In the year 2000, Philip Anson was working as a cook in a Denver restaurant. He had graduated from college only a year earlier and was enjoying his time learning about food while working and studying under a talented chef. He worked at nights and spent his days living and rock climbing in Eldorado Springs, Colorado. In time, he found that his restaurant job had become mundane and boring. He quit his job and departed on a climbing road trip to Joshua Tree National Park in search of inspiration. It was in that magical place that he decided to start a burrito company. The idea was simple: to offer a variety of authentic burritos sold hot to local climbers in Eldorado Springs. The idea was seen as a means of funding a simple life of outdoor enjoyment in Boulder. When Phil returned from his trip and tried to execute this simple business plan, he tried selling his burritos at construction sites and park n rides, but people just looked puzzled when he told them what he was trying to do. The retail burrito sales did not go over well.

In a moment of reflection on his initial business failure, Phil ended up at the Eldorado Corner Market Store for a cup of coffee. He saw that they carried ready to eat burritos made by a number of local companies and thought to himself with utter naivety, “If selling them hot out of a cooler doesn’t work, maybe I can sell them in stores!” Phil went back to his Eldorado Springs Cabin, whipped up some burritos, wrapped them in plastic wrap, labeled them with an archaic black and white label printed on an inkjet printer, and took them back to the market with impromptu pricing. He had landed his first wholesale account.

Today, the Eldorado Corner Market is one of hundreds of customers currently carrying Phil’s Fresh Foods products. Phil’s products are sold in premium national grocery chains, local mom & pop shops, large volume food service institutions, and everything in between. Phil made his first burritos on an old gas stove in his 1906 Eldorado Springs cabin. Today, the company operates its own USDA inspected food manufacturing facility in Boulder, Colorado where they employ approximately twenty people. Phil’s Fresh Foods, like many things in life, evolved quite differently than the Founder had initially intended. Fine food and made from scratch cooking is Phil’s life passion, but his goal now lies in bridging the gap between made from scratch food artisanship and large scale food manufacturing at Phil’s Fresh Foods.