Biker Jim’s founder returns with hot dog/breakfast shop at Milk Market

Jim Pittenger, who founded the one-of-a-kind Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs in 2005 before exiting the company in July during a dispute with its majority investor, has opened a new popup restaurant inside Denver Milk Market, a Lower Downtown food hall.

Bikers & Bakers will sell “a variety of signature hot dogs,” Thursday through Saturday, “including Elk Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage, Wild Boar Sausage, and a Bacon Cheddar Brat, with toppings ranging from classics to cream cheese and caramelized onions,” according to a statement from Sage Hospitality.

Those are some of the same flavors Pittenger once made at Biker Jim’s.

On Saturday mornings, Pittenger will dish out lemon ricotta pancakes, sour cream waffles and other breakfast items from the Lou’s Hot & Naked food stall in the market.

Pittenger started Biker Jim’s as a food cart on the Sixteenth Street Mall, eventually opening a standalone restaurant at 2148 Larimer St. The company later licensed its name and food for kiosks at Coors Field, Empower Field at Mile High and Ball Arena. In 2021, Pittenger sold the company to then-friend Andrew Soulakis in return for shares in Soulakis’ holding company. But he stayed on as the president.

But in July, Ball Arena owner Kroenke Sports & Entertainment sued Biker Jim’s for unpaid fees and evicted its food stall. That prompted Pittenger to leave the company he founded and criticize how it is currently being operated.