As UW-Madison freshman Paul Weigel finished up his classes for the day, one thing was on his mind: a freshly made pizza from Gino's. He struggled through the last minutes of meteorology class and darted out the door before the bell had even finished ringing. As he entered Gino's, Weigel couldn't help but notice an unwelcoming change. The booths were mostly empty, and an eerie quiet filled the air. Confused and a little disheartened, he wondered why this had happened to his favorite Madison eatery.
""I come here a lot, probably too much in fact,"" Weigel said, exiting the restaurant during happy hour on that sunny Tuesday. ""But every time I come here, the booths seem to be a little emptier.""
Restaurants nationwide are revamping current business strategies to compensate for customers holding off on that weekly trip to the local joint. This lull in business, is forcing some Madison restaurants like Gino's to change the way they do business such as assigning multiple jobs to certain employees and eliminating the extra cost of paying employees for individual jobs.
""The recession has not just affected Gino's, but Madison as a whole. In fact, all restaurant business here is down 40 to 50 percent,"" Gino's manager Wasie Amiri said. Gino's, like many other Madison restaurants, has been quick to come up with ways to minimize losses in profits. One of Gino's tactics is having their dishwashers lay down their scrub brushes and double as bussers. However unappealing the job description sounds, it is minimizing losses for Gino's. Even Amiri has occasionally put his managerial duties aside to clean up a spill.
The thriving side
Other restaurants in Madison, such as the Nitty Gritty, have not had to change much at all.
""The Madison area might be somewhat insulated because the university and the state government are here, and those things are two things that are never going to go out of business,"" Lee Pier, manager of the Nitty Gritty, said. In fact, the Nitty Gritty has been doing quite well recently, an achievement Pier attributes to the restaurant's service to its customers and prime location. Located within a quick walk of the Kohl Center, the Nitty Gritty receives consistent patronage as sports fans and event-bound customers stream into the restaurant looking to fill their bellies before a nightly event.
""There's a minimum level you have to have to still operate and to give good, quality customer service,"" Pier said.
Mary Carbine, executive director of Madison's Central Business Improvement Center, is similarly optimistic about Madison's restaurant business, noting several of the city's advantages that will continue to help restaurants thrive, even in the economic turmoil.
""We have a very diverse customer base here in Madison,"" Carbine said. ""Even in difficult economic times people will still see eating out as an affordable luxury, and restaurants downtown here are able to see changes in customer behavior and will adapt to those changes.""
According to Carbine, housing the state Legislature and the largest school in Wisconsin creates a huge advantage for the restaurants of Madison, cushioning the hard blows of the economy.
Barely thriving
This is not to say the economy hasn't or won't claim its victims in Madison. Just recently, the Crave Restaurant and Lounge, one of Madison's more stylish lounges, shut its doors.
Eric Fleming, the former owner of Crave, blamed bad business and customers' buying trends.
""Instead of ordering the more expensive meals, people are coming in and getting a burger and fries,"" Fleming said, conveying a problem that is not exclusive to Crave. In a time when people are making less and less money, it seems the more pricey restaurants are taking the brunt of the misfortune. This could be an explanation for the lasting success of the Nitty Gritty, a restaurant that capitalizes on good food for less money, a draw for families that aren't willing to drop $200 on an only slightly superior steak.
Although current trends are pointing toward a decline in business for restaurants across the United States, Madison's bubble of economic advantage seems to be keeping the majority of restaurants afloat for the time being. According to Carbine, even high-end restaurants are creating their own business strategies to combat enormous losses in revenue, such as set pricing on menu items, a strategy that is keeping some customers flowing in.
Despite the necessary rearrangement of high-end Madison restaurants, more affordable restaurants are successfully appealing to the public, a fact solidified in the sharp rises in fast-food stocks across the nation.
""Cheap restaurants are succeeding in today's economy,"" Pier said. ""In fact, McDonald's stock has actually risen recently,"" touching on the direction in which customers are going with their business when it comes to eating.
According to a March 9, 2009, article from Reuters, global sales for McDonald's rose 1.4 percent in February. This is good news for chain restaurants and fast-food joints but may leave pricier venues floundering in their own bisque.
According to Carbine, we should remain optimistic about restaurants in Madison, whether cheap or expensive.
""Restaurants in downtown Madison are seeing changes in customer behavior and are able to adapt to those changes.""
