Nestled in downtown Aspen, Colo., the 68-room luxury boutique hotel MOLLIE Aspen offers guests a chic, yet comfortable, experience in this mountain town.

Built on the site of the former Molly Gibson Lodge, which was demolished in 2021, the hotel’s name pays tribute to the town’s most successful silver mine, Mollie Gibson. The mine originated in the late 19th century and contributed to the town’s early economic, social and cultural development.

Photo by Nicole FranzenDeveloped and operated by HayMax Hotels, this local firm brought in CCY Architects of Basalt, Colo., as the project’s design architects. Others involved included Post Company of Brooklyn, N.Y., to design the property’s interiors, and Ricca Design Studios of Greenwood Village, Colo., for kitchen design consultation. Hospitality group Gin & Luck was involved in the conception of the food and beverage program.

“The original site remained the same as Molly Gibson Lodge,” says Garret Sletten, principal, Ricca Design Studios. “The project was a scrape and rebuild of the hotel to add rooms, increase the food and beverage program and become a hotel destination in the heart of Aspen where guests could stay and relax rather than it being just a place to sleep.”

With a prominent site on Main Street in downtown Aspen, the hotel’s location sits at the border of two districts, each with different architectural character. One side, the historic West End, is a predominantly residential area with historic Victorian homes. On the other side is Aspen’s commercial core, which consists of larger-scale buildings. 

“CCY’s design responds to each condition,” says Todd Kennedy, AIA, partner/owner, CCY Architects. “Brick, which is used at the base, ties the building to the commercial core, while wood siding, used in the upper floors, correlates to the residential landscape. Inspired by the Bauhaus movement and Aspen’s connection to this design ethos, the hotel’s design is rooted in simplicity and utility, where function governs form.”

Combining contemporary Scandinavian and Japanese design, the hotel’s designers committed to a reduction of excess through its interiors and the use of materials from Aspen and the Western U.S. The influence of Bauhaus style brings geometric lines that harmonize with natural woods, such as white oak millwork resembling an Aspen tree trunk, earthen ceramics, hand-dyed textiles and sand-casted brass. The floors feature a mix of concrete and warm local stone. “The hotel’s large windows recall the proportional fenestration of their historic antecedents while framing the surrounding natural beauty and ushering an abundance of light into the space,” Kennedy says.

Dining spaces encourage guests to gather from early morning until late at night. The food and beverage program features menus with regional authenticity and hearty fare, as well as seasonal ingredients. 

The kitchen sits on the lower level. The main level contains an all-day cafe offering on-site prepared pastries and made-to-order and made-to-go breakfasts. Beverages include craft coffee, matcha, teas, fresh-pressed juices and smoothies. Also residing on the main level, the full-service restaurant features breakfast, lunch and dinner. The bar offers natural wines, a curated selection of beers and ciders, spirits and elegant and complex cocktails. A rooftop bar and lounge on the upper level provides unobstructed views of Aspen Mountain and features a spa pool and snack and beverage menu.

Wood, brick, concrete and steel comprise the construction materials for MOLLIE Aspen. Photo by Draper White

About the Project

• Opened: December 2023
• Scope of project: A scrape and rebuild of a hotel to add rooms and increase the food and beverage program
• Website: mollieaspen.com
• Rooms: 68
• Size: 26,959 sq. ft., including main kitchen, 851 sq. ft.; cafe, cafe/lobby, 1,113 sq. ft.; restaurant/bar, 1,082 sq. ft.
• Cafe hours: Breakfast, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.; lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Restaurant and bar hours: Food, 7 a.m. to 12 a.m.; bar menu, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.; dinner menu, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; late-night menu, 10 p.m. to 12 a.m.; Saturday brunch: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Average check: $58
• Menu: 
  • Cafe: Coffees, teas, cocktails and pastries
  • Restaurant: Citrus chili shrimp; house-made smoked beef kielbasa and a rotating seasonal house-made kraut, beer mustard and mornay; lobster spaghetti; lamb sugo fettucine; steak with fries; chicken Milanese; miso-glazed salmon with grilled asparagus, lemon, olive oil; MOLLIE burger; salads; roasted beets
  • Bar: MOLLIE sliders, hot wings, charcuterie, ribeye steak frites
  • Sunday brunch: Breakfast burrito; stuffed French toast; steak and eggs; The Bear omelette with three eggs, farmers cheese, crushed potato chips and chives
• Kitchen staff: 17
• Equipment investment: $500,000

