Tell us a little about yourself and your connection to Golden. 

Bob and I have lived in Golden for over 25 years — long enough to watch it grow from a small cowtown into a booming tourist spot. Bob grew up outside Milwaukee, where he fell in love with all the little burger shops, and he'd been dreaming of owning one since 2002. Meanwhile, Bob was working construction, I was serving tables at Boulder Beer, and life with two young daughters was getting expensive. Construction was taking a toll on Bob's back, and we knew we needed a change. We saw the potential in Golden, found the right spot, and asked our dads for help with financing. Bob did the entire build-out himself — two bathrooms, kitchen, hood, all of it — for $95,000, and we opened Bob's Atomic Burgers in July 2012 with $1,000 in the bank. When you're all in like that, failing isn't an option. 

What makes Golden feel like Golden to you? 

The community — full stop. It's our staff, who feel like family; some of the kids who work for us grew up right down the street and have been with us for years. It's the locals who carry us through the quiet winter months. And it's neighbors like the ones who stepped up when we needed help buying our building. We wouldn't be here without them. 

How would you like Golden to look in 10–20 years? 

Honestly? I hope it stays the same. Summertime downtown is already extremely busy and hard to get around, so I'm not rooting for more growth. Our success is tied to Golden being desirable, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss old Golden sometimes. I'd love to see us keep the character that made people want to come here in the first place — and keep business ownership local. 

What first drew you to GCF, or what keeps you connected to this work? 

The Golden Backpack Program, now transformed into BGOLDN, was my first connection — we held a fundraiser for them in May 2013 and kept noticing that GCF supported all the same little causes we cared about. We went to our first Gala that same year. Then in 2015, we got the chance of a lifetime: our landlord offered to sell us our building. We needed serious help with funding, and community members like Marcy Miller and Heather Schneider pointed us straight to GCF. I presented at a Foundation meeting at the Welcome Center — nervous as could be — and two days later, we had a $75,000 loan, the maximum we could ask for. I truly don't know what we would have done without it.

If GCF supported your business through a loan or partnership, what did that make possible? 

Everything, really. In 2015, our landlord offered us the building for $700,000 with a $200,000 down payment — and no bank was going to give us that. We scraped together $25,000 of our own, borrowed from family, ran a fundraiser, and GCF's $75,000 loan closed the gap. Owning our building is the single biggest reason we found stable footing by 2019 and weathered everything since. It's also what lets us take care of our people — our managers earn a living wage and get to actually live in the town they work in. That loan didn't just save a burger joint; it kept a Golden business in Golden hands. 

What does a strong local business community mean for Golden's future? 

It means Golden stays Golden. We got in at the right time — if we tried to start today, with rents and insurance where they are now, we couldn't do it. That door is closing for people like us, and I hate to see it. Local owners invest back into this town, show up for each other, and give kids their first jobs. I'd love to see GCF keep finding creative ways to support local businesses — I'm behind that 100 percent, because when GCF supports us, we support GCF right back.