Jill Bennett knows her way around a kitchen – and not just her own. As the owner of two restaurants, the kitchen is the one place she feels at home.The daughter of Colorado natives, Bennett has lived in Colorado her entire life. Born in 1963, she grew up in an area of Colorado Springs that she said was once considered “the country.””The house is still standing – where the old airport was,” Bennett said. “It’s a little country area, but the people (current owners) are too stubborn to sell so the city has built up around them.” She said she used to ride horses through Sand Creek.”When I was 13, we moved to town – the Palmer Park and Murray area,” Bennett said. She graduated from Mitchell High School in 1981, with a dream to get married and start a family. “I really had in my mind that I wanted to get married and have kids, but that just wasn’t in the picture,” Bennett said.In high school, she had waited tables at Soda Straw, an ice cream parlor. When she graduated from high school, she landed a job as a waitress at the Garden of the Gods Village Inn. “I worked there for five years, and there still wasn’t any picture of me getting married,” Bennett said. “And you know, I thought, I need to do something other than just barely make my rent.”She went to work at a mom-and-pop cafÈ so she could “learn the ropes” of the restaurant business, she said. For the next two and a half years, she worked three jobs and saved money so she could have her own business.Bennett eventually opened My Sister’s Kitchen on Boulder Street and Platte Avenue. She partnered with her sister-in-law and ran the business for 17 years. In the early days of the restaurant, Bennett said she learned to cook because they couldn’t afford one. “We were down to our last penny the day we opened the door,” she said. “It was slow, and we grew into the business, but in the beginning it was very slow.” She said the business grew by word-of-mouth advertising; she knew a lot of folks in Colorado and drew them into the restaurant. It worked and the restaurant is still there today.In June 2005, Bennett sold the business to another sister-in-law, with intentions to stay at home in Falcon and help her husband and care for her grandchildren (yes, she did realize her original dream and got married and became a stepmother).However, once again she was called back to the restaurant business – literally.”A customer of Sister’s Kitchen, who lived in Falcon, called me and said, ‘You have got to check out Rock Island Restaurant; they are going under.'” Bennett did. She stopped by and had breakfast and thought it was “OK,” she said. A few days later, she stopped by again, but the restaurant was closed for Labor Day – reopening Tuesday. When Bennett drove by again, she found signs indicating the IRS had seized the business. She said it was a sign of her own that said she’d be back in the restaurant business.”It was a good opportunity because I really wasn’t looking for it,” she said. “But I knew I could make it work.” However, when Bennett contacted the landlord she wasn’t keen on another restaurant so Bennett decided the site wasn’t hers after all. But the landlord checked out Bennett’s background and called her, agreeing to lease the space.”The place really was quite messy,” she said. But with the help of family and a couple of friends she had hired, she cleaned it and reopened Nov. 28, 2006, as Jill’s Country CafÈ.Bennett said she had doubts about using her own name, but did so thinking that her reputation with her previous restaurant would bring good luck. “I think it was a good decision,” she said.However, she had no trouble finding customers. “There were people that would stop by – interested in what’s going on,” she said. “There are a lot of Falconeers that are very nosy, and they like to know the gossip. And the restaurant is the place for that kind of thing.”Bennett brought at least one tradition from her first restaurant. “We have something called ‘The Liars’ table,'” she said. “If you’re not a liar, you can’t sit there. And it’s full.”She’s staying put for now. “I like people. This is just my knack. I know how to do it,” Bennett said. “I mean this is all I know how to do. I don’t know how to do a steakhouse or a bigger-type restaurant. Small type restaurants – that’s what I know.”More on Jill BennettWhat is your favorite thing about Falcon?The view and the quiet; I love the mountains.
