A highly-rated upscale Denver restaurant has closed in recent days, with the owner reportedly citing “liberal policies” as a factor, per a report from Westword.

Located in the LoDo area, 4.5-star Yelp-rated Avelina has shuttered its doors after opening in 2016. The owner provided Westword with a number of reasons for the closure, including “becoming a special-occasion place,” which he blamed on his own efforts. Other reasons, however, were related more closely to recent changes in Denver and the pandemic.

In a February 15 message posted to Yelp presumably by owner Kevin Jennings, he wrote the following in response to a would-be patron complaining about a mysterious reservation cancellation:

“We lost thousands and thousands of dollars trying to stay open after COVID. LoDo offices are empty – we can’t even do 1/2 of the sales we were achieving before COVID. We paid to keep the place open for the last two years – we are now closed for good – so no – we aren’t booked. We lost our ass and are now done – All you idiots running this town can do is raise the minimum wage running small business owners out of business. Cry me a river about your dinner reservations.”

A quote included in the Westword piece further expands on Jennings’ mindset about the situation: “I appreciate the wanting to do good, but these policies only end up with the population all experiencing a lower quality of life.”

At the start of 2024, Denver’s minimum wage increased from $17.29 per hour to $18.29.

A message has since been posted on the Avelina website that reads as follows: “At this time we have made the difficult decision to close Avelina. We thank you for your support and patronage during very challenging times for the hospitality industry over the past few years.”

The impact of the pandemic on small business is no secret, with a June 2021 piece from the Washington Examiner noting that 38.9 percent of small businesses were forced to close at that time. Some of those small businesses have since reopened, but many shut down for good. As these numbers relate to restaurants, a 2023 report from CNN noted that 631,000 restaurants were open in the United States in 2022 – 72,000 fewer than the 703,000 open in 2019. It’s also worth noting that Yelp estimated that 60 percent of businesses closed during the pandemic would remain permanently closed.

Read more about the Avelina closure on the Westword website.