Local Foodie's Week

Over 50 restaurants in Buffalo participated in last week’s Local Restaurant Week.

Local Restaurant Week is a promotional event for only local restaurants in Western New York.

This event started in 2009 with only 60 restaurants participating. Now with over 50 restaurants participating in Buffalo alone, this event had become a great hit in WNY.

Restaurants on Elmwood have found it to be a great help promoting their business.

Organic 3 Café on Elmwood have only been open for 16 months so this is their first time participating in Local Restaurant Week.

They offered a soup, salad and entrée for dinner for the flat rate of $20.12.

This is a $7 discount for their customers.

“We participated for the promotion and exposure. We wanted to gain more customer.” Said Gary LaMartina, Owner of Organic 3 Café.

“The week was very successful for us because we sold many dinner entrees, more than usual.”

LaMartina said Organic 3 Café would participate for years to come because it brought so many customers through their exposure.

India Gate are first timers as well to Local Restaurant Week but the exposure they gained makes them want to participate again.

They also did a great deal which saved their customers about $7 last week.

“We wanted to participate because we are a local restaurant and we love the support this promotion gives us,” said Jespal Singh, Manager at India Gate.

“We have new customers; it was definitely a successful week for us.”

Restaurants that were participating in Local Restaurant Week gave their customers a preview of what they would receive on Local Restaurant Week’s website.

This was not only helpful to see first hand the deal you were getting before you decided to visit the restaurant, but it also allowed us to judge if this $20.12 deal was worth it.

Three girls on a “girls night out” took advantage of the local restaurant deal from Pano’s.

They decided to take advantage of Local Restaurant Week at Pano’s because they said it’s their favorite restaurant down Elmwood.

“ My two friends got a meal, drink and desert. Since my friends are under 21 and aren’t able to drink, they were able to get a soda with it instead,” Said Ava Cohen, a education major at Buffalo State College.

“The best thing about Local Restaurant Week was being able to get my favorite things from Pano’s at a decent price,” Said Kaitlyn Lauber, a barista at Starbucks.

“Buffalo can be fairly cheap when it comes to restaurants, but this week was a local foodie’s heaven!”

With the Fall week done, the restaurants that participated now have new customers and some people in Buffalo have found new restaurants to have their next meal at.