Beth makes sure all the best happens for our guests.  She hires the best service staff,
gives them complete and thorough training and coaches them to perform.
She’s the reason people rave about our service.

Owner/General Manager, Bistro Vendôme

Perhaps her business partner, Executive Chef Jennifer Jasinski says it best. “Beth makes sure all the best happens for our guests.  She hires the best service staff, gives them complete and thorough training and coaches them to perform.  She’s the reason people rave about our service.”

When people say the restaurant business is in your blood, I believe it," declares Beth Gruitch.  Her great grandparents three generations before her must have passed down the gene.  They owned and ran a diner, setting the standards that have lead to Beth’s record of critical acclaim.  "It doesn’t matter if you’re running a diner or a five-star restaurant," she explains.  "It’s all about being proud of the product you put out, and to that end, I have no tolerance for shortcuts – no matter what the restaurant concept." 

While Gruitch claims she simply "fell into" the restaurant business, destiny probably played more of a hand.  After high school, the Colorado native learned the business from the ground up, bussing and waiting tables, washing dishes, bartending and managing a restaurant office. The long hours and backbreaking work temporarily dissuaded her from pursuing a restaurant career, so she moved on to explore other options.  She tried retail sales (drawing on her penchant for shopping) and taught pre-school (testing her infinite patience), until she was finally drawn back to the restaurant business. 

Gruitch decided to supplement her hands-on experience with academic training before she seriously entered the competitive restaurant world.  She earned a four-year business degree in Restaurant Hospitality from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and graduated with several offers on the table.  She first took a job managing Boogie’s in Las Vegas, a fun and wild upscale diner, then she managed DIVE!, the kitschy submarine-themed restaurant partnership between Steven Spielberg and Levy Restaurants. 

Deciding it was time to expand her culinary horizons beyond diner food, Gruitch officially joined the ranks of Levy Restaurants in Chicago, managing some of the group’s high-end concepts like Bistro 110 and Voila.  It was the turning point in her career and lifestyle; the moment she became a self-proclaimed "food snob," and realized she only wanted to work with people who shared her passion for food and wine and took pride in the product and the service they offered. 

Gruitch found herself back in Colorado and accepted the general manager position at Panzano in February 1999.  During their tenure at Panzano, the team of Gruitch and chef Jennifer Jasinski led Panzano to the top of Denver’s culinary mountain - consistently named one of the top 5 Denver restaurants  for food and service.

"I feel like all of the work I’ve done so far has come together in Rioja,” she said.  “As my first venture into ownership, I’m looking forward to applying all that I have learned to make Rioja the best restaurant in Denver.”

Owner / General Manager
Beth Gruitch-Verucchi

Owner / Executive Chef
Jennifer Jasinski

Chef de Cuisine
Matt Anderson