Inspiring Conversations with James Harris of Tin Plate Hospitality Group DBA: Tin Plate and Dynamite Cookies

Today we’d like to introduce you to James Harris. 

Hi James, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Where we are today: Tin Plate, an artisan pizza restaurant, and Dynamite Cookies (both businesses are housed within a historic cabin built in 1883, and carefully restored in 2020), opened in June of 2021 to fantastic reviews from Hemispheres Magazine, Conde Naste Travel, 5280 Magazine, and others. 

How we got here: I (James Harris) graduated from the University of Denver in 2010 with two degrees (English Literature and Business Management). After college, I moved to Breckenridge to pursue a professional snowboarding, specifically snowboardcross. After many injuries and a tough break that precluded me from most Olympic Qualifiers, I left snowboarding to marry Meagan, my then-girlfriend of 5 years, move to New York, and pursue a career in women’s apparel. 

From 2015 to 2020, I worked my way into a VP position and was convinced a corporate lifestyle would be “life as we know it”. That all changed when COVID hit. Thinking the pandemic would be a 2–4-week event, we returned to Breckenridge to stay with family and spend some time in a place I loved. In that time, my drive and passion for quality food and small businesses combined with fate to get us heavily invested in the design and restoration of a historic building in Breckenridge. About 9 months later, my wife and I opened Tin Plate and Dynamite Cookies as the sole owner/operators. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Whatever the antithesis to “smooth road” is, that was definitely our experience. A lot of the challenges were firsts for us – restoring and customizing a historic building to open a restaurant-specific to our needs meant dealing with engineers, plumbers, electricians, and artisans. It also meant dealing with utility companies, public works, town-building codes, and restoration requirements, all while living through the first half of the pandemic. 

The biggest struggle post-opening has been hiring the right people. We’ve been lucky enough to surround ourselves with true experts in their respective fields within the food/beverage/hospitality industry, but hiring our general staff has been tough, especially given the employee housing crisis within Summit County. We’ve been especially fortunate to be able to provide housing for some of our staff, but it certainly isn’t enough to expand our business hours beyond our weeknight dinner service and lunch/dinner on weekends. 

As you know, we’re big fans of Tin Plate Hospitality Group, LLC DBA: Tin Plate and Dynamite Cookies. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Tin Plate is an artisan pizza restaurant that specializes in sourdough pizza with unique flavor combinations and local ingredients, at least as local as we can get them! Pork and Beef come from within a 40-mile radius, while some of our whole grain is coming from Boulder, CO. We try to utilize seasonal ingredients to develop pizzas that may stick around for three to six months. Some favorites have been the Elote Pizza with corn, the Fig and Prosciutto Pizza, and the Butternut Squash Pizza with house spiced pepitas and chili honey. 

What makes us stand out most is definitely the sourdough bread and crust. Our day starts at 2 am with a sourdough feeding, then we make and ball dough from 3 am to 2 pm. After that, we cold ferment for 24-48 hours before we serve the dough to our guests. Served with our house-made mozzarella, stratcciatella, and cultured butter, the sourdough really makes for a perfect pairing. 

Our number one goal at Tin Plate is to provide the very best pizza experience with as many house-made and local ingredients as possible. 

Alongside Tin Plate is our sister walk-up restaurant, Dynamite Cookies. Dynamite Cookies really sticks to the basics serving 5 types of cookie and a seasonal cookie that we try to rotate ever few months. What differentiates Dynamite Cookies is our use of sourdough in the recipe which allows us to bake at an extremely high temperature. The result is a crispy outside and a gooey middle with a very unique flavor profile on account of the mature sourdough. 

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Breckenridge has a wonderful and vibrant restaurant community with many locally-owned options. With that said, many of the restaurants and bars cater towards a younger demographic with food that fits: bar food and other easy options with TVs and games to entertain. 

More recently, customers on vacation have shown a desire for more from their dining experiences – higher quality, more unique options, and local offerings when they can find it. The success of restaurants like Aurum, Rootstalk, and Tin Plate prove that customers are looking for higher-end experiences, even from commodity foods like pizza and burgers. 

Contact Info:

• Email: info@tinplatepizza.com
• Website: www.tinplatepizza.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinplatepizza/?hl=en
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tin-plate-breckenridge
• Other: https://g.page/TinPlatePizza?share

Image Credits:
Steve Stanton