Getting vendor/purveyor participation in Restaurant Week promotions: San Diego, January 20th - 27th, 2019

When I was in Southern California last month, I noticed a food service truck on a highway somewhere in Los Angeles County, with a "banner ad" on the side, promoting San Diego's upcoming Restaurant Week, January 20th-27th.

City-wide Restaurant Weeks aim to increase business during slower times of the year ("‘Restaurant Week’ sales uptick averages 23 percent," Restaurant Hospitality).

Usually they do this with a prix fixe type of deal, two courses at lunch, three at dinner, for a set price.

Ideally, the restaurants come up with follow on marketing activities to encourage participating patrons to return sooner rather than later, for full-priced meals ("8 Tips to Increase Revenue with a Restaurant Week Menu," Upserve Restaurant Insider).

In the DC area, a Black Restaurant Week has been developed.

And various commercial districts, not just in DC, often create their own district-specific promotion around a restaurant or "Taste of" positioning, which I think is a good way to boost awareness and business too.

-- Taste of Eighth, Barracks Row Main Street

In fact, this is something I need to add as an element to my body of work on "Richard Rules for Restaurant-Based Revitalization."

The truck signage for the San Diego Restaurant Week impressed me for a couple reasons.

First, it's creative and out-of-home and will reach different audiences than that from newspapers, tv, and radio stories, as well as from social media. Although I like how this Baltimore Business Journal article ("A by-the-neighborhood tour of Baltimore City Restaurant Week, starting Friday") organizes coverage of the event by neighborhood.

Second, it's a way for vendors to the industry to contribute and participate in the program, a form of business-to-business marketing and support that in turn helps them and their restaurant business customers.

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Thanks to McFarlane Promotions, acting on behalf of San Diego Restaurant Week and the San Diego Chapter of the California Restaurant Association for providing truck photographs.