After 15 years on the south side of Loveland, Colorado, Bar-B-Q Bob's is closing. They are a victim of the recession because their business has fallen off since the manufacturing facility across the street closed.

'Bob' had good barbecue and good side dishes. The owner's name was actually Kelly, but everyone called him Bob. If you ordered double beans for the side dish, the order taker would yell out "Double Beans, Bob!" and someone in the back would echo it back. It didn't mean anything, but it was fun. See the end of the article below for some of their other yell-outs.

"LOVELAND -- Barbara Green was supposed to be telling the customers paying for their lunches at B-B-Q Bob's on Wednesday that the longtime Loveland eatery is closing Saturday.

But she was having a hard time keeping her composure, so her husband and co-owner, Kelly Green, had to spread the bad news.

"Barbara's been breaking down all day," he said between customers during a busy lunch rush.

The Greens decided only last week to close the restaurant they opened in July 1997 at 1440 Diana Drive, right across Southwest 14th Street from the then-booming Hewlett-Packard campus.

Kelly said although they are closing the restaurant at 7 p.m. Saturday, they will continue their catering business offering Texas-style pit-smoked barbecue fare. "We're not surrendering," he said. "It's just a drop back and punt.

"Everything is in place for the catering concept," he said. The Greens will stay in the building they bought in 1997, and Kelly said the dining room will be available for groups to use, whether they have their meetings catered by B-B-Q Bob's or not.

He said the virtual emptying of the HP/Agilent campus across the street and the recession hurt the business. "It was '09, '10 and '11 that just crushed us," he said. "In 2003, 2004 and 2005, we were on top of the world."

He said catering has supplied about 35 percent of the company's business. "Now we're going to refocus and remarket the catering side of the business."

He talked about the "loyal 100" - the regular customers who kept coming back until they became friends.

Glen Atkins, an Agilent employee, was having his weekly Wednesday lunch with two friends from work. They said their lunch bunch used to consist of six or seven co-workers, but that has changed, too.

Atkins enjoys true "regular" status: The staff knows he'll always order "the usual."

"Normally we walk in the door, and they've started to prepare it before we get to the counter," he said of his order: beef brisket with sides of potato salad and beans.

His friend Keith Hill said the HP/Agilent crew started coming to B-B-Q Bob's shortly after it opened almost 15 years ago, and he called news of the closure "a bummer."

Atkins said they kept coming back because "the food's fantastic, and the atmosphere is great."

Barbara said she and Kelly always have had fun at the restaurant. When someone orders pork, Kelly hollers, "Pig! Sooie!" When someone drops a tip in the jar labeled "Uncle Bob's 401K," Barbara yells, "Uncle Bob!"

"I love this job," she said, her eyes welling with tears. "I have always loved this job.""