Food in Fort Collins from the perspective of Tom Hilbert

Tom Hilbert is somewhat of a local legend in Fort Collins, known for leading the highly successful Colorado State women’s volleyball team. While his success on the court is something he is proud of, anyone who knows him knows that Hilbert has a passion for food and fine dining. Having been a part of the community for over 20 years Hilbert has really seen the food scene in Fort Collins grow and adapt.

Stanford: So in your time, kind of in Fort Collins, how has the food scene evolved?

Hilbert: Well, you know, even the first five or 10 years I lived here, people were saying we had more restaurants per capita than other cities in Colorado. So it’s always had a lot of restaurants. But what’s happened in the past 10 years is the food scene has gotten more sophisticated, you know, and then in that there have been more high-quality restaurants open. And then the other thing that’s been very interesting, is I think that the fact that we’re such a big brewing community, I mean, that we have this big beer scene has really helped the food scene.

Stanford: With that, how do you think the food plays into the community? Do you think food is what makes the community or do you think that the community kind of makes the food an experience?

Hilbert: I think the community makes the food, I think Fort Collins is a wealthy

town. So I think that a town like this is able to support restaurants that are relatively high-end and kind of, you know, extra culinary. And so, I think the community makes the food scene special.

Stanford: With food trucks, and festivals all of that type of stuff. How do you see food being a gathering point for Fort Collins?

Hilbert: Well, the food truck scene has been relatively recent. You know, when I first moved here, you basically saw food trucks only in the heavily Latinx areas of town. Now you see food trucks all over the place, and you see the food truck rallies. You see food trucks at all of the breweries, which has really changed the food truck scene. And, food trucks are a lot more innovative now. You see really cool food trucks, crab cakes and seafood, and high-end corn dogs. So that arena has really changed quite a bit. And I think again, that’s another that’s an offshoot of the brewing industry, because, craft brewers are not allowed to serve food, but they can have a food truck on site. So it’s opened up the market for a lot of these food trucks.

Stanford: Okay, pivoting towards COVID and how that affected the food here. How have you seen the resurgence of food in Fort Collins since COVID?

Hilbert: Well, okay, let me rewind for a second because I think during COVID, we saw a really interesting thing happen. Linden street transformed itself during COVID. Because it was this huge area where there was outdoor dining and partying and stuff going on.Because during COVID people had to do it (dining) outdoors even in the winter. So you would walk down Linden street, and you’d walk in Old Town, and you’d see all these outdoor dining areas with fire pits and outdoor heaters and all this stuff. And I thought it was really cool because it transformed the way people were eating out in the winter. They weren’t eating indoors, but they still wanted to get out and gather and they wanted to hang out. And so you saw that change. Now with COVID, we’re sort of on the downside, but you still see the outdoor dining and you still see Linden Street with huge outdoor areas. And that I think is, is really cool, I think it’s really changed the way people want to go out and eat. You’ll go to Ginger Baker and they have three different outdoor areas, you know, an upper deck that faces north, a lower deck that faces north, and then they have another outdoor area that faces kind of to the, to the southeast. And they’re all full in the summer, and then you walk inside, and there’s lots of indoor seating. So everybody wants to eat outdoors now. And I think that’s, that is kind of a new thing.

Stanford: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Hilbert: I would say this going back to the COVID thing. I think COVID, for a period of time, and it was really only six to eight months, kept us in our own homes. And if you were eating out, it was basically you were ordering food to be delivered to you, right. And what I think happened was, you could continue to eat good food, but you didn’t experience the social aspect of what going out in a community means. So I think that people, sort of when we came out of it, they developed a greater appreciation for that part of our community. I think people like going out for more than just because of the food but because of being around other people and being around for that. I think that’s a big part of the Fort Collins dining scene.