Conversations with Sean Gafner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Gafner.

Hi Sean, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I was raised on a produce farm and cattle ranch in the San Joaquin Valley of California. At the age of 18, I moved to Sacramento and found myself working in a restaurant and immediately fell in love with this fast-paced, high-energy industry. I served tables to put myself through school at Golden State Culinary Institute and then made my way as a Chef at some of Sacramento’s greatest restaurants. I had a lot of success in the fine dining world over the next 16 years, but in 2014, inspired by Jon Favreau’s movie Chef, I decided to leave the fine dining scene and open a casual restaurant that held to the quality and principles that had been instilled in me. On New Years’ Eve 2014 my wife, our four kids, and I pulled into Longmont, Colorado where we’ve happily lived ever since. We opened The Roost, our first creation in March 2015. Longmont was so good to us that we jumped at an opportunity to open a modern taqueria called Jefes Tacos & Tequila in April 2016. In the Summer of 2019, I opened my first ever fast-casual restaurant that specialized in “bowl food” called Smokin Bowls, but six months later came two years of “pandemic business” and we weren’t able to make it out of that. We have since turned that location into a prep kitchen for all of our restaurants. In March of 2022, we opened our next restaurant and bar called Swaylo’s Tiki; Swaylo is what we call Southwest Longmont, the area where we live. Since day one we’ve placed a high value on generosity, sustainability, equity, and inclusion.

Generosity: Since day one we have been committed to giving 10% of our profit to local non-profit organizations.

Since then our value for generosity has grown in many ways. We currently give away 40% of our profit every quarter: 10% to local non-profits, 10% to our hourly staff, 10% to managers, and 10% to our Directors. We also offer all members of our staff a 401(k) program in which we match up to 4% of their salary to encourage them to build toward their future. We off free memberships to Longmont Climbing Collective and Longmont Athletic Club. We offer free chiropractor visits, paid time off, and tickets to both the NHL Avalanche and NBA Nuggets games for good performance. Probably our staff’s favorite perk is the five times per year that we close so that they don’t have to miss holidays with their families, and also our famous annual Summer Staff Party!

Sustainability: As a company, we’re committed to making sustainable choices that reduce energy use, water waste, and landfill waste. We purchase products as locally as possible in order to reduce the emissions caused by packing and shipping (trucks, trains & planes); this also supports local families and strengthens our local economy. We only purchase Energy Star appliances. We are committed to reducing single-use plastics in every way we can find.

Equity & Inclusion: Equity in this industry has been a great challenge which we’ve all had to apply pragmatic creativity towards. We have addressed the stigma of wage inequality in our industry in a number of ways, including tip share for all positions, paying well above average wages, and bonuses and benefits for all positions. One of our Core Values (make this a link to core values) is “Honor & Inclusivity”. We challenge our staff to honor everyone at all times; this includes guests, co-workers, and management. It takes all of us to create the culture of honor that we all enjoy being a part of. As long as you are a loving person, you are welcome and wanted as staff, management, customer, or associate. We only discriminate against hateful people.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Obviously closing our restaurants due to covid in March of 2020 was extremely difficult; I’ve never cried with my staff before and that month I did so a lot. We spent the following weeks helping about 100 employees apply for unemployment. We turned our taqueria into a takeout and delivery restaurant and we used it to provide free meals for all of our staff every day that we were closed.

We also offered free meals to anybody 16 years old or younger; we had some kids come in every day for a free burrito. It was an incredibly difficult season but I believe the way that we “stayed in it” with our staff has made us a stronger team ever since.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do?
Our goal is to be a great company to work for. Our plan is to address every negative stigma about restaurant work until people in our industry change the way they talk about the work they do; no longer qualifying it as something they’re doing on their way to a “real job”.

We believe that inviting people into a comfortable environment, feeding them, hosting them as they celebrate great moments, as well as gathering through life’s most difficult moments, is an important and honorable way to spend a life.

We recently extended our lease on the building in which we built our pastry kitchen and we’re opening a hyper-local Burger & Beer joint named after the cattle ranch I grew up on, a multigenerational brand called 99bar. We are only using grass-fed beef, lamb & pork from our friends here in Longmont, Clint and Mary Kay Buckner. And we’ll make absolutely everything else from scratch, from the buns to the ice cream.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love the relationships I have with so many other business owners in Longmont. We are a city of businesses that truly believe a rising tide raises all ships, and it shows up I’m a variety of ways.

If I had to think of something negative about Longmont it would be that its growth rate of 4% per year has made it extremely difficult for my staff to find affordable housing, especially those trying to purchase a home.

Contact Info:

• Website: gafnerhospitalitygroup.com
• Instagram: @theroostlongmont @jefeslongmont @swaylostiki
• Facebook: @theroostlongmont @jefeslongmont @swaylostiki