In the past few weeks, Hall County residents have seen the closures of some of their favorite restaurants.

Longtime establishments like Monkey Barrel, a downtown Gainesville Italian restaurant and nightlife spot, and fine-dining restaurant Rudolph's on Green Street in Gainesville have shut their doors. They have been joined by local restaurants Mojo's, Irie Jamaican Cafe, Sonic Drive In and Home Sweet Georgia.

But the local restaurant landscape isn't as bleak as it sounds.

New restaurants have popped up such as Sweetfire Lodge on Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville, and longtime favorite The Collegiate, located on the downtown Gainesville square, reopened its doors in the last month. Flowery Branch also has a new place to eat in The Lake House Bar & Grill.

So, what's the secret to a restaurant's survival in turbulent economic times?

"For one, it all depends on where you're coming from," said Timmy Lee, a Buford resident and owner of Sweetfire Lodge. "For instance, the economy might not be great but it also does lend a lot of other opportunities that normally wouldn't be there, such as real estate. You can get much better deals on things now if you are able to pull it off. Something that would normally sell for $1 million you could get for $700,000 or less."

Some people told Lee he was crazy for opening his upscale restaurant in such hard times. But he said he's determined to follow his dream.

"You have to stay positive - believe in yourself first and foremost and believe in what you are trying to accomplish," he said. "You can't put your dreams on hold. If that was the case nobody would ever get anything done."

Lee said his restaurant has been in the works for at least a year, and he has another restaurant in Buford set to open in February. The new fine-dining establishment will be called Prime Parc and is a project Lee has been working on for five years.

"It's been a longtime dream of mine to open a restaurant in Buford and follow after my father's footsteps," said Lee, whose father also owned a restaurant.

But along with well-laid plans and good service, the key to some restaurants' survival is foot traffic.

In downtown Gainesville, for example, businesses are tightly packed around the square, where it's easy for patrons to walk from shop to shop.

It's also where a handful of restaurants have closed in recent months.

"Each one of these is an individual situation and none of these are chain restaurants," said Joe Burnett, executive director of Mainstreet Downtown, an organization that helps promote downtown Gainesville. "They are all mom-and-pop restaurants that are all dependent upon traffic."

But, Burnett maintains, it's customers' habits that have changed.

"If there's any message that the public needs to hear it's just simply ... nothing really has changed in the world except people are not acting as they once did," he said. "So whether it's a restaurant or a retail business, they are all dependent on customers coming in and when customers don't come in there is no opportunity to sell them anything."

Burnett noted that downtown Gainesville has 23 restaurants offering a variety of food. Which is something echoed by Scott Dixon, owner of Scott's on the Square.

"I think that the square is still a viable option," Dixon said, noting the variety of businesses there. "From crepes to sandwiches to seafood to fine dining, it's all there."

Despite a slow economy, Dixon said he has been pleased with the restaurant's first 13 months.

"We finished out the year just a little bit behind where we wanted to be for our first year," he said. "We're are definitely continuing to build our business; October and December were two of my best months of the year."

Food you can find on the Gainesville square includes crepes, pizza, sandwiches, seafood and steaks.

Outside of Gainesville, other establishments continue to open, too. The Lake House Bar & Grill, on the corner of Jim Crowe and McEver Roads in Flowery Branch, opened Dec. 23.

"If you give a good service and a good product out there, and your main focus in on the customer ... making their experience very much enjoyable, you are going to survive no matter what," said Larry Parker, general manager of the restaurant and former regional director for Steak and Ale.

Parker said he saw an opportunity by opening the restaurant in a slow economy.

"Everybody else is basically in the retreating mode and it's a perfect time for golden opportunities," said the Flowery Branch native. "There's no competition right here. Our biggest drawback is I might not have enough parking spots."

And providing that consistently good product, Dixon said, is the most important recipe for restaurant owners to follow if they want their business to survive, and thrive.

"When consumers are making choices they have to be comfortable with their choices," he said. "There can't be inconsistency; they can't have come to your place and have bad service or have a bad meal because when they are looking at limited dollars that they are going to go spend, you have to have good service and good food, all the time."

Lee added that watching your labor costs and being efficient is also key to a successful eatery.

"Things that you can control are your labor," he said. "Watch your overhead and think outside of the box, ‘What can we do to be more efficient? What can we do to set procedures so we don't waste so much water (or) electricity?' In a sense it's almost thinking on the green side."