The story of Gelato Junction and Colorado-Q
Story By: Maddie Nowak, Sustainability Editor
Photos By: Isaac Jessup
Plenty of people like to dream about following their passion, starting a business and being able to make a living doing what they love, and for one Grand Junction couple, it’s more than just a dream.
Steven and Kristen Preuss are the proud owners of Colorado Q, Baker’s Boutique, and Gelato Junction, located on Main Street right here in the Valley, but their story starts somewhere very different.
The Food Truck
Around nine years ago, Steven Preuss was working in the oil fields, chasing work wherever it led, including, briefly, Wyoming. After going to school for Graphic Design and Biology respectively, Steven and Kristen were not exactly living the dream.
“One of my big hobbies and things that I enjoyed was cooking for people,” said Steven, “so I had a friend build me a smoker and I used it to cook small gathering type things for a while.”
He began cooking for larger and larger crews, building progressively bigger smokers, until he gained a reputation amongst the oil crews. “They’d always ask me to [cook] for them,” said Steven. They also frequently encouraged him to start a food truck, an idea that took root in his mind and began to grow until one day, Steven and Kristen decided to take the plunge.
“We found the food truck when we were home one weekend and basically just bought it and parked it at the house,” said Steven.
And so Colorado Q was born. Even as they would take over two more businesses, Colorado Q holds a special place in their hearts. “That’s our baby,” said Kristen, “That’s how we started this journey.”
They started off small, finding small events to set up at. “Food trucks weren’t as popular back then as they are now,” said Steven, “There was us and one other one that did barbeque and they shut down shortly after we started.”
What really changed the game for them was, ironically, COVID. What started off looking like a major problem ended up pushing them to expand their business in a whole new, lucrative direction. They began catering during the COVID-19 crisis, when running a food truck as normal was hard to do.
“We didn’t fully transition from one to the other,” Steven said, “But we started adding caterings to what we did as a business. And then once the world kind of went back to normal with events and stuff after COVID, we basically had to then do major events and caterings all together and we just saw things take off.”
Settling Down
Eventually, as their business took off, they began to get more and more requests for catering and questions about where they would be normally, which were hard to answer, as a food truck goes where the business is. So they began looking for a location to move their business to. Baker’s Boutique was a business on 24th Street, across from the park. Originally, they intended to buy the property from the owners, but failed to get the necessary loan. The owners offered to lease the property to them, on the condition that the Preusses bought the bakery from the lease owners.
Now the owners of both Colorado Q and Bakers Boutique, the Preusses quickly ran into a new problem.
“The first year we were there, it was great, we were doing everything, we wanted to get our name out there and just be busy,” said Kristen, “And then construction hit.”
The Preusses found their business practically barricaded off, blocked by the construction on the road. Their business suffered, as it was difficult to get anywhere near their relatively new location. Even after the construction was over, the Preusses realized that the location was not going to work.
“They changed the one lane road to two lanes and everyone just flies by,” Kristen said.
They had also been expecting the park to add to their revenue, with children and families being just across the street from them.
“We were kind of surprised that the park just wasn’t as busy as what we remembered,” said Steven. He also mentioned that one big draw that their location didn’t allow for was the simple draw of proximity. “Just someone walking down the street going ‘Hey there’s a cupcake shop, let’s check it out,’” said Steven.
So the couple notified the owners of the location that they would not be renewing their lease and looked for a new location, which turned out to be Gelato Junction, where they again took over the business from the previous owners. Their new combined business is a one-stop-shop, from a barbeque dinner to ice cream for dessert and a pastry to take home for later.
Doing What They Love
With three businesses and eight years under their belts, the Preusses have a lot to be proud of. But both of the Preusses say that one of their favorite parts of what they do is the catering side of their business in particular.
“One of the best parts is wedding caterings and big events and celebrations,” said Steven, “And the fact that people chose you to be a part of that celebration, one of the biggest moments in their lives is always fulfilling and makes you feel good about what you’re doing.”
“Weddings, caterings, and graduations,” said Kristen, “I love doing those, I love watching people’s faces, I love watching all the family get together and just being a part of that.”
What started as a hobby has grown into their whole livelihood, in just under nine years.
“He just kind of started it from the ground up,” said Kristen about Colorado Q, “And here we are, eight, almost nine years later.” Doing what they love.
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