One Fair Wage Rewards Five Denver Restaurants and Eateries

After a hard-fought battle over the tipped minimum wage bill, a national organization that was helping to lead the fight against House Bill 25-1208 is still pushing for better pay for restaurant workers.

According to its website, One Fair Wage has a roster of 300,000 restaurant and service workers, nearly 1,000 restaurant owners and dozens of organizations, "all working together to end all subminimum wages in the United States and raise wages and working conditions in the service sector in particular."

On May 14, One Fair Wage hosted an event at Convivio Cafe at 4935 West 38th Avenue to announce five Denver businesses that have joined its efforts and committed to pay their employees' full minimum wage plus tips.

The five businesses are Convivio Cafe, Tony P's Italian restaurant in LoHi, food truck Combi Cafe, the Corner Beet and Sullivan Scrap Kitchen; three of the owners were on hand to speak at the event, along with Saru Jayaraman, co-founder and president of One Fair Wage, and Denver City Councilmember Sarah Parady.

Kristin Lacy, co-owner of Convivio Cafe, a bilingual, women-owned-and-run operation, recalled a disheartening meeting wth one of her funders: "I remember him saying to me, 'Well, how am I supposed to have confidence in you? I'm looking at this business plan where you're going to pay a barista $20 an hour, plus tips.' And I said, literally, 'If I can't do that, I don't want to start it.'

"That is what it takes for me to make the food, serve the food, pay the rent in this place, pay my people well, and then the tip should be something extra," she says. "So I'm proud to be here in this group."

Alejandro Flores Munoz, an entrepreneur who operates the Combi Cafe food truck, added, "Ever since our inception, I knew that the people who matter the most in my business were my team, and so recognizing them with a living wage was the number-one thing as part of my business plan. It was what they deserve, right? And that included tips."

"We've always been a place where everyone is welcome," said Tony Pasquini, the owner of Tony P's. "Not only our customers, but our vendors, the delivery people and the people just walking by, homeless people, they're all part of our community, and we've done everything we can to help people when we can. And you know that extends to our workers. Our workers are probably the most important out of all those clientele."

The business owners who join One Fair Wage's campaign will receive a $5,000 grant — not to give to employees, but to pay for training to help find ways to pay fair wages and stay profitable. Businesses can learn more at the One Fair Wage website.

After much discussion, HB 1208 was amended to give municipalities the choice to adjust their tipped minimum wage offset starting January 1, 2026; after that and other changes, the bill passed the legislature.

It is still awaiting Governor Jared Polis's signature.

This story has been updated to correct the amount of the training grant given to businesses, and to reflect employees would receive full minimum wage and tips.