chef for Lucky Pie Louisville.

“We are really excited,” he said.

He’s not worried about potential competition from Avanti Food and Beverage another food hall at 1401 Pearl St., scheduled to open in the spring.

“Boulder is big enough for all to be successful,” he said.

Food halls in the U.S.

There were about 120 food hall projects across the United States in 2016, and that number is expected to increase to 450 by the end of 2020,  according to a new report on Food Halls by Cushman & Wakefield, a global commercial real estate services company. Food halls have become popular, because they provide low-investment and low-risk opportunities for aspiring restaurateurs, and a unique business opportunity that many call the “experience economy” for real estate owners and developers, the report stated.


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