Another group — the third since 2012 — will try to make Restaurant Week stick in Wichita
Since 2012, two different organizations — Visit Wichita and Junior League of Wichita— have raised money for charity by putting on Restaurant Week events.
Now, another group — the Kansas Food Bank — is planning to give Restaurant Week a go in Wichita. Its will run from Sunday, Sept. 22, through Saturday, Sept. 28. The event will be a fundraiser for Kansas Food Bank, which was looking for a project that would help engage the community during Hunger Action Month, observed September.
The group has 21 restaurants on board so far.
“We know it’s something that has been done in a few different adaptations over a few different years in Wichita, and nothing has kind of stuck,” said Kate Birkhofer, marketing and communications manager for the food bank and organizer of Restaurant Week. “We were like, ‘Let’s just see what we can do.’”
In bigger cities, restaurant weeks are popular because they get local diners out to try places that they might not otherwise have the inclination or budget to visit. In places like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston, restaurant weeks usually involve higher-end restaurants offering special, three-course menus for a set price.
The Kansas Food Bank’s Restaurant Week will be a bit different from the restaurant weeks Wichitans have attended in recent years, when diners would usually get a choice of $15 or $30 set meals. Kansas Food Bank organizers, after consulting with food banks in Tulsa and Oklahoma City who put on successful restaurant weeks, decided to offer local restaurant owners many different ways to participate, Birkhofer said.
Each restaurant owner could choose from four options.
▪ Feature a specific menu item and donate to the food bank the profits from that week’s sales of the dish
▪Pledge to donate a percent of overall sales from the week
▪Ask customers to “round up” the totals on their bills then donate the rounded up money total from the week.
▪Offer customers a chance to earn money toward future visits to the restaurant by donating to the Kansas Food Bank at the register
“We’re kind of just casting a wide net to really allow those restaurants to say what’s going to work best for them,” Birkhofer said.
The Food Bank’s Restaurant Week website now lists most of the Wichita restaurants that have agreed to participate. Most are donating percentages of sales rather than focusing on specific dishes.
Meddys, for example, will donate 10% of the week’s sales at the downtown location, 120 S. Washington. Umi at 11233 E. 13th St. and Blue Hook Cajun at 1144 N. Maize Road will both donate 15% of their sales for the week.
Grimaldi’s at 1441 N. Webb Road will give customers a $5 “bounce back card” for every $5 they donate to the Kansas Food Bank — up to $25. And Nortons Brewing Company at 125 St. Francis will donate to the food bank all “round-up” donations up to $1,000.
A few restaurants will donate money raised from the sale of specific dishes. Doo-Dah Diner at 206 E. Kellogg, for example, will donate $5 for every Shocker Scramble it sells. Magnolia Cafe at 2424 N. Woodlawn will donate $2 of every Nashville Hot Chicken-In-a-Biscuit sold that week. And Chicken N Pickle at 1240 N. Greenwich will donate $2 of every country fried chicken sold.
Birkhofer said that every $1 raised during Restaurant Week will translate into four meals for local families in need, and she hopes to raise enough money to provide 100,000 meals.
The other goal, she said, is helping local restaurants find new customers.
“I know that they’re asked quite a bit, ‘Do you want to be part of this? Can you donate to this?’” she said. “But we really think that this will be a win-win for not only participating restaurants but also for us at the food bank.
“Our hope is that it becomes something that really sticks as an annual event in Wichita.”
The Kansas Food Bank’s Restaurant Week also will include an incentive that organizers hope will entice diners to participate. Those who log onto the Restaurant Week website — ICTRW.com — will be able to check in to each restaurant they visit using a “digital passport” that tracks their location. They’ll earn 100 points for every participating restaurant they visit during Restaurant Week. People can use their points to enter drawings for prizes like restaurant gift cards and restaurant dinner experiences.
To see a list of restaurants participating and what they’re offering, visit ICTRW.com.
Previous runs at Wichita Restaurant Week
2013: The Boys and Girls Clubs of South Central Kansas teamed up with Go Wichita (now Visit Wichita) and the Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association for a Restaurant Week that ran June 21-30. Organizers asked participating restaurants to donate 10% of each meal back to the Boys & Girls Club. That year, 32 local restaurants participated and agreed to serve a breakfast meal for $7, a lunch meal for $15 and a dinner meal for $30.
2014: The second installment of Restaurant Week happened in October 2014, and organizers tweaked it a bit. They signed up 23 participants, who agreed to serve meals at $10, $20 and $30 price points. Boys & Girls Clubs of South Central Kansas was again the beneficiary.
2016: Restaurant week didn’t happen in 2015 (the year that Go Wichita rebranded and became Visit Wichita), but it returned in January 2016 with the same organizers. That year, 24 restaurants participated and were asked to come up with three-course menus. They were allowed to charge whatever they deemed appropriate, though most went with lunches in the $9 range and dinners in the $30 range. Boys & Girls Clubs of South Central Kansas was again the beneficiary.
2017: The last Restaurant Week that Visit Wichita put on happened in January 2017. That year, the 32 participating restaurants were asked to come up with meals they could offer at either a $15 or a $30 price point and could decide whether to offer meals at one price level or both. Boys & Girls Clubs of South Central Kansas was again the beneficiary.
2020: Though Visit Wichita never brought its Restaurant Week back, another group gave it a go in October 2020. Junior League of Wichita started a fundraising event called Taste of Wichita as a replacement for its big shopping event, Holiday Galleria, and got 14 local participants. Most of the restaurants offered three-course dinners that cost $30, though some did lunchtime or lighter meals for $15. Each restaurant paid a fee to the Junior League and donated 10% of sales from its Taste of Wichita menu offerings. Most of the proceeds went to Homeless to Hope, a group that finds permanent housing for homeless women.
2021: Taste of Wichita returned for a second year in October 2021. It was set up the same way as it had been the previous year.
2022: Taste of Wichita returned for a third and final year in November 2022 and again featured local restaurants offering $15 or $30 meal options. The Junior League revived Holiday Galleria in 2022 and 2023.
This story was originally published August 28, 2024 at 5:03 AM.
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