A Colorado IHOP Transforms into Vegan Gastropub

Vegan café The Gold Leaf Collective recently took over a former location of restaurant chain International House of Pancakes (IHOP) in Fort Collins, CO. Gold Leaf Collective owner Taylor Smith plans to renovate the space and move in with a target opening of January 2021. The move to the former IHOP building will more than quadruple The Gold Leaf Collective’s existing 20-seat restaurant space and allow Smith to expand the restaurant into a vegan gastropub concept. Smith plans to house The Gold Leaf Collective alongside his wholesale vegan doughnut company, Rustic Donut; food truck, the Silver Seed; and Gold Leaf Creamery cheese company—the latter of which has been on a hiatus due to the restaurant’s current lack of space. “To take a building that was serving bacon and eggs for 50 years and get to convert it into a vegan restaurant, it’s such a cool thing for us,” Smith told media outlet Coloradoan. The Gold Leaf Collective’s current location will remain open in Fort Collins until the new space is ready.