Finding Your Ikigai After the Sale: Life Beyond the Silver Grill with John Arnolfo

You planned your exit. You sold the business. You got a good deal. 

Now what? 

In this episode of Business Transition Roadmap, Elizabeth talks with John Arnolfo, former owner of the Silver Grill Café, about what really happens after you hand over the keys. While the sale itself came together quickly—over breakfast and a handshake—the emotional transition took far more intention. 

John shares what surprised him most about retirement, why social connection mattered more than golf or travel, and how writing a memoir became the unexpected “next thing” that gave him purpose again. 

If you’re a business owner contemplating a sale—or already navigating life after one—this conversation is both grounding and hopeful. 

What You’ll Hear in This Episode: 

• How a competitor’s phone call led to a handshake deal in three meetings 

• Why planning for transition 30 years early made all the difference 

• The unexpected emptiness that can follow even a successful sale 

• The importance of social energy and identity beyond the business 

• Lessons from failed experiments—and knowing when to let go 

• How writing a memoir became John’s new “jump out of bed” reason 

• What makes a win-win external sale truly possible 

Chapters in this episode:

00:00 Introduction: Meet John Arnolfo, Former Owner of the Silver Grill  
02:34 The Breakfast That Led to the Sale  
04:36 A Handshake Deal in Three Meetings  
05:26 Entering the Neutral Zone After Exit  
08:31 Discovering the Need for Social Energy  
09:30 Experimenting with What’s Next  
10:30 Writing a Memoir & Reconnecting Generations  
14:21 Estate Planning & Conversations with His Sons  
16:24 Risk, Intuition & Entrepreneurial Lessons  
18:16 Planning 30 Years in Advance  
20:42 Knowing When to Push—and When to Let Go  
22:59 One Final Piece of Advice: Ikigai  
24:18 Redefining Retirement & Legacy 

Connect with Elizabeth Ledoux and the Transition Strategists: 
Website: https://transitionstrategists.com/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetransitionstrategists 
Elizabeth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethledoux/ 
Transition Strategists on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transitionstrategists/ 
Transition Strategists on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@transitionstrategists 

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Finding Your Ikigai After the Sale: Life Beyond the Silver Grill with John Arnolfo Transcript

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Welcome back everybody to our business transition roadmap. I’m Elizabeth Ledoux and today I’m just very pleased to be joined by John Arnolfo. He’s been the steward, he was for more than four decades of what we would call the iconic Silver Grill Cafe in Old Town Fort Collins. And it’s the oldest continuously operating restaurant.

in Northern Colorado and it is truly a beloved breakfast and lunch institution, famous for its cinnamon rolls and its small town hospitality. John is here today to walk us through his journey, not with the Silver Grill, but also his journey following and most importantly following his sale of

the silver grill and just what that journey looked like so that for those of you who are contemplating a sale like his, how to prepare and what to do and what to watch out for. John, thank you so much for being here with us. Why don’t you tell us just a little bit about your journey?

Johnny Arnolfo: 
Well, Elizabeth, thank you for having me. And I’m so flattered with the compliments. The first thing that caught my attention with your comments is the silver grill being iconic. And for a long time, obviously, the silver grill was in business and started in 1933. And I didn’t consider myself iconic or traditional, a tradition in four columns.

Certainly after the sale of the Silver Grill, the accolades that I received and continue to receive is just so rewarding. And now I’m a believer that we’re actually iconic and we are a fabric of Fort Collins. I’m very proud of

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Yeah, it’s really wonderful. You were able to purchase that and help to keep it alive through the ups and downs and grow it all the way for over 40 years to where you had it in a position where you were able to sell it. Why don’t we start with the sale and then what it was like to move into that new era in your life. How did that sale come about?

Johnny Arnolfo: 
I’ll back up just a little bit and start with, I purchased the Silver Grill well over 40 years ago, and it was in a one building, very small restaurant. So where it ended up in five buildings and 6,000 square feet and over 200 seats for customers was very surprising. had often, I started my journey early on with Transition.

And believe it or not, I looked back and I started it back in 1995, and that’s 30 years ago. And being a sole proprietor, if you will, I always knew that I wanted to transition out. And as I continued in the business, I observed and I realized the number of businesses that did not plan for transition. So I was always looking for an exit strategy and someone that couldn’t

become my partner and eventually purchased the silver grill. The big event that happened was COVID obviously and at that time I projected and hoped that my exit would be between the ages of 65 and 70. So I’m 68 years old, COVID happens.

