“One hanging on, another called it quits”

Posted: 08 Aug 2010 03:12 PM PDT

Butch Darden took a risk with a Basalt restaurant and lost both his downvalley eatery and his Snowmass Village lobster bar. Steve Sklar attempted a midvalley venture, Darwin's, but managed to get out before it completely drained the coffers that support Big Hoss Grill, located on the second level of the Snowmass Mall.

Sklar, who is suffering through his worst summer of business ever, said that when guests do come to the Village, "we take good care of them. If we could do a Thursday night concert three, four nights of the week, we'd be fine."

Despite his disappointing season, Sklar said Big Hoss, which serves three meals per day and frequently hosts live music, will definitely return this winter. And when it does, expect to find an even more varied menu to include seafood and steaks - the kind of fare the late Darwin's featured but also some items that Butch's Lobster Bar had on its menu.

"I kind of want to fill a little void that Butch left," Sklar said.

Last week, while cleaning out his former digs in the Timberline, Darden had a chance to reflect upon his many years of success but also the mistakes that led to him closing the Snowmass Village restaurant after 18 years in business.

"It's sad but it was inevitable. I just ran out of money," Darden said, as he sat behind a redwood table built with his own hands. Darden reminded that he once had an Aspen version of Butch's Lobster Bar (in the old Continental Inn and later in the Copper Kettle space) but its closure didn't have same detrimental effect as did the Basalt eatery.

Fast forward a decade, and the story unfolds differently.

"If I had just kept Snowmass, I would have made enough to pay the rent and the purveyors," he added. Darden also noticed a distinctly downward trend of business during the winter time. "Last winter I made $375,000. The winter before that, $450,000. If I was here this winter, I can't imagine (how I would do). But I don't think it was going to go up."

His very best winter season came during the 1990s, when Butch's Lobster Bar netted $850,000 one year. That, coupled with a decent summer which saw the Village packed with group business, resulted in a year when Darden's business earned more than $1 million (pre-tax). But the disbandment of the Snowmass Resort Association (which Darden ironically had a hand in), resulted in a lag of booking groups. The town took over the group sales role, but for two years was hampered by a directive from the former owners of the conference center, who once had a plan to tear down the facility.

Really though, Darden said he believes his business never quite recovered from the recession that followed 9/11. The addition of restaurants in Base Village without a commensurate growth in heads-on-beds was another factor that hurt his income.

"When Base Village was first being proposed, I thought it was a good idea," he said, adding that the promise of a $1/2 billion investment, coupled with a "needed facelift" was promising. But for some of the aforementioned reasons, the shot-in-the-arm has yet to materialize.

He also questions whether Aspen Skiing Co. is being honest in the business reports it released this year, which say numbers were at least even, if not up, over the prior year. "That makes people, who were slower this year, wonder 'what am I doing wrong?' "

Through May of this year, sales tax collections from local restaurants were actually up by more than 8 percent over last year at this time. Summer has been challenging, though, as Town Manager Russ Forrest did allow "some are doing better than others."

Darden, who often can see the upside of a situation, said he's quite "pessimistic about the economy and America's future. Wall Street is just so short-sighted. It's certainly not putting the country first."

Now, it's time for him to put family first. As a result, Darden will focus mainly on his chimney cleaning business and the small crab shack that is still operating weekends in Basalt, serving favorites like Shannon's Shrimp and fried calamari. He may even try and ski more next winter.

Darden has many great memories of his Snowmass business – pictures that lined the walls of his restaurant attested to that fact. "My highlights were the customers and employees," he said. At one point Darden employed more than 40 workers.

"It's been a nice run. Too bad it's over. But it's time," he said.

mosberger@snowmasssun.com

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