Restaurants Losing Business Because Of Construction

Summary

"Business is poor!" said The Hut's Dorthy Bonifer.

Story Published: Jan 21, 2010 at 6:16 PM PST

PENDLETON - "Business is poor!" said The Hut's Dorthy Bonifer.
"Business has been really terrible," said DQ's Roechelle Helfrecht.
"It's gotten extremely worse. Worse than it has been," said Charburger's Penny Surran.

That's because of the construction here at Court and Dorion. It was supposed to be wrapped up by Thanksgiving. Then it was the New Year, and it keeps getting pushed back. Places like the Hut are suffering. They told me they've lost about $400 in business PER DAY because of the construction.

"People don't want to mess with the streets. I think our business has been cut by at least half," said Bonifer.

It was a gorgeous day for working outside. That's why Charburger was frustrated there was no work getting done.

"We have the railroad doing work. We have people doing the grandstands but they aren't doing our roads so that we can have customers," said Surran.

W called ODOT this morning to ask them about it. They never called back. Meanwhile, Charburger and its family are hurting.

"Hours for our open were pushed back. We are looking for other jobs as well just to pay bills," said Surran.

Even chain restaurants like Dairy Queen aren't immune to the construction. They say their business has dropped 85 percent since the project began last summer.

"In the past I've never had less than 10 employees. We usually have a lot more. I've cut employee hours a lot," said Helfrecht.