A local sandwich and salad shop in Dubuque is permanently closed.

Owners Teri Link and Kathy Conway announced today that they closed Knockout Melts and Rock Salad, located at 3412 Pennsylvania Ave., due to several factors.

“It’s a combination of the high cost of doing business and a stagnant economy,” Conway told the Telegraph Herald.

She said costs have risen sharply over the past few years and made already-slim margins even thinner. She said she and Link wish to pursue other endeavors, though both are feeling “mixed emotions” about closing the restaurant 

“We’ve loved being part of and serving the Dubuque community and have made many good friends,” she said in an email to the TH.

Conway and Link’s business began as a food truck and morphed into a brick-and-mortar location in 2016. At that time, the restaurant was called American Bombshell, but it changed to Knockout Melts in 2018. In 2021, Rock Salad launched, and the two businesses operated out of the same location on Pennsylvania Avenue until today’s closure.