Adam Branz and Jessica Richter
Split Lip, an Eat Place | Denver
july 2022
As a young college student at Eastern Illinois University, Adam Branz didn’t go out to eat often. Instead, his greatest food memories were from eating a slice of gas station pizza while drinking a tallboy. Cooking continued to interest him, so he moved to St. Louis, Missouri to attend Le Cordon Bleu. When his wife decided to go to law school in Denver, Branz came with, and found a job at Jen Jasinski’s seasonal Mediterranean restaurant, Rioja. He worked his way up through Jasinski’s restaurant group, Crafted Concepts, eventually landing a chef de cuisine title at French-inspired Bistro Vendôme in 2014. After taking time to stage in San Francisco and New York City, Branz became executive chef and managing partner of Jasinski’s Spanish-style tapas bar, Ultreia, working side-by-side with front of house maestro Jessica Richter.
Richter spent most of her life in the restaurant industry, growing up in a small Florida town. Craving all four seasons and constant sunshine, she moved to Denver in 2009. Like Branz, Richter found a family with Crafted Concepts, bartending and managing at three of the five restaurants. By 2017, she was promoted to managing partner of Ultreia and by 2019, she was director of operations for Union Station, running both Ultreia and the seafood-focused Stoic & Genuine. But when the COVID-19 pandemic made to-go tapas nearly impossible to execute, Branz and Richter began workshopping a fast-casual, hyper-regional, Americana-inspired concept: Split Lip, an Eat Place.
Beginning as a road-side fried chicken pop-up, Split Lip now operates as the food arm of Number 38, a Colorado-focused social hall and entertainment venue. In conjunction with Number 38’s parent company, The Numbers Holding Company, Split Lip will run the future locations’ food programs, highlighting and paying homage to each region’s local culinary and beverage cultures. Starting with their second location in Louisville, Split Lip’s menu will adapt, showcasing Kentucky-born products and dishes alongside some of their current menu staples, like Cajun-spiced boiled peanuts and Nashville hot chicken sandwiches.
