"When (my mom) cooked, everyone said 'yum yum,'" Denise Hakim told the Rocky Mountain Collegian in its story on the last day of Yum Yum Social. Her family opened the Lebanese and Jamaican restaurant in 1991. It closed for good on Aug. 29, 2026, after 35 years.
Two other Fort Collins regulars closed within the next four weeks. If you've walked College Avenue lately, you've seen the dark windows. Fort Collins has a recent example of how a closing like this plays out, and it suggests these rooms will take longer to refill than the closings took to happen.
Four Weeks, Three Long Runs
Here is what closed between late August and late September:
| Restaurant | Where | How long it ran | Last day | Reason reported |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yum Yum Social | Fort Collins | 35 years | Aug. 29, 2026 | Owner decided it was time for a change |
| Urban Egg | 230 S. College Ave. | More than a decade in Old Town | Aug. 30, 2026 | Lease expired; company chose not to renew |
| Los Tarascos | 622 S. College Ave. | 31 years | Sept. 23, 2026 | Founding family retiring |
The reasons differ, and they shape what comes next. Urban Egg is a chain that started in 2012, and it still has eight Colorado locations. According to ColoradoBiz, which ran the Coloradoan's reporting, Fort Collins staff were offered spots at the Johnstown restaurant or other locations. Cassie Pinckney, the company's vice president of marketing, said, "We're still looking for opportunities in Northern Colorado." The Coloradoan reported that Los Tarascos announced its closing in a Sept. 9 social media post. The restaurant called the decision "bittersweet" and said the family members who founded and ran it are retiring.
The Coloradoan summed up the month by saying the city's dining scene is "turning the page" heading into fall. It listed Yum Yum Social, Urban Egg and Los Tarascos among the longtime businesses that had recently closed, changed hands or announced they were shutting down. One room on East Lincoln Avenue has already gone through the whole cycle.
The Lincoln Avenue Room Shows the Clock
Funkwerks spent 15 years at 1900 E. Lincoln Ave. Here's how that room changed hands:
- Sept. 30, 2025. Funkwerks announced it would close its East Lincoln taproom. Co-founder Brad Lincoln told the Coloradoan the long-term lease was ending that year, and the brewery had thought about its brand and future before deciding to close.
- Oct. 7, 2025. The Coloradoan reported that Seed & Spirit Distilling would take over the space. That was about a week after the announcement and almost a month before Funkwerks poured its last beer.
- Nov. 2, 2025. The Funkwerks taproom closed.
- Oct. 9–11, 2026. Seed & Spirit held its grand-opening weekend for the new lounge.
The new tenant was known before the old one even closed. The doors reopened eleven months after the closing, and a little over a year after the takeover was announced.
Some of that time went into a bigger project than a new menu. According to NOCO Style, the move brings all of Seed & Spirit's process under one roof, including malting, brewing, distilling, aging and bottling. Founder and head distiller Joel Gustafson told the magazine that bringing everything together "was easy" to decide on, and that launching "an unexpected tasting room experience was a bonus."
What Actually Opened in the Old Funkwerks Space
If you haven't been yet, the place is a much bigger operation than a taproom. Per NOCO Style, it offers:
- Raw and wood-fired oysters, mussels, other seafood, meats, and vegetables from Gustafson's own Fort Collins farm, Rough Cut Farm
- Sunday brunch with a build-your-own bloody mary bar, built on a house mix of locally grown, fire-roasted tomatoes and a rotating lineup of locally made pickled vegetables
- A "Taps Around Town" menu of rotating beers from local breweries, plus wine and nonalcoholic options
- Party-Time Lager, a new collaboration with New Belgium Brewing brewed using Seed & Spirit's Whiszcal barrels and always on tap at the distillery
- A patio stage booked with Mishawaka Presents for live music through the fall and into next spring, with theater, comedy and community events mixed in, plus a Kid Zone
That's a full-day venue on a stretch of East Lincoln that used to close up with a brewery's taproom hours. The address is 1900 E. Lincoln Ave.
The Yum Yum Room Is Six Weeks Into the Same Clock
Yum Yum Social's space is following the Funkwerks pattern almost step for step. Its successor was named before the closing story even ran. The Collegian reported that Hunter Gottsch plans to turn the room into an upscale cafe called Sugar Plum. Gottsch graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education in Pasadena and used to work at Destroyer, chef Jordan Kahn's Los Angeles cafe.
Hakim is still involved. The Collegian reported that she's advising Gottsch, who is opening her first restaurant, telling her to "enjoy the process" and "keep going." Gottsch told the paper Hakim has "made it so easy for me." Hakim also hinted she may not be done with the restaurant business.
The only public timeline for Sugar Plum is "soon." As of mid-October, we haven't found an opening date or a published menu. If the Funkwerks room is any guide, a named tenant and an open door can be most of a year apart. Six weeks in, the windows are dark.
The College Avenue Rooms Without a Name Yet
The two College Avenue storefronts are further back in line. As of this writing, we haven't found a public announcement of a new tenant for 230 S. College Ave., where Urban Egg was, or for 622 S. College Ave., where Los Tarascos was. That doesn't mean nobody is talking to the landlords. It means nobody has said so publicly. At 1900 E. Lincoln, a public announcement was the first step toward reopening, and these two rooms haven't reached it.
Where the New Tables Actually Are
The openings that have happened this year are mostly in different rooms, and they don't sit where the closings did:
- Trickster Bakery & Cafe opened Aug. 10 at 1075 Pennock Place, according to the Collegian. That's a new breakfast option a few weeks before Urban Egg's last brunch service.
- MilkShake Factory announced an Aug. 15 grand opening at 150 N. College Ave. in Old Town.
- Ike's Love & Sandwiches opened its second Fort Collins location, near CSU, on Aug. 4, and held a grand-opening celebration Sept. 18.
- Three Dragon Thai moved into the former Taco Stop at 6324 S. College Ave. back in February, BizWest reported.
Two more are on the way. A Star Is Born Karaoke Cafe is preparing to open at 1128 W. Elizabeth St. in the former Campus West Krazy Karl's. In July, the Coloradoan said it was aiming for "this fall," and we haven't been able to confirm that it has opened. Grazia Craft Kitchen & Cocktails is planned for 160 W. Mountain Ave., and its owner told WhatNow he'd like to be open by Feb. 1, 2027, pending approvals.
The other rooms changing hands this year had their new tenants named well before this fall: the old Taco Stop by February and the old Krazy Karl's by July. The rooms that emptied in August and September are at the start of that process.
This Week, Downtown
Downtown Fort Collins has its Foodie Walk on Oct. 16. It's a good chance to see which Old Town spots are pouring and plating this fall. On the way, you can walk past 230 S. College Ave., where Urban Egg used to be.
When a long-running restaurant changes hands, its regulars get a new place to know. A house works the same way, and its next owners get a version of it the street hasn't seen yet. If you're thinking about what your own place on the block would mean to a buyer, Robert Crow can put together a free home valuation and a marketing plan built for it.