MOLLIE’s public space features artwork by well-known contemporary artists, such as textile artist Rachel Snack, as well as vintage furniture. Photo by Nicole Franzen

Floor Plan

Production and Service

“With a relatively small footprint, the design is both efficient and thoughtful in its use of space,” Kennedy says.

A dinner menu features lamb sugo fettucine and lobster spaghetti.The small footprint had a great influence on the food and beverage program, the kitchen, cafe, restaurant and bar and rooftop bar and lounge. “Due to space restrictions on the main level, the main kitchen had to be located in the basement, resulting in all food being delivered on the main floor and taken to the kitchen via elevator or stairs,” Sletten says. Staff place menu items in a walk-in cooler, walk-in freezer and dry storage.

The space is minimal for producing an ambitious menu. “Chefs must design menus to use many of the same ingredients in different ways for various menu items,” Sletten says. This meant the storage and foodservice equipment had to serve multiple purposes. Restrictions on the exhaust system due to space also limited the amount of equipment that could be used here.

Executing such a menu required an equally thoughtful approach to space usage and staffing. “The biggest issue is fitting everyone into the small physical space,” Sletten says. “But we’ve worked it out by keeping the staff size minimal and making sure everyone knows what they need to do at their stations. It’s all about phasing production.” Typically, the kitchen operates with an executive chef, a chef de cuisine, two line cooks, a prep cook, a pastry chef and a dishwasher. 

The foodservice designers selected the equipment without input from the chefs, who joined the staff in the fall of 2023. “The chefs had to be willing to work within the small space and refine the menu so it can be produced with minimal equipment in a small footprint,” Sletten says.

In the kitchen, staff prepare mise en place and ingredients for salads, crudites, charcuterie and hot food prep on tables that hold a slicer and a food processor. For food preparation, culinary staff also use a 22-quart stand mixer for pastry mixing and seasoning sausage, while using its grinder attachment for the MOLLIE burger, ground fresh daily, and all house-made sausage preparations. Staff perform in-house sausage stuffing with a 30-pound, foot-controlled sausage stuffer for house-made smoked beef kielbasa, rotating seasonal sausages and brown sugar and sage breakfast sausages. For house-made sauerkraut, the culinary staff use a 20-quart steel fermentation tank with airlocks under refrigeration.

“Culinary staff also use a six-burner range to prepare eggs any way, classic sauces, sauteed shrimp, pasta dishes, soups and grains prepared the old-fashioned way,” according to Daniel Camas, chef de cuisine. They use a charbroiler to grill eight-ounce filets, marinated shrimp and ciabatta, as well as a flattop griddle to cook MOLLIE burgers and to char vegetables. The team also makes use of the griddle for pancakes and breakfast burritos, as well as shaved ham and Mahón cheese to place on house-made sourdough cheese bagels.

The minimal cookline includes a combi oven, which acts as the workhorse of the kitchen for pastry, braised meats like short ribs and spicy chicken wings. The team also uses the combi oven during dinner service for rethermalizing and flashing steaks and sausages. “Staff complete baking early in the day so they can free up the oven for other preparation throughout service times,” says Camas.

Culinary staff make use of a salamander for melting cheese and broiling fish dishes, such as miso-glazed salmon. They use a fryer for steak frites, corkscrew fries, hot wings, tempura squash (zucca frita) and chickpea panisse, as well as other brunch menu items like stuffed French toast and the Nashville hot chicken sandwich.

“Many operations today are looking toward minimizing the kitchen space,” Sletten says. “In addition to selecting multipurpose pieces of equipment, we positioned equipment along walls and helped maximize the amount of storage space. No matter what, you can’t sacrifice efficiency. You have to balance square footage and cost with maintaining a high-quality operation.”

