Dr. Allen Lim, co-founder of Skratch Labs, doesn’t want you to eat alone. In fact, he said, one of the first steps to a healthier lifestyle comes from embracing community.
“If any athlete wants me to coach them, I ask them how many days a week they eat by themselves,” said Dr. Lim, who is also a sports scientist. “If they say most days of the week, that’s the first thing we try to change.”
That key point, he honed in, is that eating together, bringing people together, and creating a community proves good for the brain and body. For these reasons, Dr. Lim opened Skratch Labs Cafe in January 2023, a brick and mortar outpost of his sports nutrition company, Skratch Labs.
The doctor developed Skratch Labs while he coached professional cycling teams. He saw what the athletes refueled and hydrated with, and it wasn’t actually good for them. Dr. Lim’s hydration company started in 2012, and is now one of the go-to picks for athletes and regular folk who need extra electrolytes.
As the brand continued to grow, Dr. Lim wanted something more. So, he created a place where people could meet before a hike, refuel after, or just hang out and get some work done right in downtown Boulder. Skratch Labs Cafe was born, serving local coffee, Colorado treats, and nourishing eats.
“Commensality is the act of literally sharing food at the table with one another,” said Lim. “It was my experience when coaching professional cycling that one of the most performance-enhancing things you could do for a team was to have them sit down and share meals together.”
Fuel Up at Skratch Labs Cafe
Located on Pearl Street across from Snooze and A.M. Eatery, Skratch Lab Cafe fits in easily with Boulder’s outdoorsy, endurance-focused community. Not that you have to be sweaty and donning workout gear and trainers. Even people on a laptop or out for a stroll need hydration and can fuel up here.
With bright natural light, plants lining the windows, and plenty of small and group tables, Scratch Lab Cafe offers a welcoming environment for everyone. Plus, Skratch’s Hydration Everyday Drink Mix is always on tap for free.
Dr. Lim said his goal centered around providing a space where people feel welcome, but also with food and drinks that won’t make them feel terrible. Thus, he created a menu from what he already knows and loves, rice.
“It’s an easy and flexible carbohydrate source that pairs with a lot of great foods,” he said, “And that is culturally normative for me as a Chinese-American from the Philippines.”
After all, he added, “You can’t disconnect the science of nutrition from your own cultural roots.”
Eat the Menu
For morning fare, choose from a hearty breakfast burrito (meat $9; tofu $8), creamy overnight oats ($5), or mushroom congee and egg ($8), which is a savory rice porridge with mushroom broth. The pastries are perfect for a morning snack or to pack along for a day hike. Choose from a homemade pop tart ($6), chocolate-zucchini Mo Cakes ($3), horchata muffins ($3), and vegan cranberry oat cookies ($3).
The cafe offers daily rice cake flavors ($4 each), such as chocolate peanut butter, pork shoulder, or bacon and egg. These rice cakes aren’t like your typical crunchy and round ones from the store, but more of a softly cooked Rice Krispie treat, coming out square, dense, and extremely flavorful.
For lunch, start with the crispy, crunchy rice tots ($6) covered in Asian-style buffalo sauce, kewpie mayo, and garlic chili sauce. Try the favorite Skratch House Rice Bowl ($13) for a complete meal. Like everything else on the menu, this bowl is packed with nutrient-dense food to fill you up and give you plenty of energy. The bowl includes kabocha squash, edamame hummus, kimchi, cucumbers, carrots, marinated kale and a crunchy mix. You can also build your own with options like karaage fried chicken, lemongrass pork shoulder, baked tofu, or an egg.
The menu also features coconut turmeric miso soup ($6) or bone broth soup ($6), perfect for a post-run warmup during the colder months.
Caffeinate and Recover at Skratch Labs Cafe
The cafe offers many items for refueling and recovery, including alcoholic drinks. It has cans of Upslope beers and the local brewery’s electrolyte-spiked hard-seltzer Snowmelt.
The cafe uses beans from The Coffee Ride, another local company that roasts its beans weekly. It offers the classics, like a latte ($5 for 16-ounces), cold brew ($5.75 for 16-ounces), and chai or matcha ($5 for 16-ounces).
If you need a pick-me-up after a big hike or hard ride, try the Recovery Latte ($6 for 16-ounces), which includes a scoop of the chocolate Skratch Labs recovery mix blended with milk and espresso, or the Hibiscus Lemonade EDM Tea ($6 for 16 ounces), which is a mix of hibiscus berry iced tea, lemonade, and a scoop of Skratch Labs Lemon Lime Everyday Drink mix.
Of course, you can take all the Skratch Labs items home too, the cafe has a small market inside.
Visit Skratch Labs Cafe every day from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 1600 Pearl St., Suite 110, Boulder, skratchlabs.com
