Tupelo Honey has closed its restaurant at 1650 Wewatta St. near Denver's Union Station. A sign posted on the door said the last day of service was Oct. 16, about nine years and five months after the restaurant opened.
BusinessDen reported that the door sign cited the end of the restaurant's lease. Westword had reported on Oct. 8 that the restaurant would close on Oct. 16; staff told the outlet the space did not get enough traffic to justify its property costs.
Tupelo Honey opened at the ground floor of the Griffis Platform apartment complex in May 2017. The nearly 6,000-square-foot restaurant was the North Carolina-based chain's first location west of the Mississippi, according to Westword.
A Kitchen Built Around a James Beard Finalist
Chef Chris Kobayashi, a James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef: Pacific, moved from Paso Robles, California, to Colorado to lead Tupelo Honey's Denver kitchen, Westword reported.
Part of a Broader Southern Food Shakeout
Other Denver-area Southern-themed restaurants have also faced changes. Bluegrass Coffee & Bourbon Lounge announced plans to close both of its Arvada locations by the end of October after 11 years, and Church & Union closed its Downtown Denver location in June after two years, Westword reported.
The same Westword report pointed to Rougarou in Five Points as a contrasting example, citing its Michelin Bib Gourmand designation among its recent accolades.
Broader Pressures on Denver's Restaurant Industry
The wave of closures lines up with warnings raised in a 2025 state-of-the-industry report covered by Westword, which found Denver restaurant operators were worn down by rising costs for labor, supplies and rent. That report found restaurants account for 13 percent of the city's sales tax and nearly 10 percent of its jobs, underscoring how much is riding on the sector's stability.
Operators cited in that coverage said customers were reaching their limit on what they could pay for a night out, while restaurants absorbed more rising costs. The report also described diners going out less often, spending more cautiously and increasingly staying home or ordering in. A central Denver operator told the outlet that staff safety concerns—including broken windows, harassed guests and people sleeping in the restaurant's doorway—had become part of doing business downtown, and said staff did not feel safe closing at night.
What the Broader Data Shows
The 2025 report reflects operator input, not a measured citywide explanation for any one closure. Visit Denver says it gathered feedback through an online survey available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, as well as listening sessions, roundtables and one-on-one interviews. The report's accounts of costs and customer spending describe reported experiences and do not establish what caused Tupelo Honey to close. The Downtown Denver Partnership said pedestrian traffic downtown in June 2025 was 83% of June 2019 levels and matched June 2024 levels; that broad measure does not establish customer traffic at Tupelo Honey. Separately, The Denver Post reported that A Line Boutique shuttered its store at 1750 Wewatta St. the prior week. The boutique was a separate Union Station-area business, and its departure does not establish a shared cause with the restaurant's closure.