When culinary staff complete plating menu items, servers carry the food or transport it via an elevator upstairs to the cafe and restaurant on the main level — and to the upper level for special catered events or to the lounge/terrace. “We don’t need covers over the food because it only takes 30 seconds or less to bring the food upstairs,” says Livy Balm, food and beverage supervisor.

“We keep menus simple for banquets,” says Camas. “For example, for a 50-guest event one evening we served appetizers, roasted chicken and food at a dip station and slider station, in addition to desserts.”

The lobby bar features geometric sculptural concrete panels combined with elegant, refined millwork. “The bars and coffee counters needed to be efficient, because the length was not very long,” Sletten says. “Just like in the kitchen, multiuse equipment that can function for many menu items was used, and we still had to provide ample space for staff to work and move about in the spaces. Being able to offer full drink menu service at the bars was of the utmost importance.”

The cafe features coffee and tea drinks, cocktails, pastries and to-go menu items. Photo by Nicole Franzen

Sustainable Focus

The culinary team focuses its sustainability efforts on antibiotic-free, safe-harvested proteins. They gather compost, which is sent out to a local farm, while trash is separated into regular landfill and recyclable bins.

Thermally modified wood siding and brick were selected as primary cladding materials due to their durability and resiliency, given the harsh winters and intensity of the UV light at high altitude in Aspen. The wood siding is thermally modified wood, which is fast growing and sustainably harvested. The thermal modification procedure ensures a stable and durable product.

The windows are a newer line that combines fiberglass exteriors with aluminum interiors and high-performance glass, contributing to an incredibly efficient building envelope without compromising MOLLIE’s views.

Ryan Sapienza, assistant food and beverage manager, shakes up a cocktail at the lobby bar. Photo by Shawn CampbellAll hotel rooms are heated and cooled with high-efficiency cold weather electric air-to-air heat pumps, making use of the 65-kilowatt solar array on MOLLIE’s roof. Each room has a dedicated high-efficiency heat recovery ventilator to provide consistent fresh air and exhaust air, which is optimum indoor air quality.

Heating for the second-story spa, snowmelt and domestic hot water is provided by a condensing modulating boiler plant optimized to run at low temperatures to maximize efficiency and reduce gas use. The common spaces of the building are also ventilated with heat recovery ventilators, which enhances the building’s indoor air quality.

Water bottle fillers are conveniently located on each floor.

All lighting fixtures for the exterior, interior architectural, decorative and the back of the house are LED. All guest rooms use a lighting system to automatically turn off all luminaires when the room is unoccupied.

All stormwater is managed and filtered through on-site rain gardens.

In its short life, MOLLIE Aspen continues to attract guests who want a chic yet comfortable environment in which to experience this vibrant mountain town. Food and beverages are as much a part of the experience as the interior design and amenities. The culinary staff has not only learned to work within a small footprint to maintain efficient production but also how to keep the menus exciting to entice very discerning guests.

The bar on the main floor offers wine, beer, spirits and cocktails. Photo by Nicole Franzen

Key Players

• Owner and operator: HayMax Hotels, Aspen, Colo.; Michael Brown and Aaron Brown, founders; Josh Gaube, managing director, construction and development
• Foodservice operation management conception: Gin & Luck, Aspen, Colo.; co-owners: David Kaplan, CEO; Alex Day, chief operating officer, Devon Tarby, partner
• Director of food and beverage and executive chef: Jordan Hayes
• Chef de cuisine: Daniel Camas 
• Food and beverage supervisor: Livy Balm
• Assistant general manager food and beverage: Casey Noonon
• Assistant food and beverage manager: Ryan Sapienza
• Architect: CCY Architects, Basalt, Colo.: Todd Kennedy, AIA, partner/owner; John Cottle, FAIA, partner/owner
• Interior designer: Post Company, Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Foodservice design consultants: Ricca Design Studios, Greenwood Village, Colo.: Phillip Landgraf, FCSI, executive principal; Garret Sletten, principal