May date set for the first National Restaurant Week

The Restaurant Association has teamed up with chief sponsor American Express to promote the UK's first annual National Restaurant Week.

There will be special offers and events, organised both centrally and by individual restaurants, between 11 and 20 May.

"It is probably the most exciting promotion we have done," said association chief executive Ian McKerracher. "It is one of those ideas that suddenly occur to you and you wonder why it has not happened before. This is what we should be doing to benefit the industry."

The national event is a bigger version of March 1999's London Restaurant Week, which was organised by American Express and the London Tourist Board. This was reported to have generated 200,000 meals eaten in 300 restaurants over the 10-day campaign, and boosted business for some participants by 20% (Caterer, 1 April 1999, page 7).

National Restaurant Week will be advertised in the national and regional press and on radio and TV from around Easter. Other sponsors will also promote the event, and participating restaurants will receive a marketing pack for their own local use.

Recruitment of participants, which must be members of the Restaurant Association and accept American Express cards, starts at the end of this month, when brochures outlining the campaign will be mailed to up to 20,000 restaurants.

The Restaurant Association, which represents just under 3,000 restaurants, is hoping the promotion will also help boost its membership, especially in Scotland, the South-west and the Midlands, where it has fewer members.

The 10-day week will open with an event in London, close in Manchester, and incorporate the 14th National Restaurateurs Dinner.

London's Café Spice Namaste, Winteringham Fields in Lincolnshire and the New Mill in Eversley, Hampshire, have already put forward their plans for the campaign, while Conran Restaurants and Smith's of Smithfield, have voiced their support.

by Angela Frewin