Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Eating out local is now more affordable this week. Restaurant Week is back in Buffalo after a two-year pause due to the pandemic. Some of your favorites are returning for another season plus some new tastes from newly-opened restaurants.
“The people that used to be in it are happy that it’s back, but also there’s a lot of new restaurants that are out there,” said Dan Garvey, innkeeper at the Roycroft Inn in East Aurora. “This is a chance for them to get out and tell the public what they’re made of. It’s going to be an exciting week here in Western New York.”
Businesses will be offering specialized menu items at discounted rates from October 23 until Sunday, October 30th. Restaurants will no longer pay to participate. They can decide whether to offer new menu items, specially priced prix fixe meals or a combination. Diners who visit the restaurants, taverns, diners and bistros that have joined the 2022 Restaurant Week can choose from an array of eateries listed here.
The link above also has links to the special menus.
Cheesy Chick Cafe Co-Owner, Jonathan Rowan says it's an honor to take part this year, "A lot of people didn't know that we even had a restaurant, a cafe in Williamsville so to have this [event] come back is super cool."
Rowan has a tradition of celebrating his special day on Restaurant Week, "My friend and I, we would always go off for my birthday during Restaurant Week and we would always pick a new restaurant or given restaurant we haven't been to. This kind of brings you back to pre-COVID times and just trying new places and to see these really cool specials that really only come up once a year."
This year, the event is promoted and organized by Visit Buffalo Niagara as a way to continue to promote all the good eats the Western New York has to offer.
"It always gives us a unique opportunity to engage with new customers and kind of drive exposure that way and allow people to experience our food and tap room," says Cameron Frank with Thin Man Brewery, who have been participating since the event's inception.
What's the biggest problem in the industry these days coming out of the pandemic? For some, customer retention is a concern.
"Getting people back in the taproom, that has been the biggest issue for a lot of people," says Frank. "And it's finding new ways to drive traffic and engagement and Restaurant Week is is one of those unique opportunities that allows us to kind of lean on someone else to bring people to the staff room. Visit Buffalo Niagara has been awesome with this whole thing and we're looking forward to it."
Due to the pandemic, rising food costs have also been a concern, "For us, the pandemic, per se isn't really over. Our sales are great, things are going really well, but because of the pandemic, the cost of goods has gone up 35 to 40% and the cost of our labor has also gone up. So, you know, it's trying to struggle with that new normal," says Ellie Grenauer, co-owner of Glen Park Tavern. "It's more about balancing those costs and Restaurant Week does help with that."