By Aidan McNamara
Restaurant Week Grand Rapids kicked off its 16th year of celebration this week on Nov. 7 with more than 70 different participating locations serving up something for everybody’s tastebuds.
The goal is to bring in support for Grand Rapids restaurants while raising money for the Grand Rapids Community College Secchia Institute for Culinary Education. Over the past 16 years Experience Grand Rapids has raised over $200,000 from Restaurant Week alone.
Restaurant week was created because “we wanted to find a way to celebrate our unique culinary talent that we have here in our local community,” said Jaylyn McCloy, the marketing partnership manager for Experience Grand Rapids.
To get involved in restaurant week, restaurant-goers can visit the official website to sign up for a digital pass that will show them the participating restaurants and the food they have to offer. There are three different price points at each participating restaurant ranging from $25, $35 and $45.
Every check in for restaurant week is a dollar donation directly to the GRCC Secchia institute for culinary education,” McCloy said.
Restaurant Week has also expanded exponentially since the pandemic with McCloy saying “when I started with Experience GR three and a half years ago there were 40 participating restaurants and now we have over 77.”
Restaurant Week has brought the community together over many years now and continues to grow each year. Robert Butler the general manager at Z’s said, “At Z’s Bar and Restaurant our staff is dedicated to memorable experiences that stay with you. Restaurant Week sets the stage for our back of house to add to that. It gives them the opportunity to showcase their culinary inspirations in an environment that can sometimes restrict some of that.”
This year’s donations to GRCC’s Secchia Institute are funded by Gordon Food Service. Participants can also win prizes as a part of restaurant week that include free tickets to the Grand Rapids International Wine, Beer and Food Festival. that will be held at the DeVos Place on Friday, Nov. 21 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 22 from 2 .p.m to 9 p.m. Restaurant Week will wrap up Saturday, Nov. 15.
