Editor’s Note: Downtown Restaurant Week, a national program now in its seventh year in St. Louis, was a brilliant marketing strategy, one designed to draw attention to restaurants in a specific area during the end of August, traditionally one of the slowest periods of the restaurant year. For 2011, it runs from August 22 to August 28, with over two dozen restaurants participating. The standard formula is 3 courses for $25, with an option to give a bit more to a local charity. More details and the respective menus for DTRW can be found here. But, as Joe Pollack explains, besides being 26 examples of cheap eats and managerial glad-handing, it has the potential to be so much more…
“Location!” say the real estate folks. It’s important in the restaurant business, too, as shown in a rather wry, only-in-St. Louis situation this month. Downtown Restaurant Week begins Aug. 22, a good time for local restaurants to attract some new customers, solidify relationships with old ones. Right? Wrong!
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Twenty-six restaurants are taking part in the promotion. None are members of the St. Louis Originals, a group of locally owned restaurants formed a few years ago to promote each other, offer rewards coupons and generally help the image of a scene that has shown vast improvement over the last generation or two. It has more than 30 members, with room for dozens more.
One would think that something like a Restaurant Week would be a great time for everyone to get together. But that’s just not the St. Louis way.
DTRW organizers make the point that all downtown restaurants (within a certain price range) are approached to participate in DTRW, but for various reasons, not all choose to do so.
Another problem is that there are practically no members of the Originals in the Downtown area. The only high-end Original in the neighborhood is Mike Shannon’s, which took part last year. But this year, Aug. 22-28 has daily Cardinal home games and there will be plenty of business at 7th and Market. Other Downtown highlights like Tony’s, Anthony’s Bar, Al’s and Kemoll’s are not members, though Anthony’s is a Restaurant Week participant.
Meanwhile, Dave Bailey’s downtown restaurants (Rooster, Bridge) and the Schlafly Tap Room, which are Originals, would have to increase their regular prices to fit under the Restaurant Week umbrella.
At the same time, there are no ethnic restaurants (we don’t count Italian) in the Originals, and their absence is a shame. And speaking of Italian, there are no Hill restaurants among the Originals, either. Why not?
