Economy may force local pizza place to close

Eight months ago, the restaurant moved in near Kingshighway and Chippewa and the Sondag's thought they had a recipe for success.

But what may have been the right place, opened at what is clearly the wrong time.

Owner Karen Sondag says, "I guess it's been about November first. Business just dropped, just stopped."

The economy tanked and so did business. Suddenly, eating out became a luxury few could afford.

Sondag says, "Our regulars that were coming in Tuesdays and Thursdays are coming in Saturday."

That means bad news for Joe Bush's. Sondag says, "A month, two months we're going to be gone. And I just didn't want to be another one of those statistics."

And so they're trying everything: happy hour specials, karaoke, even handing out flyers in nearby parking lots. Still customers keep cutting back.

Customer Matt Heineck says, "Everybody's losing jobs every day so everybody's tightening up their budget."

Catherine Ruggeri-Rea adds, "I think it's sad. And I mean you want to help the economy but everybody's in the same position."

Another customer, Jim Roth says, "It's a family owned, independent business and I hate to see them go under."

The owners hate it too. Their dream business have been foiled by a nightmare economy. For now, they too are tightening their belts.

Karen Sondag says, "We have my brother-in-law bartending, my sister-in-law doing dishes. Anybody who can come and help us."

The Sondag's aren't ready to give up yet. They hope they can hold out a little longer. But compared to the big corporations, they say the small ones suffer more.

She says, "Unfortunately these little independently owned businesses, it's just too hard to make it if people just quit going out."

The Sondag's say they'll try to hold out until the end of march before they make their decision about closing. But they say if their weekday business doesn't pick up, they won't have much of a choice. Incidentally, they are closed on Mondays.