Entire staff quits at Michelin-recommended Denver barbecue joint after mismanagement allegations
Owner Jared Leonard had closed all other his other restaurants in Denver earlier this year.
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The staff of a Denver barbecue joint recommended by the state’s inaugural Michelin guide in 2023 quit at the end of their shifts Friday, accusing their former boss of failing to report their taxes, bouncing checks and other financial misdeeds.
AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q, whose stripped-down locale on 2180 S. Delaware St. had its smoker right behind the order counter, is closed given the walkout. Owner Jared Leonard and former general manager and pitmaster Patrick Klaiber confirmed both the closure and the walkout Monday.
Leonard closed three other restaurants earlier this month — Grabowski’s Pizzeria in Lakewood and two Campfire locations in Lakewood and Evergreen — putting an end to his six-year tenure as a restauranteur in Denver. AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q was his last Denver establishment. He is currently in Mexico operating his other restaurants in the resort community of Punta Mita near Puerto Vallarta.
Klaiber said he had reached out to Leonard in recent weeks hoping to buy AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q. Lease negotiations, however, fizzled out. Klaiber reversed course after digging into his paychecks and noticing few contributions to his social security or Medicare benefits, he said, and other problems.
“Everyone decided to quit” after learning employees were being contacted by the Internal Revenue Service with letters asking for overdue withheld taxes, Klaiber said. They suspect Leonard was deducting money but not forwarding it to the IRS.
Leonard called the allegations, which were shared anonymously on Reddit before blowing up in other social media channels, “fake internet memes” and “fake internet stories.”
“Everyone has been paid every dollar they’re owed,” he said.
Public records in the Colorado court system show Leonard and his companies owing tens of thousands of dollars to individual lenders, landlords and purveyors who’ve sued him over the last 20 years. They include more than 20 cases where he, his companies and businesses are listed as defendants across Denver, Jefferson, Eagle and Clear Creek counties.
Plaintiffs include American Express, Shamrock Farms and the Seattle Fish Company, as well as companies and investors who claimed Leonard failed to pay rent, credit cards and costs of goods, according to legal filings.
One complaint filed in September of 2024 by Rocas LLC, a company registered by James Beard Award-winning chef Alex Seidel, alleged Leonard never paid back a $155,000 loan made the previous year. When he paid using a check from AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q, it was returned for insufficient funds, according to the complaint.
In February, Denver District Court Judge Heidi L. Kutcher ruled against Leonard and the restaurant. She set a total fee of more than $670,000 and ordered seizure of his assets, including a 2017 Cadillac Escalade, a 2015 Porsche Panamera and fixtures and equipment inside of AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q and Grabowski’s in Lakewood, previously home to Seidel’s Roca’s Pizza & Pasta, to enforce payment.
Leonard said legal matters would be discussed through the courts. When asked if he’d return to Denver, he said, “it’s not as quick as just hopping on a plane.”
The money and assets owed to debtors was part of the reason Klaiber backed out on purchasing AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q, he said. He and some of the other 12 employees who quit are still looking for work.
Employees at previous restaurants Leonard ran shared similar concerns and red flags over their pay and benefits, Klaiber said. Some said they were paid via Venmo or other apps, for instance.
Mallory Peters, the former general manager of Campfire in Lakewood, said court summons and other legal documents would often arrive at the restaurant. “It all started piling up,” said Peters, who started working for Leonard in 2023.
After Campfire closed, she said she was unable to register for unemployment insurance through the state’s online system. The system did not recognize the company’s official name, she said, and Leonard has yet to provide her with information she requested to refile.
She commended AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q staff Monday for their collective walkout.
“I just wish we would’ve done something like that at Campfire,” she said.
