BOULDER, Utah — One of Utah's most highly-rated restaurants is in danger of permanently closing, going so far as to ask for help in keeping its doors open.
The owners of Hell's Backbone Grill and Farm near Boulder say rising costs and lower crowds in the summer has forced them to start a fundraising effort to remain in business.
Blake Spalding and Jen Castle opened the restaurant in 2000, and since then have garnered national recognition. Hell's Backbone Grill and Farm was nominated last year in the Outstanding Restaurant category by the James Beard Awards, according to Gastronomic SLC.
On a GoFundMe page started by Spalding and Castle, the restaurant's co-chefs cited three areas of need: Debt payment, permanent home and infrastructure support.
Hell's Backbone currently rents its location and has done so for 23 years, while the restaurant staff say they constantly deal with broken equipment that "needs fixing," the page reads.
"We remain optimistic for a new chapter that’s brighter than we could have imagined. And we’re hopeful that you’ll walk through those doors with us, hand in hand. But for us to all get there, we need a whole lot of help," the founders wrote.
The restaurant received pandemic-related loans to weather the downturn, but turned to borrowing more money after a "shockingly slow summer visitation year" to make payments on the loan.
The duo set a goal of raising $324,000, a nod that the number is three times 108, a scared number in Buddhism. As of Tuesday afternoon, the page had raised nearly $140,000.
"We love you, and we love our restaurant, our monument, the town, and our amazing team. And we love the work we do, growing and preparing and serving beautiful food in a beautiful location to you beautiful people," Spalding and Castle wrote. "It’s an honor and a privilege, and we want to continue doing it, for as long as we possibly can."
