Monday marks the start of Western New York’s spring-time Local Restaurant Week, and this season’s theme is ‘Think Social. Eat Local.’President of the Western New York Restaurant Association, Ellie Grenauer, says the use of Social Media in the local restaurant business has become key to engaging diners.
“Especially as a small operator, your advertising budget may not be able to afford a five-thousand dollar campaign on radio, or a ten-thousand dollar campaign on TV. You can’t afford it. So social media is a way for especially the small operators to get more bang for their buck, for no bucks,” said Grenauer.
Local Restaurant week includes 200 participating locations, including casual, fine dining, ethnic and eclectic fare. No matter what type of fare they’re looking for, the campaign encourage diners to eat local, but event organizer, Christa Hobart says that message extends to encouraging restaurant owners to spend local, too.
“Use a local food provider too, whether it’s a local farm, or a local food distributor, or a local manufacturer of beverages, or whatever’s kind of coming in the back door of restaurants. Think local in that sense, too, and use the businesses that are right here in our own back yard,” Hobart said.
Hobart says money spent locally circulates through the local economy five times more than if spent at chain restaurants.
For a full list of participating restaurants, visit http://www.localrestaurantweek.com/.
