by CRAIG DIXON
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

Bank bailouts. Home foreclosures. Layoffs. Falling stocks. 

The economy may be in a recession, but some Boone restaurants aren’t showing it. 

Even in hard times it seems pizza and sub sandwiches are still hitting the spot.

“Sales are actually better now than they were at this time last year,“ John Leather, a manager at Mellow Mushroom said.

“We still get heavy business from students, especially at lunch since we’re so close to campus,” he said.

Macado’s is seeing similar prosperity.

“We’ve been on the up and up all season, we really haven’t seen any drops in business levels,” Dallas Vaught, an assistant manager at Macado’s said.

Macado’s, a chain with 15 locations in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia has felt little, if any impact from the recession. The King Street location is the most profitable of the 15.

Vaught said Macado’s is keeping their TVs switched onto sports instead of the news.

“People view coming in here as an escape. Even in rough times, people still want to be able to have that escape once or twice a week,” he said. “We’re doing well; there’s no indication we’re going to be making any big changes. It doesn’t really seem like anyone in the local restaurant community is struggling too much, which is great.”

Other factors may be helping the restaurants deflect some of the economic chill.

In September, Boone legalized the sale of liquor by the drink.

All three restaurants saw major boosts in fall sales, during the onset of the economic crisis. 

“October was our busiest month in four years” Pete Shurba, owner and manager of Capone’s Pizza said. 

Capone’s has seen a sales drop of around 30 percent compared to this time last year by Shurba’s estimation, but he isn’t worried.

“This year is definitely slower than last year but our sales are at the same levels now that they were two years ago. There are a lot of factors in play for that, not just the recession; we’re seeing fewer tourists this year. We’re doing okay though. We’re actually about to add some new menu items, more specialty pizzas.” 

While business remains for all three restaurants, all admitted some changes have been made to accommodate rising food prices.

“We’re looking closely at our labor and food costs,” Shurba said.

Mellow Mushroom and Macado’s both conceded menu prices have been raised to adjust to rising prices.

Capone’s has cut back on hours given to student employees to avoid doing the same.

“We have no plans to change [prices] on the menu, but we do have to tighten things up,” Shurba said. “The changes will affect students because we can’t give them the hours that we have been giving them. Still, I don’t see any major changes to the business, we’ll ride this recession out.”

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