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Before the pandemic, restaurants accounted for nearly 10% of the state’s labor force. Since the pandemic began, restaurants and the workers who keep them running have been hit hard. An apprenticeship program is pairing young people looking to start a career in the food industry with restaurants looking for help.

Colorado restaurants are thriving in the front of the house, but behind the kitchen doors is a major worker shortage.

As the economy reopens, restaurants remain far from pre-pandemic employment levels.

The owners of Casa Bonita have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. While the move may have fans fearful that it means the beginning of the end for the iconic Lakewood restaurant, it actually may pave the way to its reopening.

Last week, Gov. Jared Polis downgraded the 33 Colorado counties that were classified as Level Red on the state’s COVID-19 status dial to Level Orange. On social media, Polis said he was trying to walk the difficult line between the public health crisis and the economic crisis. But the limited loosening of restrictions will not be enough to provide meaningful relief to many restaurant owners in Northern Colorado.

A long list of restaurants, gyms and movie theaters in Larimer County gained the first round of approvals for the program, which allows businesses to operate at one level lower on the state’s COVID-19 dial than the county’s current status.

Colorado has started scaling up a program that allows local businesses struggling under the weight of Level Red coronavirus restrictions to apply for permission to operate at a lower level of the state’s COVID-19 dial.

Many restaurants on the Front Range are struggling to extend the outdoor dining season through the winter, as COVID-19 restrictions have shut down indoor dining completely in 33 counties.

Some public officials are pushing back against state restrictions, arguing that COVID-19 is not the only health concern facing their communities. Among them is Steve Johnson, a Larimer County commissioner.

It’s a familiar scene inside Bird & Jim, a restaurant a few miles from the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park. Families are ordering dinner. Couples…