Some businesses in Grove City are feeling a squeeze after USIS laid off 1,200 workers in the area.

Mike Zorbas, owner of Jordan’s Restaurant on South Broad Street in Grove City, said he has been getting less business for more than a month.

“We have definitely noticed a decreased amount of business,” Zorbas said.

USIS, which has offices in Boyers and Grove City, announced the termination of two federal government contracts last month. The contract loss meant about 2,500 of its employees across the United States would lose their jobs.

Those layoffs included the three offices in Boyers and Grove City that had employed 1,500 people. The company, based in Falls Church, Va., had 6,000 employees nationally.

In September, the federal Office of Personnel Management announced it would not renew its contracts with the company, which were to do background checks for prospective federal employees.

This came on the heels of USIS discovering an external cyber attack on its corporate network in August and having a federal complaint filed against it in January. The complaint alleged the company at its Grove City and Boyers offices did at least 665,000 incomplete background checks for OPM between 2008 and 2012.

According to a lawsuit filed last week by a former employee, USIS relieved employees of their duties without pay Aug. 7, and they were told Sept. 24 they officially would be terminated on Sept. 30.

Zorbas said his restaurant regularly would cater lunches for USIS employees. Sometimes, he said the USIS corporate office in Virginia would call in orders to cater for training sessions held at the Grove City offices. Additionally, he said employees would sometimes come to the restaurant for lunch.

Zorbas said he is hopeful people who lost their jobs get picked up by other companies, but he noted that does not necessarily help his restaurant.

Dave Knopp Sr., owner of the County Market on Route 58, said he has seen a slight decrease in sales, but he said he cannot attribute it to anything in particular. The market is located in the same shopping center as one of USIS’ offices.

“We get a lot of breakfast and lunch (orders) from the employees over there,” Knopp said.

He said a big concern for him is for the people employed by USIS.

“I think the concern is for people probably losing their jobs,” Knopp said.

He said he hopes other area contractors pick up USIS employees to do similar work.

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t,” Knopp said.

The Hampton Inn and Suites and the Holiday Inn Express on Route 208 in Springfield Township both had a contract with USIS for workers to stay at the hotels during training sessions in Grove City.

Stacey Glenn, director of sales and marketing for both hotels, said she was notified in September the contract would be terminated and the company’s bookings for the rest of 2014 and 2015 would be canceled. She said this is a big loss of business for the hotels.

“We committed significant numbers of room nights for next year,” Glenn said.

She said the number of bookings varied per year. She said the company sometimes could have as many as one per month, but averaged about six per year. USIS booked between 10 and 30 rooms each time.

Glenn said the hotels and USIS had a great working relationship for 13 years.

“They were a very, very great client for us,” Glenn said.

She said she was optimistic another company or companies would be able to fill in the gap created by USIS. She also noted the USIS bookings often meant the hotels had to turn away people, so their absence may leave more room for leisure travelers to book at the hotels.

David Valenza, owner of Nonni’s Corner Trattoria on South Broad Street, said he has not seen any decrease in business yet, but he did say the restaurant has done some catered lunches for USIS and some employees have come to the restaurant for lunch.

“In the short term, I think we may feel a bit of an effect,” Valenza said.

However, he said the restaurant is growing and he does not expect any long-term effect on its business.

Beth Black, executive director of the Grove City Chamber of Commerce, said there are a lot of rumors floating around about the local offices, as well as news stories.

“That’s the most we’ve heard,” Black said.

According to an informal list compiled by the chamber, USIS is the single largest employer in the area. The Grove City Premium Outlets has a similar number of people working at the mall, but they mainly are employed at individual stores.

Other large area employers are General Electric, the Grove City Medical Center, the Midwestern Intermediate Unit, Slippery Rock University, Grove City College and the Grove City School District.

Black said she is optimistic USIS in some form will stay in the area.

“My hope is that they remain a business in Grove City,” Black said.

Some USIS employees were active in the chamber.

Black said she has not heard any definitive details from anyone regarding USIS.

However, there is hope for workers.

Since Oct. 1, NT Concepts has hired 800 workers to do support services at Iron Mountain in Boyers.

The company said workers were hired to do support work for the Office of Personnel Management, and said there are plans to hire an additional 150 to 200 workers in the next month.

NT Concepts, with its headquarters in Vienna, Va., provides investigative services, program management, consulting and training.

KeyPoint Government Solutions, which is based in Loveland, Colo., and has offices in Slippery Rock and Grove City, also has employees who do similar work. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

However, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd, has suggested they may take former USIS workers on.

USIS did not respond to a request for comment.