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RALEIGH – A Triangle area restaurant is taking extra steps to fight the flu.

Backyard Bistro, across from the RBC Center, has put hand sanitizer on every table and extra bottles around the kitchen area.

Louise Smith and her friends meet for dinner at the Backyard Bistro once a week. While they love the food, they're raving about the flu-fighting hand sanitizer on every table.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Smith said. "I think it's needed in all restaurants. I think it'll prevent the passing of germs if everyone uses it."

Customers are using it, many of them pleasantly surprised to see hand sanitizer bottles sitting right next to the ketchup.

"Everything we do, we use our hands," said Joe Lumbrazo, co-owner of Backyard Bistro. "We use our hands to touch the food we're preparing, serving, touching the plates. We're just trying to do our part to make sure that we're doing everything we possibly can to make sure we're sanitizing properly. We have hand sanitizers on all the hand sinks in the kitchen, and in the bathrooms, and every single table has it's own individual bottle for the customers and we have them also at the bar, so no matter where you're sitting in the restaurant, we have over 200 bottles of the hand sanitizer out there."

Employees are getting in on the act too, sanitizing their hands between washings.

Owners say after only two weeks of having the hand sanitizer out, they're already seeing a big pay off.

"Our employees haven't been calling in sick as often," Lumbrazo said. "We have seen a difference. There was a little bit of a bug that went around and in the last two weeks, it's gone by the wayside."

Customers say it gives them more peace of mind while eating out.

"It really shows they care," Smith said.

Backyard Bistro spent about $250 to buy about 400 bottles of hand sanitizer. The owners say it's worth every penny if it helps keep people from spreading the flu.