Culinary Insider program boosts Downtown restaurants, gives back

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- The Culinary Insider program launched at the end of September -- it's an idea by Downtown Partnership to boost local business that can give you discounts and specialty items at Colorado Springs restaurants.

"We figured this is a fun way to give people the opportunity to support the small businesses that they love and then get something special in return," said Laurel Prud'homme with Downtown Colorado Springs.

You can sign up for a ticket and then get the Insider code on your mobile device. You can then redeem the code for special access at over a dozen restaurants in the downtown area.

"We love to be a part of this community, it's grown us, it's kept us alive through all of covid and everything like that, so it's really good outreach," said Chef Adam Ridens, co-owner of Ephemera.

Ephemera is one of the 18 restaurants participating.

"We started in 2018 as a series of pop-up dinners, [then] caught the attention of some great people that wanted to give us a shot at being a restaurant. So, here what we do is a seven-course tasting menu, it’s kind of our claim to fame. We do offer an a la carte, 60 different wine labels that you can see behind us, we do offer two different wine pairings to go with it, really just trying to create a nice safe space for everyone to have fine dining," said Ridens.

The Insider pass gives people access to off-menu items, specialty drinks, and prizes. The pass is $10 and all the proceeds will benefit scholarships for local students pursuing careers in the culinary arts.

"Being a chef is not just flipping burgers there’s a real craft to it. I think to be able to highlight that to students is going to be huge for us and grow our industry. There’s a lot of talented people out there and they don’t know that they’re really good at cooking, so to be able to be a part of that is huge," said Ridens.

The Culinary Insider pass is good through the month of October. For more information, you can visit their website.