Mother's Day Crowds at Local Restaurants Boost Area Economy

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By Heather VacLav

Story Created: May 13, 2012 at 8:51 PM CDT

Story Updated: May 13, 2012 at 10:59 PM CDT

Mother Nature’s rain showers and thunderstorms did not stop thousands of people in the River Region from treating mom to a meal at one of Montgomery's local restaurants.

 

Local restaurants said they were overwhelmed, but thrilled to see so many people eating out for Mother’s Day, doing wonders for both their business and Montgomery's economy.

 

Two newer restaurants, Roux in Old Cloverdale and Central in Downtown Montgomery, both offered Mother’s Day menus for their guests. The restaurants were filled with mothers, young and old, celebrating their special day with family and friends.

 

“[My kids] let me sleep, I get to go to bed early and my husband did laundry,” said Sheila Whitehead of Prattville while eating her breakfast buffet at Roux with her daughter. Whitehead says she was surprised at how packed the restaurant was with reservations and feels like it shows Montgomery’s economy is on the rise.

 

Roux General Manager Lee Uttery said the restaurant was packed all afternoon “It’s been great, it’s been crazy; we had more than 400 people come out today.”

 

On the other side of town, Central experienced similar crowd sizes, but General Manager Michael Cruse says he’s not surprised at how many people took their mothers out to eat. ”This is probably the one day out of the entire year that money has no affect,” Cruse said.

 

While both restaurants had large success with their Mother’s Day sales, nationally, America's Research Group predicted otherwise, it said less people would spend money out to eat. Many customers feel like more people are getting out to areas like Old Cloverdale and Downtown Montgomery because of the city’s transformation.

 

Mother, Candy Strickland and her daughter Emily Strickland chose to eat at Central to celebrate Mother’s day. “This certainly is a nice boom to downtown, and I think their prices are good and that it brings people in,” Candy Strickland said.

 

“It’s great to see the renovation down here, like trying to bring downtown back, I think it’s awesome,” Emily Strickland said.

 

Local restaurants attribute their success on Mother's Day to partnerships with people and businesses in the city. They are confident the same trend will continue for Father’s Day.

 

“We focus and try to talk to the people in the neighborhood about keeping their money in the neighborhood,” said Uttery about Roux.

 

The big picture is about the keeping the cycle going to support local businesses. Both Roux and Central buy as much local and farm produce as possible, and in turn, like other local restaurants help put money back into Montgomery.

 

The city of Montgomery believes their new marketing campaign, "Capital Cool" will bring in more tourists and to further boost sales at local businesses, and help accelerate the economy in the Capital of Dreams.

 

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