Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ian Dedrickson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Ian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

After working in the culinary world for quite some time, I became a bit jaded and realized I wasn’t interested in working as hard as we do for someone else’s vision. I left the kitchen and started learning bar and front of house, hoping to pick up some new skills and maybe find my next direction. I worked with a good friend who eventually became my chef/business partner (Adam Ridens). We had both been chefs and worked together in the kitchen together before, so I asked him to help me with a silly pop-up dinner in my apartment where we’d do a long tasting menu of silly ideas and my now-wife’s (Jasmine Dillavou) artistic vison would create a unique space. It was a lot of fun – albeit a lot of work – but the idea took off and Jasmine, Adam, and I started doing these random themed and concept heavy multi-sensory dinners every month, radically transforming friends’ homes, other restaurants who were closed on a Sunday – wherever we could – for one night only.

I had this long dream of incorporating art and concept into an intimate dining setting that focused on the experience and interaction aspect of dining, and doing it my way, by my rules, and with no one else to tell me what I couldn’t do – to keep it as Punk Rock as possible. With Jasmine’s artistic direction and Adam’s culinary talents, we managed to work our asses off for 2 years until Covid hit.

Just before the pandemic took full force, our just-for-fun pop-up concept gained a little attention and the opportunity to open our own legitimate spot inside of the new COATI location fell into our laps,. We’ve since had the luck and support to make it happen, despite Covid or anything else, and the unique opportunity to add to our Colorado Springs Community with creative food and an artistic environment that have been generally rare until recently.

Ian, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve spent my whole professional life in restaurants, but also have an education in Sociology, so hospitality and human interaction has always been my prerogative. The goal of Ephemera is to provide – without pretention – the communal experience of dining in a unique environment and with creative intrigue. Colorado Springs isn’t well know for it’s culinary prowess, but with the help of a very hard working community of chefs and hospitality pros in this town, we want to be part of changing that as our beautiful city so rapidly grows.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Like almost any success story, ours (still in progress) has a lot to do with luck and running into the right people at the right time. While we were in the middle of building friendships and accomplices in general industry shenanigans, we crossed paths with Aaron Ewton of Atlas Restaurant Group (ARG) a few times. One night, while shucking oysters at a good Sommelier-friend’s house during a big “wine tasting club” sort of party, he approached Adam and I about his interest in our concept and what it could add to the Springs dining community on a legitimate platform. After a few months of entertaining some ideas for spaces, ARG helped us with the business side of things that a couple of hard-partying young chefs weren’t yet acquainted with, and eventually worked us into some circles involved with the creation of COATI, a new and first-of-its-kind for COS space with several food concepts, events, and just a generally vast and diverse space for social gathering. Through negotiating prowess, ARG helped us set up an enclosed area upstairs – a hideaway from the noise and activity of a the larger space, that we could set up an unsuspectingly elegant, art gallery-like space to launch our vision.

We Have an extraordinarily close and interconnected hospitality-industry community her in Colorado Springs, and it all came down to that.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

One of the philosophical premises to Ephemera is the notion of collaboration and the temporary (Ephemeral) nature to, well, everything. We have a lot exceptionally talented people who each bring their unique strengths, and whose weaknesses are counterbalanced by their comrades unique strengths. But first and foremost, respect and kindness as a strict policy. I have a distinct disdain for the typical “angry chef” – i.e. the Gordan Ramseys of the world (they’re everywhere, it’s not just TV). Every mistake is a teaching moment, and what may seem like a lack of f**** to give about our craft (as frustrating as that always is) is a chance to inspire someone rather than berate them into resentment. Believing that is fundamental not only to building a better work environment, but also a better person who depends on you as a leader.

I believe everyone is inherently intelligent and capable in their own way – sometimes they just don’t fit the pre-existing mold or haven’t been given the right chance. So to treat everyone as such and create a culture in which your entire team also does so builds comradery and passion towards a common goal of success with and for each other.

Contact Info:

• Website: ephemeradinners.com
• Instagram: @ephemeradinners
• Facebook: Ephemera
• Yelp: Ephemera

Image Credits
Roman Pena, Jasmine Dillavou