Fruita, Colorado — which sits between Grand Junction and the banks of the Colorado River in a fossil-rich nook of the state — is a bucket-list bike vacation spot due to flowy high-desert singletrack, technical trails overlooking the river and an enthralling downtown the place even the dinosaur statues perch atop bikes.
This wasn’t all the time the case; Fruita has seen a dramatic rise in its inhabitants and profile over the past 15 years because it’s been reinvented from conservative farm city to outside Shangri-La.
The transformation is because of path builders, bike advocates and the rising recognition of mountain biking, for positive. However one thing else performed a central position in Fruita’s evolution: a pizzeria referred to as The Scorching Tomato.
There, the slices are the stuff of legend, the beer is frosty and proprietors Jen Zeuner and Anne Keller have created a group hub the place tattooed millennials, farming households and out-of-town bikers can come collectively over a shared love of pizza.
In a means, Zeuner and Keller’s trajectory has paralleled the city’s — they too discovered a type of success that at one time appeared unlikely. In doing so, they’ve solid the type of narrative many people aspire to, placing gold by chasing their passions.
When the couple walks as much as Finest Slope Espresso to satisfy me on a sunny Saturday in Might, an older man greets them first, telling them he’s been studying articles about them.
“You guys are massive photographs now,” he says.
Certainly. They’re freshly residence from a visit to the Wright Awards in Golden, the place they have been requested to function judges a yr after successful the impartial enterprise honor. Earlier than that, they have been at 5Point Movie Pageant in Carbondale, the place they have been handled to an 800-person standing ovation following the screening of “Lifetime of Pie,” a brand new Patagonia movie by Felt Soul Media that profiles them. (“It was insane,” Zeuner says.)
That they have been in a position to depart city throughout such a busy season is telling. After 14 years of working The Scorching Tomato, they’ve lastly stepped off the road.
However they’ll nonetheless present up at the moment. It’s ‘80s Day, and with the Fruita Fats Tire Pageant on the town, it’s going to be busy.
“They don’t want us, however we’re going to go be foolish with them,” Zeuner says. “We’ll hang around and maintain the morale excessive.”
Zeuner is a former skilled biker; Keller a motorcycle photographer. They met in 1999 in Moab, and a visit to Fruita was their first date. After they moved to city in 2002 to work at Over the Edge Sports activities, it was a sleepy
place.
“It felt like we had stepped again in time,” Keller mentioned.
However the using was enjoyable, trails have been being constructed and it was undoubtedly on the upswing. Round 2004, because the using started to get found, they began listening to a query extra usually.
“Individuals have been coming to city, they usually have been questioning the place to have a beer, the place to eat, the place to only sit and hang around,” Zeuner mentioned.
Neither had restaurant expertise. However Zeuner, who grew up in New Jersey (“the land of pizza”) would usually stroll throughout the road to a pizza store, and wasn’t shy about making recommendations.
“I used to be all the time like, ‘ what you need to do?’ Sooner or later he mentioned to me, ‘ what you need to do? You should purchase this place.’”
It appeared ridiculous at first. The extra she thought on it, although, the extra it made sense. In 2005, she bought the entire tools, gave her discover on the bike store and began slinging pies.
That first season, she mentioned, was “horrible.” Naively, she and Keller thought it will be like retail. It wasn’t. In any respect. It was humbling, overwhelming and extremely taxing.
Zeuner mentioned they might have simply been one of many 85 p.c of small companies that shut inside three years, had they not borrowed cash from an in depth pal.
“There was no means we have been going to let her down,” she mentioned.
The next winter, they needed to borrow cash once more to pay their workers. However they plugged alongside. Joined the Chamber of Commerce. Received concerned with path constructing and advocacy. Employed native youngsters, made themselves seen by washing home windows or sweeping their sidewalks. And from the get-go, they constructed the Scorching Tomato with a spirit of real inclusiveness.
“I believe that we have been very intentional with creating a spot the place all people may really feel comfy, a spot the place individuals needed to go to and hang around, get a beer, inform their story,” Zeuner mentioned.
There have been some whispers about their “way of life.” (The ladies weren’t shy about being lesbians, printing early enterprise stickers with sayings like “We snatch kisses and vice versa.”) They heard about individuals who refused to patronize the pizzeria due to it.
Regardless of that, they began gaining regulars, seeing some returns. And once they closed for 10 months to construct out their present area, one thing occurred.
With zero cash, they needed to do the work themselves. Pals or prospects who have been contractors would come by and present them run electrical, use a jackhammer. Native youngsters would assist clear. Individuals introduced meals. Others popped in to test on them. It dawned on them that they have been missed.
“I believe that was a very massive turning level for us, the place we have been like, ‘wow, individuals really need us right here,’” Zeuner mentioned.
It was a turning level for one more motive too: the primary yr within the new area, they doubled their enterprise, and it’s been rising since.
They provided outside seating, dialed their pizza and Stromboli recipes (all from scratch, insanely scrumptious), invested in a critical pizza oven and picked proper again up with group involvement, internet hosting dwell music, throwing costume events and sometimes displaying up because the Motion Sisters, two cranky however hilarious geriatric girls from Florida.
As Fruita’s profile as a biking vacation spot rose, so did The Scorching Tomato’s. Fruita Mayor Joel Kincaid mentioned that in some ways, the 2 went hand in hand.
“They’ve been a giant affect on enterprise development and a constructive position mannequin for different companies,” he mentioned.
“They’ve additionally constructed a group by making a tradition the place prospects really feel welcome. Whenever you stroll into the pizzeria, you aren’t a quantity. You might be truly part of that group.”
Ben Knight, who co-directed “Lifetime of Pie” with Travis Rummel, mentioned they lengthy needed to share the story behind their favourite pizza store.
“It’s simple to take Anne, Jen and this factor they’ve so gracefully and deliberately curated with no consideration,” Knight mentioned, “however when you take a step again and think about the truth that it will all be unimaginable to copy with out them, with out Fruita, with out bikes … it’s clear how particular all of it is.”
“After we first thought of doing this, it wasn’t about, ‘I need to open a restaurant,” Zeuner tells me. “It was, ‘I need to create a cool place the place individuals can come and hang around, and we will nonetheless trip our bikes and play within the outdoor and create jobs for ourselves.”
Properly, I say. Congrats. That’s the dream, and also you’re dwelling it.
A smile breaks over her face. “It’s the dream,” she replies.
Per week later, they present “Lifetime of Pie” at The Scorching Tomato on a Saturday evening. Some 400 individuals present up. Keller tells me in an e-mail they have been nervous about displaying it to their hometown crowd.
“We felt extra personally linked as to whether or not the gang favored it versus an out of doors viewers. However the response was wonderful … If I may sum it up, I’d say it was fucking unimaginable.”
“Lifetime of Pie” will present at Mountainfilm in Telluride, Might 24-27. The movie might be launched on-line July 10.
