Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BOUNTIFUL -- New numbers from Davis County show many restaurants are doing OK in this recession. Revenue is holding steady, as people say they want to treat themselves.
As they get ready for lunch at the Sego Lily Café in Bountiful, owner and manager Fred Mossinger says business is good.
He says, "The servers say their customers tell them they feel like they are treating themselves when they come out."
He says the economy sounds bad on the news, but he's pleased with the business he's seeing at the Sego Lily Cafe.
"You get the sense that if they are going to treat themselves, they are going to go to a nicer place, a place they like, hopefully a local place," Mossinger says.
Davis County officials say restaurant tax revenue is almost even from last year. It's $2.7 million compared to $2.8 million in 2008. They say they think people won't give up this spending, even though other spending is down.
The owner of the Mandarin in Bountiful, Gregory Skedros, agrees.
He says, "We're holding our own. We have some slow nights where I have to close a half hour or hour early, but then we make up for it the next day when it's busy."
He says the advantage he has is a reputation and people come from as far away as Ogden, Orem and Park City to eat at the Mandarin.
Skedros says, "Overall it's the status quo. I don't think the economy has hurt us at all."
The restaurant owners say people should go out to eat if they can.
"If everyone stays inside, if everyone is bound up by fear, it's going to be very difficult to come out of this," Mossinger says.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
