ELKHART — The upcoming opening of a brewing company in Elkhart has hundreds of people lined up hoping to get a job.

Mad Anthony Brewing Company on Main Street will open on December 16. They're expecting to hire about 120 people. In just the past day and a half, they already interviewed more than 400 people.

“With the way things have been and obviously with the economic downturn and rising unemployment, we had expected a little larger than normal turnout, and we've met those expectations,” said Matt Faley, CFO of Mad Anthony.

“[That] says we need to get more in here than the RV industry, because it's dying and the economy has another two years before it recovers, so that's two years of people without jobs,” said Rebecca Willemin, who applied for a job at Mad Anthony.

The company is looking for people to work as hosts, bartenders, servers, as well as kitchen positions.

“I feel blessed,” said Shelton Dodson, who was hired. "I've been beating the pavement looking for jobs for the past three months and there's been nothing. You can't even find a job at McDonalds. So this is really convenient. I'm glad.”

The application and interview process continues on Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. But owners say they'll continue to take applications for future positions as well.