Denver Home Living Huettner Capital Summer 2017 | Page 30

WHITE
FENCE FARM
A GREAT DESTINATION FOR
FAMILY TOGETHERNESS
« Getting take-out there and sitting down at home together for dinner
was a strong family-bonding experience. »
W
hen banker Tom Piercy moved to Colorado back
in 1986, he never imagined that decades later
he’d find himself participating as a major player
in the Denver restaurant business. It all stemmed
from his childhood memories of family meals at White
Fence Farm while growing up outside Chicago. “My
mother used to send me out for a chicken dinner from
White Fence Farm all the time,” he recalls. “Getting
take-out there and sitting down at home together for
dinner was a strong family-bonding experience.”
served three meals a day and sought a business partner
to help. He ended up partnering with the Hassert
family of Chicago’s White Fence Farm operation, and
they joined together in rebranding the Wilson Family
Restaurant into a brand new White Fence Farm.
“With just a one-page licensing agreement—unheard
of today—the Hasserts helped the Wilsons get
started by sharing White Fence Farm’s original
secrets of success: its overall development, kitchen
design, and of course, delicious recipes,” says Piercy.
“I was excited to find a piece of my childhood up
and running right in my adopted hometown.”
Decades later, to his delight, Piercy stumbled upon a
White Fence Farm in the Denver area and quickly became
a regular patron. He learned that the Denver operation
was not part of the Chicago business and was separately
owned by Charlie Wilson and his father. Originally
called the Wilson Family Restaurant, Wilson learned
quickly about the rigors of operating a restaurant that
As Piercy established his career as a successful banker,
owning and later selling his own company, he never lost
his love for White Fence Farm. For forty-three years,
he remained the restaurant’s biggest fan, and when the
Wilsons sought to retire and sell the business in 2014,
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