And I just start thinking that I’m going to get out of COVID and it’s going to take me a year or two. And I received a phone call. And the phone call was from a fellow competitor that I knew and did not know very well. And I had a premonition that an inclination that he was calling me because he might be interested in the silver grill. So that’s how it started. It started with a breakfast and the question came.

And he said, John, I don’t think you’re ready yet, but are you interested in selling? And my comment was, I remember is tomorrow. Okay. And, it was really that easy. And, we met and after our third meeting, we, we had come to terms on a price and transition. had a handshake deal and within three months, the sale was complete.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Thank you

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Wow, that’s a great story. That was a pretty quick transition for you from being in to really having that sale happen. What was it like in that journey as you entered into no longer being in control of the Silver Grill and having the responsibility of owning and running it? What happened with you? 

Johnny Arnolfo:
I really, at the beginning, I was prepared for the transitioning out and I thought it would be a lot easier than it really was. Being in the restaurant business, I’m very social, have a lot of friends, I’m very active. I did a couple things that turned out to be very well and one was we agreed on a consulting contract that I would stay involved with the business, which I thought was very important.

I needed that social connection and I didn’t want it to be an abrupt exit from the business. So I continued to go into the Silver Grill and stay connected with the business and the new owner who I became very good friends with. I thought the transition would be easier even with the Silver Grill still me being involved in it. I have hobbies.

I like to do a lot of different things. And, still there was, there was a little emptiness of what do I do in my free time when I’m not enjoying my hobbies and going to the silver grill. So I had to learn how to transition into that. And Elizabeth, with your help, you helped me.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And I just, I really appreciate you being willing to come because so many, so many owners, think, believe that they are prepared and they’re ready. And when you actually dive into it, I think there’s some unknowns and unforeseen things always. What were some of those things that you found when you wandered through the actual transition?

Johnny Arnolfo:
Well, I’m single and so I knew there was going to be a big void to fill. And I have family, have sons in town and I thought that playing golf or fly fishing or traveling was going to be enough. What I noticed was the off times, the everyday and getting up in the morning and I did find that

I found myself watching the news for only a bit, a little bit on the computer. And then it was like, what am I going to do the rest of the day? And as I discovered with conversations with you is I’m someone that really needs to have interaction, social interaction. And as silly as it sounds, there were days I would just decide to leave the house and go shopping. And

grocery shopping or whatever it might be. And that was a way that fulfilled me with energy. And so those were different ways that I found that I needed, I realized that I certainly needed social interaction.

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Yeah, that’s interesting because I remember that conversation you and I were having. We have a tool, it’s called the IMAP and it’s a multi-construct profile survey that you can take. I remember how social you are because it’s varying degrees of being, and this is how you gain your energy. I remember you going, my gosh, yeah, I do. I need to be around people a lot.

which you had at the silver grill every time you walk through the door. There were people everywhere. Yeah, just so natural.

Johnny Arnolfo: 
And that piece was gone. So I did do some searching and as you know, I thought maybe I wanted to be an extra player in a movie. I wanted to be the guy in the background, not an actor. I pursued that for a while. And Elizabeth, you said I needed to find that one thing that wanted me to…

jump out of bed and be excited about something. And as we transitioned and continued to chat, I had always wanted to write a book. But I’m not a writer, I’m not an author, and I found that very, very difficult. And I was able to find a great editor based on recommendations by you, Elizabeth. And we talked for about a year and a half.

And I really struggled with how do I start? And Kathy, her name, she said, just start writing. And so now I’m writing and it literally took me a year and a half to write that first story. And I found that the stories just started to flow and they’re very easy. So I’m in the process now of writing a memoir.

I am near completion of finishing the chapters. But the point I want to make is it’s been so extremely rewarding and self-reflecting. And my book is one of memoirs. And what’s been really fun is really thinking back and I went as far back as my parents immigrating to the United States and then my relationship with my father’s model A, which

happened to be 1930, which coincided with the silver grill. And we followed that whole history. And I’ve been able to reconnect with relatives that I literally have not talked to in probably 20 or 30 years. So I’m very excited about the book and where it’s heading. we’re on track and we’re probably a little ahead of schedule.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Wow.

