Plenty of dining options combined with a blistered economy are making things difficult for the restaurant business in Omaha.

Village Inn filed for bankruptcy protection this week and the days might be numbered for for a once popular local chain.

Joe Donovan loves to dine out, but avoids big chains.

He says he likes to, "support the local economy. Support the people that spend their time learning the craft."

He was dining a Le Voltaire Friday, a restaurant that is doing well. We found plenty of other diners who also strongly support local flavors.

Cedric Fichepain, with the Omaha Restaurant Association says, "It's been like three or four years where all this big franchise industry just swarmed Omaha, and they pretty much just saturated the market."

Speaking of saturation, the operators of Austin's Steakhouse say there's too much competition for steak. The last location, at 120th and L, saw profits decline three percent in the first quarter.

General Manager Gary Shaddy says, "We have a lot of regular customers -- been here close to 20 years."

But the owner is switching gears.

Shaddy says, "We feel with the competition in steakhouses, it would be a wise move to bring in the barbeque venue."

Austin's will close in a couple of weeks and become Famous Dave's. Employees will be retained and re-trained for the new restaurant.

Joe Donovan believes, "The economy will drive out some of the weaker hands."

And Cedric Fichepain says, "When you see all our people losing money on the stock market, doesn't help -- doesn't help. People, first thing they're going to cut out is entertainment."

But Fichepain thinks local, independent places like Le Voltaire, will weather the storm.

"You know, I think, surprisingly, I think it's certainly us independents who are going to come out best in there, that we can manage it maybe a little bit better, that we're smaller than them."

Fichepain says you can tell how strong the economy is by looking at the classifieds. If there are plenty of openings in the food industry, that's good. He's not seeing very many right now.