DEER LODGE — Bigfoot is in Deer lodge and he approves of a new restaurant.
"It’s fun. It’s something for people to be attracted to come and see what goofiness is part of this town. We want to be part of that," said Kirk Hayes, Co-owner of K and M burgers.
Kirk and Michelle Hayes are the co-owners of K and M burgers and more. The couple is originally from Washington but is not strangers to owning a restaurant.
"We owned a restaurant in Bellingham and we decided it was time for us to move so we started looking around and we found a restaurant here in Deer Lodge," said Kirk.
They wanted something that would attract locals and tourists so made the theme of the restaurant around their love of Bigfoot.
Bigfoot signs, wall art, and themed menu items show just how invested they are in the theme.
When the restaurant had its soft opening, there was a line out the door with a one-hour wait to be seated and served.
"Our original plan was a soft opening for two weeks then we were going to close for 10 days, evaluate everything. They don’t want us to close," said Kirk.
Michelle Hayes says the quick opening showed how welcoming and supportive the Deer Lodge community is for new businesses.
"It’s just good people. They’ve done a lot of things. They're very community driven. The parade that they do, the skatepark that had the grand opening; I mean just there’s a lot of community things, it’s a fun group of people here," said Michelle.
"It’s been great. The community has really stepped up and we’re real happy," said Kirk.
