When Restaurant Week first started in 1992 in New York City, the idea quite simply was hospitality and goodwill.
It is part of industry lore that the original restaurant week was created by the founder of the Zagat Survey, Tim Zagat, with famed New York restaurateur Joe Baum in 1992. It was a four-day event to coincide with that year’s Democratic National Convention. Zagat is widely quoted as explaining the idea of “all” restaurants featuring a three-course, prix fixe lunch menu of their own creation for one standard price was intended as a goodwill gesture to the 15,000 reporters, visitors and politicians who were in town that summer to nominate Bill Clinton to be the Democratic Party standard bearer in that fall’s presidential election. Zagat was fairly sure it would be a money loser but was able to convince restaurateurs, with Baum’s help, that there was enough long-term PR gain to make it worthwhile. Twenty-five years later, restaurant weeks are a tradition in city after city, appealing to guests and restaurant operators.
Why is restaurant week so successful? The simple answer is, everyone loves a bargain. The genius of the program, however, is the uniformity. Bargain-basement dining comes at a price. There is the dignity factor. The customer does not want to be seen as a cheapskate. Neither does a restaurateur want to appear desperate for business. So, everyone charges and everyone pays the same price, which becomes the attraction. In reality, restaurant week is an opportunity for occasional guests, as well as those who dine out often, to try out a new place or revisit a perennial favorite. The menu offers an entry-level experience as opposed to price cutting, which always comes with the risk of cutting corners on quality.
This time of year is one of the busiest for restaurant weeks around the state. All fall, diners have been able to take advantage of prix fixe menus at scores of restaurants during the promotion in East Greenwich, Block Island, the East Bay, Narragansett and just wrapping up as of Nov. 12 in Newport, which extends its borders for restaurant week to include the East Bay communities of Bristol and Warren.
When restaurant week is over, the challenge is to bring the guests who had that wonderful entry-level experience back to enjoy the regular menu. Some savvy operators found the way to do that has been to extend the promotion for an extra week or two. The response from guests generally is quite positive, especially during summer promotions in nontourist areas. Many Providence restaurants can be counted on to continue the goodwill after the “weeks” are over. However, an interesting thing happened in the recent past. Guests were ordering the manageable prix fixe menu and being adventurous in their choices, trying different items on the menu, to the delight of the chef and the guest.
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WRAPPING UP: Chris Jones is the chef at MainSail Restaurant in the Newport Marriott, one of more than 50 restaurants participating in Newport’s Fall Restaurant Week, which wraps up Nov. 12. / COURTESY DISCOVER NEWPORT[/caption]
Other restaurateurs are offering appetizer samplers or a specialty entrée, sandwich or burger selection that works at lunch and late-night, as well as during dinner when the restaurant is the first stop of the evening. The prix fixe approach also lends itself to the new “fine-casual” style of dining that the newer spots coming online are making a name for themselves with and as time goes on transforming the dining-out experience every week of the year.
Bruce Newbury’s Dining Out radio talk show is heard Saturdays at 11 a.m. on 1540 AM WADK and through the TuneIn mobile app. Email Bruce at Bruce@brucenewbury.com.
