By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Last year’s pilot of Restaurant Week BG left customers and local eateries hungry for more.
So the second annual Restaurant Week BG scheduled for June 16-22 has been expanded to a full seven days and to more businesses in the community – including 27 local restaurants, breweries, coffee shops, and ice cream locations.
“I think people saw the success last year,” said Tim Emmerich. “We had restaurants reaching out to us. We’re definitely building momentum.”
Ardy Gonyer and Emmerich, co-owners of Call of the Canyon Café and Easystreet Café in downtown Bowling Green, cooked up the restaurant week idea last year.
“Every other city has one,” Emmerich said last year of the celebration offering deals to patrons, while helping out a local charity. “We’re just trying to catch some of the magic.”
The designated week has three goals – draw deal-seeking diners to Bowling Green eating establishments, drum up business during a traditional slow summer week, and dedicate a portion of the profits to Brown Bag Food Project – which is also in the business of feeding people.
New participants this year include BG’s Frosty Fare, South Side 6, Guajillo’s, El Zarape, Curry Lounge, Grounds for Thought, Everyday People Café, Q’doba, Red Sky Pizza & Pints, and Doc’s Big City Saloon/Cameo Pizza.
Returning participants include Call of the Canyon Café, Easystreet Café, Sam B’s, Beckett’s, the Clay Pot Bistro, Trotter’s Tavern, Dairy Queen, Juniper, Arlyn’s Good Beer, Brewing Green, Jac & Do’s Pizza, Biggby Coffee, CJ’s Sports Bar & Grille at Al-Mar Lanes, Kabob It, Kermit’s, The R.O.W. BG, and B Family Sushi.
Logos will be placed in windows of participating businesses to remind people of the weeklong event.
Some establishments will offer deals on certain menu items, and all will donate 10% of the profits from those sales to the Brown Bag Food Project.
The week of June 16-22 was selected because Bowling Green tends to move at a different speed when most BGSU students are gone for the summer. Many businesses are affected by the population drop.
Gonyer and Emmerich heard from eateries last year that participation in Restaurant Week BG brought in more business.
“A lot of people went out because of Restaurant Week,” Gonyer said, adding that businesses benefit from the success of such community-wide programs. “When one of us thrives, we all thrive. There’s plenty of business.”
Last year’s pilot event resulted in $6,500 being donated to the Brown Bag Food Project in Bowling Green. It was fitting that the funds this year go to the same organization facing greater demands, Gonyer said.
“They address food insecurity. It’s a natural connection,” Gonyer said. “The need for their services has increased.”
“They feed a lot of families from all over the county,” Emmerich said.
When the funds were disbursed to the food pantry last year, some restaurant owners talked about their motivation for helping stock the shelves at Brown Bag.
George and Amy Strata, who own Beckett’s and SamB’s, said the worthy cause helped build enthusiasm among businesses and customers for the event.
“We enjoy doing these kinds of things,” George Strata said. “And it brought out people knowing they were doing a great thing.”
Grant and Veronica Mierzejewski, owners of Clay Pot, shared the community spirit of the project.
“This is something we want to do – it’s great for the community,” Grant Mierzejewski said. “Hopefully it grows every year.”
“This is just a good example of the community coming together,” Emmerich said.
Gonyer is hoping the expanded duration and increased number of businesses involved will result in more money going to Brown Bag Food Project this year.
“We obviously want to beat that,” Gonyer said of last year’s $6,500.
More information can be found on Facebook by following Restaurant Week BG OH.
