BOZEMAN – With Montana State University students either graduating or leaving for the summer, local businesses are impacted.
According to owner Kevin Carloss, Café Zydeco sees a drop in business for the month of May of around 10-15%. Carloss says he has to plan for the loss of business and the loss of student employment.
“I mean, that is mostly where we get out employees is college, it is always a problem but we are used to it,” said Carloss.
MSU works on helping the flow of business for local restaurants and stores by offering classes, concerts and conferences to campus.
“You know the state invests quite a bit of money and attention to us and we like to make sure those resources, the buildings, the grounds and facilities are well used. So, we try to keep them busy all year long,” said MSU News Service Director Michael Becker.
Carloss says even though his business sees a drop in sales in May, it picks up once high schools are out of school and tourists start coming to Montana. He says the constant growth of Bozeman has helped his restaurant not feel as much of an impact each year from departing students.
“The way the valley is growing though, it’s not affecting us as much as it used to so we got that going for us,” said Carloss.
Reporting by Mederios Babb for MTN News
