Since California-transplants and married couple Chef Sean and Rebecca Gafner fell in love with Longmont on their first visit about seven years ago, they have opened three popular eateries on Main Street: The Roost, Jefe's Tacos and Tequila and Smokin Bowls. Though each concept has its own unique cuisine and design, they all are rooted in Sean’s life-long love for food and the restaurant industry.
Sean travelled to Longmont in 2014 when his friends and business partners Dan and Alyssa Lance — a couple he knew from California, who moved to Longmont a year prior — were thinking about opening a music venue downtown. They checked out a space on Main Street that would later become The Roost.
“We checked it out and I agreed that this was an incredible space and so went back and talked to my wife and we decided three months later to move our family of six out here and just cash out every penny we've ever saved and opened this restaurant,” Sean said.
The Gafners and Lances opened The Roost in 2015, a American craft casual dining establishment with live music on the weekends. Currently, the Lances operate as silent partners.
When he relocated to Longmont, Sean set a goal for himself: open three restaurants in five years, and five restaurants in a decade. With the reception of The Roost exceeded his expectations, Sean was well on his way to meeting his objective. Jefe’s Tacos and Tequila, a Mexican restaurant, opened in 2016 followed by the fast casual Smokin Bowls in 2019.
Sean grew up on a farm and cattle ranch in San Joaquin Valley of California, and began valuing local farming since he was young. He remembers waking up at 4 a.m., and collecting russet and baby red potatoes for family meals.
“I just grew up immersed in eating local food from the farms and ranches that we lived on and worked on,” he said.
Each restaurant concept has a bit of Sean’s history with food mixed in. Using ingredients from local sources is a part of The Roost, Jefe’s and Smokin Bowls. The Roost serves products from local breweries and distilleries and buys meat from the Buckner Family Farm in Longmont and some cheese from Haystack Mountain Creamery.
His upbringing also taught him how to cook for a large crowd. Cattle branding gatherings would attract several cowboys and their families, and Sean would help feed more than 100 people, he said.
When he was old enough to move out, he relocated to Los Angeles for college. He got a job as an expeditor at an Applebee’s, and got hooked on the fast-paced energy of working in a restaurant. Confident in pursuing a career in the restaurant industry, Sean enrolled himself in culinary school in Roseville, California and went on to work at several restaurants in the state.
He later met his wife Rebecca, and they started a catering company in 2001 while they were still engaged. Since they first worked together catering a small Christmas party, they discovered they work well together and compliment each other, Sean said. Rebecca is the brains behind the restaurant designs.
Jefe’s is an ode to both Sean’s life in the San Joaquin Valley and working with fresh seafood during his career at fine dining establishments. Mexican cuisine is his soul food, and he remembers eating out of taco trucks that drove up to his family’s farm and going to a restaurant in his town. Jefe’s has several items that highlight seafood including its Chipotle Crab Cake Taco and ceviche. Inside the brightly-painted restaurant, Sean likes to play the music he grew up listening to, old school hip hop.
Sean is glad that he continued his career in Longmont and said that it’s important to pay it forward to the community. Every year, 30% of profits from The Roost, Jefe’s and Smokin Bowls is reserved. One third goes towards employee bonuses and gifts, and the remaining 20% is split between donations to Colorado Kids Belong, a nonprofit that benefits children in the foster care system and supports adoption and other charitable contributions.
“I've always believed that the restaurants are the heart of the city and so we should really try and encapsulate some of that love as an action not just a cute slogan,” Sean said. “I believe it's the best business practice for all businesses to build that in.”