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Yeah, I love it. I love it. Yep. And I can’t wait to read it when it comes out, actually. as you navigated this, you did have one thing I loved about you when we were working together like that and back then was that you were willing to go look and willing to search and willing to try new things, but also willing to stop.

new things. had that curiosity and were able to go do that. You didn’t just wait to find something, the right thing, you would experiment. Talk a little bit about that. How was it experimenting? The ups and the downs.

Johnny Arnolfo:
I found that being a background actor was not for me. But I continued along the same path of my social activities, going to the silver grill, playing golf, fly fishing, and did quite a bit of traveling. A big part of it was also bringing my voice a little bit more into the fold of who I am and sharing some estate planning, something.

something that I had never really talked about with them before. I’ve realized that, and I always knew this maybe wasn’t a sudden realization, that my boys are very different. And that’s a learning process, learning process that we’re all different. And so I continue to talk to my boys and not at a very deep level, but I’m gradually bringing them in and sharing more and more about

planning the transition. I really believe that the book is going to be a big eye opener for my and part of the writing the book and I said it is so self reflecting and rewarding. It’s really going to be a journal and a history of our lives, our lives, meaning my family. And there’s going to be things about their great grandparents, my grandparents, my mother and father.

but also relationships and relationships as related to business. I found that my relationships in business was paramount and looking back at the many things that I did do, how the relationships in the end played a huge role.

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Yeah. Yeah, relationships in our lives are so important. And in yours, I know that you still have just a very close relationship with the gentleman that bought the silver grill.

Johnny Arnolfo: 
Absolutely. And that was terrific. And I had a very good friend in Brooks Mitchell and he I had many different mentors in my life. And Brooks was one of my mentors and an entrepreneur himself. And he said, it’s so rare that both a buyer and a seller after the first year feel like they got a good deal.

And we not only both got a good deal, we’re friends and it’s now been four years.

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Yeah. So proof right here that you can have harmony and legacy in an external sale, right? That it’s actually possible to have a win-win because a lot of times it’s not like that.

Johnny Arnolfo: 
Yeah. Well, and I think that’s important you bring that up. And I was very fortunate and I made investments in the silver grill buildings. And I always knew that that would be part of my retirement portfolio. But what I was unsure of was the sale of the business. And I had seen over the years so many great businesses that had not planned for an exit strategy. And they ended up just closing.

closing the doors and if they were lucky enough to own the real estate that could have been a retirement or it was retirement for them. If they didn’t, a lot of times they just walked away. So I have to say I did a lot of things by accident. I never would have dreamed that I would own five buildings all adjacent to each other and I never dreamed that they would be my

major form of my retirement and income. So made some some decisions by accident, I’ll say, but they turned out to be very, very, very good for me.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah. know, entrepreneurs, many, many times our intuition plays a big role in where we end up and some of the decisions that we make and, you know, a little bit of risk here and there, of course, right?

Johnny Arnolfo:
a lot of risk. As I’m writing this book, I look back in and Elizabeth, I can’t believe some of the things I did to get where I am. I’m not complimenting myself. going, I must have been crazy.

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Yeah, I must have been crazy and probably half the people that were looking at you thought you were.

Johnny Arnolfo:
yeah. yes, you’re correct.

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Yeah, some sleepless nights for sure. But yeah, that can be a common theme with entrepreneurial people. What were some of the most unexpected things that happened to you that were on the downside that you could potentially help people think about and

either mitigate or plan for or know they’re going to come because there is a neutral zone between an ending of something and a beginning of another. And you and I talked about that a variety of times. And you and I have worked together off and on for what, two, three years.

Johnny Arnolfo:
We’ve been working, I think, two or three years, yes.

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Yeah. There’s a neutral zone between an ending and a beginning and it’s usually very uncomfortable, that neutral zone. How would you help people to prepare for that and what was it like for you to be in that?

Johnny Arnolfo:
I already mentioned it and I believe that this was very valuable for me and that was to start planning very, very early. I went through in the restaurant business, which is a very transitional business for employees, I went through probably over a half dozen managers at the time that I thought would

possibly take over the business. And then when that didn’t happen, I continued to look for the next. I think probably the biggest surprise to our whole world was COVID. And that really threw a curve ball to everybody. And as I look back at it, I’m sure I was stressed, but I never looked back and felt stressed.

