It’s the first NYC & Company Restaurant Week of the year – a nearly month-long, biannual event created in 1992 to encourage the patronage of restaurants across the five boroughs. Through Feb. 12, 524 restaurants are participating by featuring prix-fixe lunch and/or dinner menus at their establishments which range from $30 to $60.
Yet, out of the hundreds of locations to choose from, only nine are from the Bronx.
Lisa Sorin, the president for the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, believes the continual lack of Bronx participation is due to a breakdown in communication. “The way it’s being communicated, which is unknown to me, our restaurants aren’t getting the information. Whether it’s a language barrier or a technological barrier,” she told the Bronx Times.
As a result, the chamber began developing a restaurant and hospitality guide last summer that is broken down by community boards and will also be available through an online mapping tool. “We expect it to go live in March 2023 and afford Bronx restaurants another tool to develop their businesses further while also enhancing Bronx tourism efforts,” said Sorin.
NYC & Company says it informs eateries about Restaurant Week through local business improvement districts, email blasts, social media and several other channels.
“We do plenty of outreach,” said Alyssa Schmid, vice president of domestic communications.
The nine participants in this iteration is an increase from 2021’s summer Restaurant Week where there were 530 establishments citywide participating, but only six from the Bronx. And the years prior saw even less participation, according to the Bronx Chamber of Commerce.
NYC & Company was unable to provide numbers on the history of Bronx participation in Restaurant Week to the Bronx Times.
The lack of representation has been a longstanding issue for Bronx restaurateurs. So much so, that the Riverdale neighborhood took matters into its own hands launching its own version of restaurant…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply