Restaurant Week sets all-time record

Restaurant Week sets all-time record Taste: Dayton food and restaurants: "By Mark Fisher Friday, February 12, 2010, 07:25 AM
Miami Valley diners’ hunger for a great bargain — combined with perhaps a touch of cabin fever — pushed last month’s Winter Restaurant Week to record-setting levels.
With only a few restaurants left to report their numbers, the Miami Valley Restaurant Association reported this morning, Feb. 12 that 21,216 Restaurant Week meals were served starting Jan. 24 —eclipsing the summer 2009 mark of 19,690 and shattering the record set in winter 2009 of 20,009, which was achieved in part because restaurants extended the promotion to two weeks following a paralyzing snowstorm during week one.
The record numbers “show the willingness of diners across the Miami Valley to help great causes and to try new restaurants,” said Amy Zahora, the restaurant association’s executive director. A touch of cabin fever also helped, as did the fact that a few more restaurants extended the promotion into a second week, Zahora said. Restaurant Week allows diners to order a three-course meal from a special menu for $20.10, with restaurants donating $1 for every special meal sold to local charities. The winter 2010 charities benefitting were Blue Star Mothers, Camp Emanuel and Family Violence Prevention Center of Greene County. "