Some come for the pizza, while others come for the Italian home cooking.

But John DeLuca, co- owner of DeLuca's restaurant in Lansing, said he's just happy they're still coming.

"You got to cut back on something and we have not raised our prices, DeLuca said. "I think that has helped us partially."

It's no secret the restaurant business is a tough one, but add a weak economy and a large unemployment rate and you've got a recipe for disaster.

"Who can afford it? With the cost of gasoline and the economy being what it is?" Lansing resident Dale Burgess said.

"It has never been a tougher time than now to be a restaurant or tavern operator in the state of Michigan," Andy Deloney of the Michigan Restaurant Association said.

Deloney said it's more than people cutting back, restaurants are getting hit with rising food costs too.

"We're sort of being hit with increases and threats from all angles," he said.

DeLuca's has certainly felt the pinch. It used to cost $9 for a 50 pound bag of flour, but this summer the cost jumped to $35 a bag.

"When you use 40 to 50 bags a week, that really cuts into your profit margin a lot," DeLuca said.

But DeLuca's hopes to weather this economic storm as it has done for 48 years... one pizza and one customer at a time.

The Michigan Restaurant Association says 60 percent of its membership expects to come out even or even lose money this year.