Savor Sarasota promotes, highlights area’s culinary scene

A full-course meal with drinks for two at The Capital Grille can easily top $100 after tax and tip. For the next two weeks, residents and area visitors can get out the door with a $30 tab.

Sarasota’s restaurant week, Savor Sarasota, runs June 1 through June 14 and offers a chance for people to enjoy a multi-course lunch for $15 or dinner for $29. The promotion was started 11 years ago by Visit Sarasota County after staff noticed how low the area’s culinary scene fell on tourists’ list of desired experiences.

“Research showed poor perception of our dining scene in the area,” Visit Sarasota president Virginia Haley said at the Savor Sarasota kickoff event. “Now we have totally changed that perception.”

To be included in Savor Sarasota and other year-round promotions offered by Visit Sarasota, restaurants are required to be partner members and pay a $475 annual fee. All are required to offer a fixed-price $29 dinner menu and can choose if they want to participate in the $15 lunch deal.

Culinary tourism has grown significantly over the last decade; in 2012, the U.S. Travel Association found tourists spent the most money on food service.

Haley knows one local couple who treats restaurant week “like a cruise.”

“They don’t eat at home for an entire two weeks,” she said.

Magnet for locals

That’s the idea with restaurant week: to drive locals and summertime visitors to restaurants they may not have a chance to visit during Florida’s busy tourist season. Some restaurants extend the promotion or offer other deals to sustain nonseasonal traffic past the two-week period.

Amore by Andrea on Longboat Key, 555 Bay Isles Parkway, opened for business in November 2014. General manager Tito Vitorino said the authentic Italian restaurant, complete with an underground wine cellar, participated last year. They saw positive results, leading them to sign up again this year.

“Last year we did it through the entire month of June, and we’re going to do the same this year,” Vitorino said. “Locals look for great quality and great value.” Longboat Key has a wealthy population, Vitorino said, but they look for the type of deals offered during restaurant week. Typically a three-course meal at Amore by Andrea costs about $40.

“They know numbers and they know the value of food,” he said. “And they don’t want to feel like just because they have money they’re being taken advantage of.”

Savor Sarasota deals also bring in different sectors of the local culinary customer base.

“It’s an easy and pleasant way to introduce ourselves to guests who did not otherwise come and visit,” he said. “Some of these restaurants are very pricey, but now people can try them.”

Much of the Amore by Andrea’s summer crowd is fueled by cooped-up residents who don’t dine out often during tourist season for fear of long waits or slow service. But even with the influx of locals, Amore by Andrea’s business still drops off by about 60 percent during the summer. The significant decrease in traffic spurred the restaurant to offer daily deals during the summer.

Amore by Andrea is one of Italian-born chef Andrea Bozzolo’s two area restaurants; the other is Andrea’s, 2085 Siesta Dr. #1, Sarasota. Both restaurants are only open for dinner; both are participating in Savor Sarasota this year.

The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau tried a similar event called Culinaria two years ago. Kelly Clark, the bureau’s communications director, said they didn’t have the manpower to make it as successful as Savor Sarasota has become.

“We tried to do it like Sarasota does, at a time when there’s not high traffic and to try to promote restaurants during the slow months,” Clark said. “But it was difficult for our small staff to work together with area restaurants.”

The bureau’s executive director, Elliott Falcione, believes the organization functions better by providing support with a hands-off approach.

“Based on our organization’s structure, we’re more effective to sponsor and promote awareness of events, not facilitate,” Falcione said. “But it’s obvious the No. 1 interest of our visitor is food. People look to come here and enjoy restaurants.” The bureau has sponsored other culinary tourism events throughout the year, including the Gulf Coast Rhythm & Ribfest, Food and Wine on Pine, the DeSoto Heritage Festival Seafood Fest and Pickin’ Picnic.

Trying it out

Manatee County eatery Captain Brian’s Seafood Restaurant and Market, 8421 N. Tamiami Trail, didn’t participate in Savor Sarasota last year, and owner Brian Bochan felt the pinch in his pocketbook.

“During the two weeks of Savor Sarasota, it (business) drops,” Bochan said. “And then during the second week in June it picks up.” This year he’s already had customer calls asking if he’ll participate in Savor Sarasota, indicating his choice to opt in was the right one.

Bochan has a uniquely competitive advantage over other area restaurants; when the dine-in traffic slows during holidays and the summer, patronage on the fresh-caught fish market side of Captain Brian’s will often make up for the lost profit. Captain Brian’s offers a lobster meal deal throughout the summer to sustain the dine-in customer flow, and he finds the business doesn’t drop off enough for him to cut staff during the off season.

Still, he’s looking forward to the “cheap advertising” offered by restaurant week.

“It helps people remember we are here,” the owner of 34 years said.

For Savor Sarasota menus, visit the event page.

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Savor Sarasota promotes, highlights area’s culinary scene."