The recession has consumers rethinking their restaurant habits, whether its brown-bagging lunch more often or trading down to cheaper eateries.

Mad Greens, which has been in the build-your-own-salad business since 2004, so far finds itself in the sweet spot of consumer tastes even amid lean times. The Denver-based restaurant chain, with eight locations along the Front Range, boosted same-store sales 8 percent last year.

Childhood friends and Colorado College grads Marley Hodgson and Dan Long founded Mad Greens as an alternative to fast food and sit-down restaurants. Hodgson recently talked to the Rocky Mountain News about how diners' habits are changing and the company's efforts to give kids a taste for healthier fare.

How has the economic downturn affected business at Mad Greens?

We've been doing really well. It's hard to know for sure exactly why, but we all have our suspicions. Fast casual has really come into popularity and filled a sweet spot. When folks have to slash their budgets, they look for options other than fast food. Our price point is higher than fast food, but it's not drastically higher. That, along with the quality and freshness of our food, plus the convenience factor, is helping our sales grow despite the fact we're in an economy (when people are cutting their budgets).

Was the same-store sales increase in part because Mad Greens raised prices?

We haven't taken a price increase in a year and a quarter. (As prices for commodities kept rising) it seemed like everyone else had by the fourth quarter, and we talked it over with our advisers and management team. We looked at the economy and decided it's only going to get worse, so let's hold the line with our prices. Our customers are already in a lot of pain.

Do you have any plans to expand beyond your eight restaurants along the Front Range, particularly outside of Colorado?

In the middle of 2008 we started looking at real estate and it seemed way overpriced, particularly since we were worried about where the economy was headed. With eight stores, we worried that if we made a mistake in a new market it could spell some very bad news for us. So we decided that we should grow some more in the Front Range. We have a lot of demand here and we can add stores without adding more overhead.

Mad Greens just added a "kids eat free" promotion for dinners during nights and weekends. Why?

Obesity is a huge problem in this country, particularly childhood obesity. We have a partnership through Kroenke Sports where they'll bring in some of their Mammoth and Avalanche players to our stores, and they'll make salads for a whole class of fourth- and fifth-graders, and the athletes and the trainers will talk to them about the importance of eating right.

There have been a lot of studies out recently that show people's eating habits have been greatly affected by what they do at an early age, and if you get to them when they're young, you have the ability to prevent a lot of bad habits.

I can't speak for all kids, but I'm the father of 2- and 5-year-old girls. They actually have really started to like salads. Kids love that they can choose what goes into their salads, and if you're a kid, you can't choose much in your life.

Is this also an attempt to bring in parents during parts of the day that aren't Mad Greens' busiest?

When we started, we knew that lunch would be our bread and butter, but over the long term, dinner would grow as people understand that salads aren't just a lunch meal or side dish. We knew it would be a slow build, though.

The majority of our business is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It can be as little as 55 percent at some locations or as high as 70 percent downtown.