Organizations cook up Restaurant Week promotion

Restaurants across the metro area are teaming up to offer 10 days of dining to benefit one cause.

During Kansas City Restaurant Week Jan. 22-31, about 100 dining establishments will donate 10 percent of all meals sold to Harvesters Community Food Network.

Harvesters, which serves a 26-county area of northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri, provides food to more than 550 nonprofit agencies including emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, children’s homes, homes for the mentally disabled and shelters for battered persons. The agencies offer food assistance to more than 60,000 people each week.

Leaders of the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association and the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association started developing the idea for Restaurant Week a couple of years ago.

“It originated from the idea of wanting to promote the Kansas City dining experience, especially in January when times are traditionally slower for our industry,” Jason Pryor, restaurant association president, said. “The restaurant scene has really garnered a lot of national attention recently with some of our James Beard Award winners, and obviously we’re known for our barbecue and steaks.”

Choosing to donate the proceeds to Harvesters was an easy decision, Pryor said.

“It just goes hand in hand,” he said. “We’re trying to get people out to not only feed their hunger, but help fight hunger. The restaurant association and many restaurants in town have always looked to help Harvesters all year long. We couldn’t think of a better fit.”

Specially priced, multi-course lunch and dinner menus are available at all participating restaurants. Lunches are $15 per person and dinners are $30, excluding tax and gratuity. A list of participants and their Restaurant Week menus can be found at www.kansascityrestaurantweek.com.

“Kansas City Restaurant Week is a great showcase of the quality and uniqueness of KC restaurants,” said Rick Hughes, Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association president and CEO. “It’s also a perfect opportunity to fight hunger and bolster our local economy. From family-owned eateries and outposts of well-known restaurant chains to progressive, chef-driven restaurants, Kansas City has something to suit everyone’s tastes.”

Participating restaurants are members of the association and/or the bureau. Pryor, owner of Pizza 51, 5060 Oak St., Kansas City, Mo., said the organizations are hopeful Restaurant Week will become an annual event.

“We have been blown away by the amount of participation in the first year,” he said. “We’ve garnered more than twice our budgeted number of participants. With the excitement from the restaurants, we’re hoping that will trickle down to the customers, especially since there are so many options available for those 10 days. They can pick several locations where they’ll be able to take advantage of this value and benefit Harvesters at the same time.

“I’m very happy with the diversity of the participants. It’s a benefit for our members, and it’s a benefit to the community to have the push to try some new restaurants that have come on the scene recently, as well as stimulating you to go back and visit an old-time favorite.”

FAST FACTS

About 100 establishments throughout the metro area are participating in the restaurant week promotion.

Here is a list of participating restaurants in Johnson County: Barley’s Brewhaus, blanc burgers & bottles, Blue Moose, Bo Lings, Bristol, Carlo’s Copa Room, Coach’s Bar & Grill, Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue, Garozzo’s Ristorante, Hereford House, Houlihan’s, J. Gilbert’s, Johnny Cascone’s, Nick & Jake’s, NoRTH, RA sushi, Trezo Vino, WestChase Grill, Yia Yia’s, and Zest.

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