Walk down Tejon Street on a Tuesday night and you’ll see it. The "For Lease" signs are starting to outnumber the happy hour specials. It's weird. Colorado Springs is growing—exploding, actually—but the heart of the city's dining scene is gasping for air.
If you talk to any local owner, they'll tell you the same thing: the downtown Springs restaurant struggles aren't just about food. It's a math problem that no longer adds up.
I was grabbing coffee at Loyal last week and overhead two kitchen managers venting about the "revolving door." They weren't talking about customers. They were talking about line cooks. In 2026, the cost of living in El Paso County has officially decoupled from the average kitchen wage. When a studio apartment in a new "luxury" complex downtown runs $1,800, but the starting pay for a dishwasher is $17 an hour, the math breaks. People just stop showing up. They move to Pueblo. They move to Kansas. Or they go work at the Amazon fulfillment center where they don't have to deal with a dinner rush.
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The Ghost of "New Urbanism"
City planners love the phrase "density." We’ve seen thousands of apartments go up near the US Olympic & Paralympic Museum and the Weidner Field area. On paper, this should be a goldmine for eateries. More people equals more diners, right?
Not exactly.
The reality of the downtown Springs restaurant struggles is that these new residents aren't necessarily the "foodies" everyone hoped for. Many are remote workers who order DoorDash. When a third-party app takes 30% of the ticket, the restaurant loses money on the transaction. It's a parasitic relationship. I’ve seen small spots like the former Streetcar 520 struggle with these margins until the numbers just didn't make sense anymore.
Then there’s the parking.
People love to complain about it. It’s the classic Colorado Springs pastime. While the city has added garages, the perception of difficulty keeps the suburban crowd in Briargate or Northgate. Why fight one-way streets and pay $2 an hour when you can go to the Promenade Shops at Briargate and park for free ten feet from a P.F. Chang's? It sounds trivial, but for a family of four from Falcon, it’s a dealbreaker.
Rent Hikes and the "Corporate" Takeover
The real killer is the triple-net lease (NNN).
In downtown, many older buildings have traded hands. New landlords come in with big mortgages and even bigger expectations. They raise the base rent, but the "operating expenses"—property taxes, insurance, and maintenance—have skyrocketed. I spoke with one owner who saw their NNN charges jump 40% in a single year. You can’t just sell more tacos to cover that. You’d have to sell a thousand more tacos every single month just to stay in the same place.
This creates a "sanitization" of the food scene.
- Only well-funded chains can survive the lean months.
- Independent chefs with "weird" or "experimental" concepts get pushed out.
- The unique character of the city starts to feel like a generic outdoor mall.
The Labor Trap
Let's be honest. Working in a kitchen sucks. It’s hot, loud, and physically demanding. In a town with a massive military presence like Fort Carson and Schriever, there’s always a pull toward government or defense contracting jobs that offer benefits a 40-seat bistro simply cannot match.
The downtown Springs restaurant struggles are deeply tied to this labor competition.
When a cook can leave a local pizza joint to go work security at a base for $5 more an hour plus healthcare, they leave. Every single time. This has forced downtown spots to cut hours. Have you noticed how many places are now closed on Mondays and Tuesdays? Or they stop serving food at 8:00 PM? It’s not because they don't want the business. It’s because they literally don't have the bodies to man the grill.
Food Costs Are a Moving Target
Inflation might be "cooling" in the news, but the back-of-house reality is different.
The price of eggs, oil, and proteins fluctuates wildly. In 2025 and 2026, supply chain hiccups for Colorado-specific products—like regional beef or seasonal produce from the Western Slope—have kept prices volatile. A chef creates a menu in January, and by March, the cost of his signature ribeye has increased by 15%. If he raises the price on the menu, customers complain on Yelp about "greedflation." If he keeps the price the same, he loses money. It’s a lose-lose situation.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Closures
When a place like The Thirsty Parrot or even long-standing icons eventually shut down or change hands, people blame "bad management."
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Sometimes that's true. But often, it's "death by a thousand cuts." It’s the construction on Tejon that lasted six months. It’s the utility bill from Colorado Springs Utilities that doubled because of a cold snap. It’s the $500 fine for a grease trap violation that was actually the city's fault.
The downtown Springs restaurant struggles are cumulative.
Small businesses don't have the cash reserves to weather three bad months in a row. Most are operating on a 3% to 5% profit margin. One broken walk-in freezer can literally end a business. That's the terrifying fragility of the industry right now.
The "Discover" Factor
Why does this matter to you?
Because the soul of a city is its food. If we lose the independent spots, we lose the reason to go downtown at all. Nobody is driving 20 minutes to go to a Subway. They go for the unique experience of a place like Rabbit Hole or Shuga's. If those places are struggling—and they are, behind the scenes—the entire downtown economy is at risk.
Actionable Steps to Actually Help
If you care about the local scene and want to see the downtown Springs restaurant struggles turn around, stop "supporting" them with your words and start with your wallet. But do it smartly.
1. Skip the Apps
If you’re going to order takeout, call the restaurant directly. Use their website. Drive there. Do not use UberEats or DoorDash unless you absolutely have to. That 30% commission they take is often the restaurant's entire profit margin on your meal. Seriously. Just go pick it up.
2. Mid-Week Dining
Everyone goes out on Friday and Saturday. That’s when kitchens are stressed and wait times are long. If you want to help a business survive, go on a Wednesday. That's when they are paying staff to stand around. Your $60 tab on a Wednesday is worth more to their survival than your $60 tab when they have a line out the door.
3. Cash is King
Credit card processing fees are another 3% to 4% hit. For a struggling business, paying in cash is like giving them a 4% tip for free. It adds up over a month.
4. Be Patient with Service
If a place is understaffed, don't leave a one-star review because the water took ten minutes. The people working there are the ones who didn't quit. Treat them like gold.
5. Advocate for Real Change
Pressure the City Council to look at small business tax breaks or simplified permitting for downtown. The current "Park Union" and "Creek Walk" developments are great, but the city needs to ensure the existing infrastructure doesn't crumble while we build the shiny new stuff.
The future of downtown Colorado Springs isn't written in stone. It can still be a vibrant, chef-driven hub. But the current trajectory is a warning. These businesses are telling us they are in trouble. We should probably start listening before the only place left to eat is a vending machine in a lobby.