Summer restaurant week gets cookin'

Summer restaurant week gets cookin'
Get a taste of the Miami Valley when restaurant week returns — just be sure to save room for dessert
Dayton Daily News
by Alexis Larson
07/17/12

In what has become a semiannual tradition, local chefs and restaurants will put their best plates forward for the 2012 Summer Restaurant Week event beginning July 22.

The Miami Valley Restaurant Association’s (MVRA) semiannual Restaurant Week promotion kicks off today with more than 45 restaurants offering special menus from July 22 through Sunday, July 29.

The eight-day event serves as a culinary showcase for restaurants to draw customers during a traditionally slow period of the year and an opportunity for diners to try something different at a special price.

This year, three-course meals and other deals will be priced $20.12, $25.12 or $30.12. Be sure to call ahead for availability, pricing and reservations. To view the latest list of participating restaurants and to look at menus, visit the association’s brand new website that’s just launched at http://dineoutdayton.com featuring mapping and streamlined event listings and information.

The Restaurant Week promotion, which began in January 2005 in Dayton, has continued to steadily gain popularity and traction thanks to increased interest and increased restaurant receipts. More than 14,000 meals were sold at last summer’s Restaurant Week event.

“Restaurant Week is so popular because it gives customers the opportunity to experience a new restaurant at a great price,” said Amy Zahora, executive director of the Miami Valley Restaurant Association.

Zahora said that with more than 10,000 meals sold in an average restaurant week, it typically helps generate more than $250,000 in sales for her association’s restaurants that choose to participate.

Jason Thomas, owner of The Taste in Trotwood, said the Restaurant Week promotion has been key to helping him attract new customers. His business, which has been open less than a year, was able to attract interest during the Winter Restaurant Week that took place early this year.

“It offers us the ability to promote and market our business and to grab a new customer base. There are a lot of foodies out there that are willing to travel and try new things,” Thomas said.

The event also functions as a fundraiser. Since the event began, it has helped raise more than $76,000 for local charities with $1 of each meal sold donated to area nonprofits. This year’s Summer Restaurant Week charities are YMCA Kids Campaign, Hope for Harvest of the Miami Valley and the MVRA Scholarship Fund. More than $21,000 was donated to local charities in 2011, according to Zahora.

“As always, I’m very excited for Restaurant Week. It’s such a great opportunity to allow our member restaurants to shine while helping such great causes,” said the association’s president, Shanon Morgan.

“I love hearing the positive feedback from the participating restaurant owners as well as the excitement from patrons trying out new places.”