How Colorado Springs Restaurants and Bakers Are Building a Local Food Economy Together

Jordan Ranieri opened The Happy Cow, a burger restaurant in Old Colorado City, in December 2025. The restaurant focuses on making locally sourced food while avoiding many detrimental additives or preservatives. For Ranieri, his business model is providing a fresh product and supporting local producers, communities and environmentally sustainable farming practices.

Before opening his business, Ranieri lived in Boulder, where he worked in retail, including four years at Whole Foods and five years in the cannabis industry. His interest in food began when his father died at age 47 from colon cancer, something the family was told was related to diet. Eating at restaurants that sourced locally and learning about food science, he started appreciating the nutritional, economic and ecological importance of local food.