AJ's Pit Bar-B-Q Seized for Unpaid Taxes After Employees Walked Out

"There were a ton of red flags over the years," says Patrick Klaiber, who worked for restaurateur Jared Leonard for seven years and was the general manager and pitmaster of AJ's Pit Bar-B-Q for six — a run that included the eatery being named one of the Bib Gourmand restaurants in Colorado's first Michelin Guide in 2023. (It was omitted from that list in the 2024 guide.)

Now, AJ's — which was Leonard's last remaining Colorado restaurant after the closures of Grabowski's in Lakewood and two Campfire locations in Lakewood and Evergreen last month — is in the pits.

According to Klaiber, on February 28 the staff made the decision to walk out and shut down the restaurant located at  2180 South Delaware Street after recently discovering that Leonard had both over- and under-reported payroll taxes over the years, causing some staffers, including Klaiber, to owe thousands of dollars to the IRS. "I was very transparent with the staff," Klaiber says. "I told them, I can't work for this guy anymore, and you shouldn't, either.'"

This week, the Colorado Department of Revenue posted notices outside AJ's stating that the property had been seized for unpaid taxes dating back to 2022.

On March 6, Leonard, who is currently in Mexico, where he recently opened an AJ's Pit Bar-B-Q and AJ's Prime in Punta Mita, sent a lengthy statement to Westword that begins: "Recently, a post on Reddit was written about us to slander our name and business practices. This was followed by media coverage, & I’ve stayed quiet about it as I review how it all unraveled so quickly."

The Reddit post he's referring to, which was not included in the version of this story originally posted on March 4, was published on February 28, the day the staff at AJ's walked out.

Leonard's statement does not address the tax seizure, and largely denies the allegations made in that initial Reddit post and the comments that followed — though he does discuss claims that employees have not received W-2s yet this year. "W2’s from 2024 are a real issue I can address," he says. "We used several payroll providers over the past year & it has been a challenge to combine all of the data. I will face fines for not having them done on time & will have to pay for that. Employees are still able to file form 4852, in replacement for a W-2, and receive any refund they are owed. They are not penalized for using this form, the burden is fully on the business (google it to learn more if you want). Looking back, I should have engaged professional services to handle this element of our business. I will do so going forward."

AJ's Bar-B-Q is just one of many food concepts Leonard has opened and closed since debuting his first venture in Denver in 2018: food stall Au Feu inside Zeppelin Station. Before that, he operated a barbecue joint and a hot chicken brand that ended up in a legal dispute in Chicago.

His track record in Denver is a winding path of rebrands and swap-outs — AJ's, for example, originally opened as BBQ Supply Co. (the same name Leonard had used in Chicago) before its name change in 2019.

He brought his hot chicken brand, Budlong, to 81 South Pennsylvania Street in 2020 before swapping it a year later for the relaunched Au Feu. In 2023, he brought yet another new concept to the space, Clairette, but after AJ's Pit Bar-B-Q nabbed the Michelin honor, Leonard attempted to capitalize on the news by swapping Clairette out for AJ's Pit Bar-B-Q Steakhouse.

That restaurant closed last August.

"We'll be back and forth" between Denver and Punta Mita, Leonard told Westword in February, when he announced the closure of his other three remaining Colorado restaurants: Grabowski's in Lakewood and Campfire in Lakewood and Evergreen (not to be confused with Colorado Campfire at 400 East 19th Avenue, the restaurant with which Leonard previously had a trademark dispute).

But according to Klaiber, Leonard has now been in Mexico for around four months, without any return to Denver.

"It feels good to get out of there and get away from him," says Klaiber of the closure of AJ's Pit Bar-B-Q. "I see the good in getting it all out there. ... I know I'm gonna come out on the better end of all this — maybe I'll open my own place."