Matthew Simmons Email & Phone Number

I began my love of the restaurant industry washing dishes at the age of 14 at an Italian restaurant in Palmer Lake, Colorado. The owners were first generation Italian and made everything from scratch. We peeled garlic for hours at a time. Sauces, sausage, ravioli, pasta, all hand-made and all delicious. To this day I can still smell the fresh-baked bread and hot mulled wine from those snowy Colorado days. The owners treated the staff like family which made the hard work enjoyable. Every Saturday after closing we would head to the bar where the owner would pay us directly from the cash drawer, and after we would stay late playing penny poker and drinking Lowenbrau Dark beer out of coffee mugs. From this experience grew my passion for restaurants, beer and fellowship in almost any form. I started studying beer as soon as I turned "legal" which at that time was eighteen. I read about beer and toured every brewery I could find, which at that time was few and far between. European import beers were growing in numbers, retro beers were getting re-branded as "all barley malt", Anchor Brewing Steam beer hit my glass and the Boulder Beer piqued my curiosity for what was becoming a craft beer movement. I was hooked on good beer and enjoyed sharing them with friends.My interest in craft beer only paralleled my career for many years while working with Pizza Hut of America and Applebee's International before they finally intersected in 1997 at Legend Brewing Company. I took the opportunity to become General Manager of the expanded pub at the brewery. For five years it was a dream job for me and one that would launch me into another, opening my own restaurant.Capital Ale House opened in November 2002. It filled a need for craft beer enthusiasts by offering hundreds of choices of beers. We caught that wave of craft beer popularity and rode it through 4 more new restaurant openings. It's rewarding to every day watch my guests enjoy beer and fellowship as much as I do.

Listed skills include Restaurants, Food, Food And Beverage, Craft Beer, and 46 others.