I knew I had the buildings and I knew at the very least I would have those. And if I was lucky enough to sell the business, then that would be a plus. So there were certainly times and certainly early on the risks I was taking, I didn’t know if they would play out and be successful. I think being an entrepreneur, a lot of times when you have

success, it becomes addictive. And then sometimes it can be that same quality that you have of never giving up. Sometimes you don’t know when to give up. And sometimes you have to give up. And I did learn that at a time in the 90s when I tried to expand into an ice cream and cinnamon roll shop. It didn’t work out that well.

But it took me five years to finally admit to myself that this is just not a good path. So here again, think knowing when to push forward, knowing when to give up, I think is really important. But that entrepreneurial spirit is something that you have and you have it in your soul. And you just got to know when to go for it, but then when to maybe cut back and give up.

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
Yeah. Or let go. I said, let go because in that one example of the ice cream and cinnamon shop, that one, I’m assuming that you stopped that and basically shut that one down and then went back into your core of the silver grill. But when business owners get to a place,

Johnny Arnolfo: 
I’m sorry.

or let go.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
where it’s time for them because I see business owners sometimes hanging on too long to the business, where it’s status quo. Yeah. It’s not even to give up. In that case, it’s when I think of passing it forward, passing it along or passing it forward to another generation to take it forward. Yeah, it’s such a cool experience to be able to do that and know.

Johnny Arnolfo:
Absolutely.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
when the time is right.

Johnny Arnolfo:
I totally agree. And I use the word give up and it wasn’t give up. It was really changing the path, recognizing that this wasn’t going to work and try something else. Throughout the whole history of the silver drill, I tried a lot, a lot of things. And I’ll say all the things I tried and they were small things like delivering cinnamon rolls in a push cart or open the souvenir stand. There were things that

taught me lessons and they weren’t all successful, but they taught me a lesson of trying different things in order to succeed.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah, that’s great. That’s great. Well, I’m always surprised at how fast our time goes. It really does. I get into these conversations and they’re so, to me, they’re so rich and rewarding. you know, if I always ask this at the end of our time together, in your world of transitioning, what would be one thing, one piece of advice or one thought?

that you would leave with our listeners today.

Johnny Arnolfo:
Elizabeth, I’ve got to use the saying that you taught me and that’s, find out what makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning. And that’s a lot harder to do than it sounds. I can go back and relate that to finding the perfect business as an entrepreneur that you absolutely love. So in retirement, you have to find that one thing that you absolutely love.

And I’ll just say now I’m a little worried that what am I going to do after I write this book, Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Ledoux:
I don’t know, you might write another or you might start going and speaking to different entrepreneurial groups or there might be something that’ll come and pop up, but yeah, it’s all a fun exploration and journey of life.

Johnny Arnolfo:
I’m. I’m really enjoying it.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
Yeah, I know. I know. I’m so.

Johnny Arnolfo:
And now I was just gonna say it. And now I’m spending more time with my boys, my boys who are adult men, 35 and 39. And I’m enjoying my time at home and I enjoy traveling and I really couldn’t imagine a better retirement.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
That is awesome. That’s so great to hear. Well, on that note of being happy and a great example of somebody who did have harmony, legacy, and a win-win all the way around and found his next adventure. That thing that he has referenced a couple of times is a Japanese term called Ikigai, if I pronounced that right.

And yeah, just your reason for jumping out of bed. my wish, and I think John’s wish as well for you all is for you to be able to find that and enjoy that as you begin to transition away from your company.

Johnny Arnolfo:
Totally agree, find that one thing. And about the more than one thing.

Elizabeth Ledoux: 
It could be. John, thank you so much for your time today and for joining us here. My recommendation is when you’re in Fort Collins, Colorado, make sure you stop by the Silver Grill downtown in Old Town, Fort Collins. It’s the best.

Johnny Arnolfo:
It would be a treat and we would appreciate it.

Elizabeth Ledoux:
I know. That’s right. Thank you.

Johnny Arnolfo:
Thank you, Elizabeth.

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The Business Transition Roadmap with Elizabeth Ledoux

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