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Williams & Graham just opened to the public on Tuesday night — but word of the stylish speakeasy’s free shift meals for industry types got out fast. By the time the group meal was served, fifteen appreciative restaurant/bar workers — from Linger, Lola, Root Down and other Highland joints — were there to chow down on baked ziti.
“Fifteen people in the industry came for the shift-meal thing,” marvels Sean Kenyon, who opened the place with partner Todd Colehour.
And last night, Williams & Graham’s second night of business? A dozen industry people showed up for the shift meal, this time potatoes gratin with boar bacon.
The menu for the group dinner, served after 11 p.m., will change every night — sometimes lasagna, sometimes tacos, Kenyon says — but the emphasis on treating hospitality workers right will not. The meal is free even if a waiter just coming off duty doesn’t want to drink one of Williams & Graham’s speciality cocktails, and just goes for a glass of water.
“We want to take care of the people in our industry,” Kenyon says. ” We want a place where we would hang out even if we didn’t own it.”
A version of this story originally appeared in Cafe Bites, our weekly e-mail newsletter devoted to Denver’s food and drink scene, which arrives in e-mail boxes every Wednesday afternoon. You can subscribe here.
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