Jon Bortles

Jon Bortles was born and raised in the restaurant business. His father, Bart, was a Colorado Restaurant Association “Living Legend” and Food Service Hall of Fame inductee. With big shoes to fill, Jon took over Woody’s Wood-Fired Pizza in Golden, Colorado in 2015 following his dad’s retirement. It didn’t take long for Jon to make his mark – landing the restaurant on lists such as Pizza Today’s Hot 100 Independent Pizzerias (#1 in Colorado, Top 5 nationally for single unit independents), Yelp Top 100 Pizzerias (2022, 2024), Pizza Company of the Year – Mountain West (2024) as well as winning numerous awards for ethics and sustainability. In 2019, Jon designed and built the restaurant’s takeout and delivery business out of an upcycled shipping container just before Covid. This addition not only helped get the restaurant through dine-in restrictions, it also added another $1.5 million in sustained annual revenue. Today, Woody’s has roughly 100 employees, serves roughly 1,000 guests per day, and has an annual revenue of $7.4mm… all from one location. Jon holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado and a MBA from the University of Denver.