A restaurant chain with self-pour beer taps is coming to Arapahoe Square.

Tapville Social, a franchise company based in Illinois, is set to open its first Colorado location at 1010 Park Avenue West later this year. It has taken 1,827 square feet at the base of the three-story building.

Tapville CEO Joseph Tota said the new location will be owned by franchisee Colton Harris and will open in the fall. Harris also owns XLV Realty in Denver and works as a broker.

The restaurant will feature 24 taps with both local and national beer, Tota said, noting franchisees can pick the specific offerings. Customers also pour their wine using Enomatic machines to preserve their quality.

“One of the things that we encourage is that we try to support local breweries and independent breweries specifically,” he said. “The franchisees have the opportunity to work with local breweries and carry their products, so they get to localize their product selection.”

Tapville’s largest demographic is women between the ages of 24 and 39, Tota said. He said most people assume the company focuses on craft beers, but they also sell a lot of wine and cocktails.

“More of our sales come from our creative cocktails than our beer products, but what we try to do is to partner with local breweries and involve them,” he said. “We don’t see it as a competition and we have locations that have breweries next door but with the majority of our cocktails that we have, most of the breweries don’t offer them.”

On the food side, Tapville serves an array of different kinds of pasta, sandwiches and tacos, with some menu variations by region. Entrees max out at $29.

Tapville was founded in 2016 in Elmhurst, Illinois, under the name Red Arrow Eatery and Self-Pour. A second location in nearby Naperville opened two years later. The company then rebranded and began franchising. It’s raised $1.5 million through crowdfunding in the last two years.

“We raised some capital on a site called Start Engine … and from independent investors and we used that to start expanding nationally,” Tota said. “When you’re trying to grow a business, and you’re trying to grow nationally, franchising is a model that can help you grow quicker. In Denver, we are helping Colton start his own business using our best practices but still using local breweries and supporting local businesses.”

Tapville now has 22 locations up and running, and another 52 in development, Tota said. The company charges an up-front franchise fee of $44,500 and takes a 6 percent cut of revenue for brick-and-mortar locations.

Tota said the ideal size for a Tapville space is between 3,000 and 5,000 square feet, but the Denver location is an exception because it will have outdoor seating.

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This story was reported by our partner BusinessDen.

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