Illegal Pete's
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
 Denver LoDo location. | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | Boulder, Colorado (1995) |
| Founder | Pete Turner |
| Headquarters | Denver, Colorado , U.S. |
Number of locations | 14 |
Area served | Colorado, Arizona |
| Website | www |
Illegal Pete's is a Colorado-based group of quick-service, fast-casual "Mission Style" burrito restaurants that takes inspiration from burritos popularized in San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s.
The first Illegal Pete's location was opened up by Pete Turner on August 15, 1995, on The Hill in Boulder; Turner said that starting the business nearly killed him.[1] Since then, the business has grown to include seven locations in Denver, two in Boulder, one in Fort Collins, and two in Arizona, one in Tucson and one in Tempe. Turner seeks old, historic buildings to transform into his locations and has done so with places like Mama's Cafe, and the vintage shop at Main Gate.[2] The corporate headquarters of Illegal Pete's was in the historic Denver landmark, the Daniels & Fisher Tower in downtown Denver and now is located in a loft on Broadway near their S. Broadway restaurant.
The restaurant has become popular with hipsters,[3] college students, athletes, and musicians nationwide: in fact, international pop songwriter Jack Johnson first received the call saying Universal Records wanted to sign him while he was eating a burrito at Illegal Pete's.[4]
In 2014, Illegal Pete's attracted controversy from proponents of Race Forward's "Drop the I-Word" campaign, which seeks to eliminate the word "illegal" from American vernacular because of possible racial connotations. Two small groups of Latino activists demanded that the word "illegal" be dropped from the name of the restaurant, first in Fort Collins and again upon the opening of the Tucson location.[5][6] Founder Pete Turner has refuted any possible racial connotations of his business name in the media and in a public statement defending the use of the word.[7]