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Matthias Gutknecht grew up watching his parents run businesses in Denver and learned to appreciate the close-knit community that space created. “I worked there after school and during breaks and fell in love with entrepreneurship and the hospitality industry.”
He had always wanted to get an MBA, but it had been put on the back burner. Then he learned about the University of Denver’s accelerated MBA program and realized there was no reason to wait.
At the University of Denver, I took classes in core business topics such as finance and strategic management. “I also had the opportunity to do some consulting work and work on extracurricular projects, which helped enhance my experience,” Gutknecht said. At the end of the program, he wrote a business plan for a restaurant as part of a class assignment. But for Gutknecht, this was no practice. He wanted to start that business and knew his classmates, professors, and mentors would help him fine-tune his plans.
Two years later, he co-founded Taco Uprising in Denver based on that plan. At the heart of his business is a focus on sustainability and community impact. Gutknecht and his co-founders want to lead change in the restaurant industry through reducing food waste, donating unused food, composting, recycling and supporting local economies.
I thought I loved entrepreneurship, but after earning my MBA, I was empowered to leverage new skills with real-world experience to bring companies to life.
–Matthias Gutknecht
These efforts help support the goal of achieving B Corp certification, which means a company meets high standards for social and environmental issues. Only a few restaurants nationwide (and only one in Colorado) have this designation. “One of Taco Uprising’s main objectives is to put people before profits,” Gutknecht said. He said this certification will help increase visibility on how to make that happen in the restaurant industry.
Gutknecht said the University of Denver’s MBA program helped him start his business. “I was able to get a lot of feedback on my business plan early on, which helped pave the way for me to secure a small business loan.”
That’s one reason Gutknecht is still active at the University of Denver’s business school. “We’re definitely going to give back,” Gutknecht said. “We’ve had University of Denver students learn our business, help us plan for the future, and gain real-world experience. That’s the power of the University of Denver community. ”
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