🌯 Has Denver turned on Illegal Pete’s?

🏫 Hundreds of Schools Close for Walkouts Today

Thousands of Colorado teachers are skipping school to attend an organized rally at the Capitol Building to protest anticipated cuts to state school funding. The walkout has prompted district-wide closures across the state today, and DPS has canceled classes at more than 100 of its campuses. [Denver Post 🔒]

• What’s being cut? It’s complicated. In order to balance the state budget, Gov. Jared Polis is suggesting changing the way Colorado schools are funded. Educators see his proposal as a threat to cut funding, but Polis says that’s a mischaracterization… [CPR]

🤔 Is Illegal Pete’s OK?

Some concerning allegations have been making the rounds online about the homegrown fast-casual burrito chain. Food poisoning, poor working conditions, crappy queso — could the rumors about this once-beloved hometown hero possibly be true? We confronted Pete himself. [City Cast Denver 🎧]

• Dig in: Read on for four key takeaways from our conversation with Illegal Pete’s founder and CEO Pete Turner 👇

🍽️ Local Server Sues Over Service Charge Model

Juan Padró — founder of Culinary Creative Group, which operates several popular Denver restaurants — has been a leading voice in the campaign to lower Denver’s tipped minimum wage. Padró himself adopted a service charge model that he says is more equitable, but one former CCG server is suing Padró for allegedly using it to mislead customers and steal wages from employees. [Denverite]

• Hear from Juan Padró: When we had Padró on the City Cast Denver podcast last month, he first made public the proposal that kicked off the recent tipped minimum wage debate. Hear what he had to say 🎧

When Pete Turner opened the first Illegal Pete’s on The Hill in Boulder in 1995, he quickly gained a following for his $5 burrito deal. He soon expanded to Denver, where he built his fast-casual burrito chain into a local darling. While its Denver-style Mission-style rival Chipotle went global, Illegal Pete’s kept the community’s heart with top-notch queso, a bar, and a program that supported local artists.

But then a couple years ago, something seemed to change. The vibe shifted. Nasty comments started showing up online. There were allegations of Pete slashing worker benefits, deteriorating food quality (including the famous queso), and some pretty harsh texts leaked from Pete to his employees.

So we invited Pete onto the City Cast Denver podcast today to ask what’s up — listen to the whole conversation here 🎧

Is the Food Worse Quality?

One online commenter claiming to work at the DU location said that their store recently received a delivery of “steak” that was actually pork, and they ended up serving “medium rare” pork for a month. The commenter alleged that the DU location was “ground zero for a food poisoning epidemic” that was “not taken seriously at all.” Pete says that is absolutely not true and insists that he’s made no changes to the quality of his ingredients.

He did acknowledge, however, that the company has experienced some “growing pains.” He opened three new locations in 2024, fully remodeled a fourth, and hired 200 new workers in the space of five months. “We’re certainly not perfect,” Pete told us. “We made mistakes, and I think there probably was a period where our consistency had been challenged.” But the quality of the ingredients he is sourcing, he emphasized, has not changed.

Is Pete Not Treating People Right?

One anonymous reddit user posted screenshots of texts that Pete apparently sent to the staff of the DU location after some personnel changes. The text reads: “This is what I expect from you and what you can expect from me: hard work with a smile, open communication, […] and f***ing gratitude for having a job in a business that serves an enthusiastic public.”

Pete told us he stands by that 100%. “That's sort of my lesson coming out of COVID: ‘Holy f***, we made it.’ We should absolutely be grateful, like truly grateful. There are restaurants shuttering every single day. You're walking by 50 of them on the mall,” he said. “I feel like I don't need to defend myself, but the fact is, it is a good job.”

At the same time, Pete says that earlier this year he enrolled himself in Illegal Pete’s manager program. “Last year was a ton of work … and we didn’t deliver, not consistently,” Pete told us. “I think we're not terrible — but [terrible enough] to the point where I need to go back in [to the stores] and understand, are we the business that I set out to build 30 years ago?”