Another group is giving the Restaurant Week concept a try in Wichita
Wichita has taken a couple of tries at putting on Restaurant Weeks — events popular in big cities that are designed to get people out and trying restaurants they might not otherwise have the inclination or cash to visit.
The most notable of these was put on by Visit Wichita, whose Restaurant Week had a four-year run that ended in 2017.
But now, another group is starting its own Restaurant Week as a replacement for another annual fundraiser that had to be canceled this year because of COVID-19.
Next month, Junior League of Wichita will put on a new event it’s calling Taste of Wichita. The event, organized by members who love Kansas City’s restaurant week, is in its infancy and was thrown together pretty quickly, so at first, organizers say, it will be a little smaller. They plan to grow it over the next several years.
The group hopes to sign up 10 to 15 restaurants before the 10-day event opens on Oct. 2. Seven — including the popular new restaurant The Belmont — have already agreed to take part.
Each of the restaurants will put together special Taste of Wichita menus, and participants will pay $30 for a three-course dinner that includes an appetizer, main dish and dessert. Lunchtime entree-only specials also will be offered for $15.
The restaurants have all been asked to make the meals available for dine-in or to-go customers. Among the others already on the roster are 6S Steakhouse, Sapporo, Bonefish Grill and Lola’s Bistro.
Rachel Viner, who is the chairwoman of Taste of Wichita, said that it is a replacement for Holiday Galleria, a shopping event that for the past 16 years has drawn big crowds to Century II in early October. It’s the group’s biggest fundraiser.
Because big crowds are not COVID-friendly, Viner said, the event was canceled for this year, but the organization wanted to find a supplemental money maker that would help members support their charity work. They’re planning to bring Holiday Galleria back in 2021.
Each restaurant participating will pay a fee to the Junior League and also will donate 10 percent of sales from its Taste of Wichita menu offerings. Most of the proceeds will go to Homeless to Hope, a group that finds permanent housing for homeless women.
It’s a hard time to be asking restaurants to make donations, Viner said, but organizers hope the event will also help restaurants attract customers who might be staying away during the pandemic.
“We do know that everything has been hard for businesses all around, and we thought this was something we could do to help offer support back,” she said.
Restaurants who want to sign up to participate in the event may email tasteofwichita@gmail.com.
Diners who want to take part just need to visit the listed restaurants from Oct. 2 to Oct. 11 but are encouraged to call the individual restaurants for reservations.
Keep track of what’s new with Taste of Wichita at tasteofwichita.org.
This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 2:45 PM.
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