DENVER — The smell of hickory-smoked barbecue is met with fresh cinnamon rolls inside the CSU Spur Food Innovation Center, where Adrian Anderson and Veronica Sare are doing what they love most. The husband and wife duo behind Meats & Sweets have run into challenges, but they have also found solutions in the community to keep going.
When it comes to the passion behind their specialty items, Sare's love of baking goes back to her roots. Growing up, she savored delicious pies and cakes her mother would make from scratch. She wanted customers to taste that same feeling she grew up with, that one bite that could bring a memory back or remind them of someone special.
Similarly, Anderson remembered making the trip from Colorado to Kansas City each year with his sister, greeted by the smell of his grandmother's cooking, from fresh rolls to fried chicken. During a family outing to a barbecue restaurant, inspiration clicked. The meal was good, but expensive, and when it was over, there was nothing left to take home. Anderson decided then that he would learn to barbecue himself, so no one would ever feel like they paid too much for too little.
"I started reading the books," said Anderson. "I started watching the championship barbecue shows and literally emulating whatever the winner was doing. That's how I started learning, and that's how I started picking it up... I was crazy, but learning, you know what I mean, learning everything, and so I started doing that; 20 years now."
The two teamed up in 2021, "just flying a sign and doing it on the weekends," and considered taking the passion into a more permanent space.
"We started a little bistro right across the street, and that didn't work out," said Sare. "We had an opportunity to have a food truck that didn't work out, and so we focused on catering."
Now, their catering business is working out of the Food Innovation Center at CSU Spur and the pair has discovered ways to engage with the community, like giving out samples during the National Western Stock Show. Nicholas Trujillo, operations manager for the CSU Spur Food Innovation Center, explained how the kitchen also serves as a resource hub.
"It's a 2,600-square-foot commercial kitchen. A lot of people don't have access to that, and this is kind of a food desert area of Denver metro," Trujillo said. "We really try to go above and beyond to help local businesses here thrive, not just with their base of operations and the things that they do, but also with the networking and any kind of questions about regulations or other things."
There is tiered pricing to use the space that Trujillo said is meant to incentivize local businesses, and there is the opportunity for dishes to be displayed when there are local events on campus.
Besides the CSU Spur commercial kitchen, Meats & Sweets also found support through Mile High United Way and the Center for Community Wealth.
Jennifer Pacic is the director for United for Business, which is a program put on by Mile High United Way to help women and minority-owned small businesses grow and learn tools for success.
WATCH IN THE VIDEO PLAYER BELOW: PACIC TALKS SUPPORT IN THE COMMUNITY
Pacic described Adrian and Veronica as "gold star graduates" of the programs, as they were able to build a website to showcase their passion and went into the small business accelerator program.
Another way Meats & Sweets found support is through the Feeding Anchors program by the Center for Community Wealth. Kimberly Bonner, small business development manager, said the program helps caterers get connected with larger contracts and have opportunities to show their dishes through a tasting event dubbed Eat.Local.Food.
"I think it's really critical, particularly in this economic climate of mass uncertainty, that we really help our neighbors thrive," said Bonner. "And programs like Eat.Local.Food., programs like Feeding Anchors, and others that the Center for Community Wealth produces. Our whole point is really to try to help our neighbors make it."
Like any good recipe, Meats & Sweets took time to get it right, sprinkled with special ingredients, opportunities and a whole lot of heart.
"Regardless of how hard it is, backs against the wall, that’s when you start fighting the hardest," Anderson said. "We just try to portray that every single time."
A catering request form can be found online for Meats & Sweets, and they plan to start wholesale for their baked goods.
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