Recap of Restaurant Week

I saw this and thought it was pretty cool. Between this and Art Prize, some of the downtown places had a ver nice fall season.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI (December 20, 2010) - Experience Grand Rapids today announced that Restaurant Week Grand Rapids the inaugural event held November 4 - 13, surpassed all expectations. According to Doug Small, President of Experience Grand Rapids, "We anticipated 40 restaurants would participate in the inaugural event and had 57. We anticipated an impact of $500,000 in sales and ended up with over $1,000,000 in sales. In our first year we couldn't be happier with the outcome. The response from the community and the restaurants has been outstanding."

The inaugural event took place from November 4 through 13, 2010. According to Small, "Even before Restaurant Week kicked off I was hearing reports of sold out bookings at some of the fine dining establishments. All of a sudden the buzz about Restaurant Week was everywhere - in the news, on social media, and on the street. It felt like ArtPrize for foodies and stayed that way during the entire 10-days. It was thrilling, to say the least."

Of approximately 30,000 restaurant week bookings tracked by participating restaurants during the event, 19,128 meals were served from their Restaurant Week special menus while an additional 10,000 meals were ordered off of regular menus. With an average dinner spend of $35 - $42 per person (including drinks and the $20.10 dinner combined) the total dollars attributed to Restaurant Week dining is reported to be approximately $1.2 million.

Five percent (3) of the restaurants served over 1000 meals, while 16% (9) served between 700 - 900 Restaurant Week meals; 11% (6) served between 300 - 500 Restaurant Week meals; 34% (19) served between 100 - 300 meals; and 30% (17) served fewer than 100 meals.

Many of the restaurant owners and managers stated that Restaurant Week Grand Rapids brought them "new customers". Kevin Vos, General Manager of Blue Water Grill stated, "We've worked on ways to bring in new customers with several different promotions in the past. Restaurant Week was the event that really brought in new business for us." Vos added that on their first evening of Restaurant Week, sales were up 25%. Garry Boyd, General Manager at Stella's Lounge and The Viceroy also attributed Restaurant Week for bring in a 25% rise in business at his restaurants. Sysco Grand Rapids' Regional Director of Sales Eric Gruener indicated that his customers reported very strong business during Restaurant Week. "As a sponsor of the event in its first year, we think that it hit a home run based on our customer reports."

Other comments from participating restaurant owners and managers included,

"It was a huge hit city wide." - Kelly Stecco, General Manager, The Acorn Grille

"Everyone I spoke with thought it was a great event. We had a lot of people come in for Restaurant Week who ended up ordering off of our regular menu and that was great! - Benjamin Fris, General Manager, Graydon's Crossing

"Our restaurant, The Landing, was busy all week. We experienced many new diners and made new friends." - Todd Roesler, General Manager, Radisson Grand Rapids Riverfront Hotel

"Restaurant Week brought in some new faces. I know (many of my existing customers) tried new things." - Don Kurylowicz, Owner / Manager, Honey Creek Inn