Florence, AL – May 20 - Florence Main Street will announce the winning charity from their Restaurant Week promotion at 10am Thursday, May 22. The live press conference will take place at McDaniel Window & Door Company headquarters, 300 E. Tennessee St, Florence AL. The winning charity will receive a $5,000 check from Restaurant Week Presenting Sponsor McDaniel Window & Door Company followed by light refreshments. Restaurant Week would not have been possible without the generous support from our sponsors McDaniel Window & Door Co., Specs Downtown and Integrated Corporate Solutions, along with assistance from Florence Lauderdale Tourism and the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa.
Restaurant Week, held May 9 – 17, was a promotion to showcase the excellent independently owned and operated dining options available in downtown Florence and nearby. Fifteen restaurants participated in the Florence Restaurant Week promotion. To add an extra incentive to dine in the participating restaurants, local charities were nominated to be included on a ballot, where diners could vote for them to receive a $5000 check. “Most of the feedback we’ve received from the restaurants has been positive” said Teryl Shields, Florence Main Street Executive Director. “The only concern expressed was the anticipation of crowds for Restaurant Week on top of the known crowds for visitors for UNA’s graduation and Mother’s Day. Other than that, most of them seem pretty happy with the week. I’ve been told they’ve seen some good traffic.”A promotion of area restaurants was run previously by the Florence Lauderdale Tourism Board but their focus was more aimed toward getting out of town visitors to come into Florence. Florence Main Street’s Restaurant Week was all about getting local citizens that might not have tried the dining options in downtown, to see what all the excitement is about. “Kind of like a prophet isn’t recognized in his own town, we want our locals to be proud of what an amazing food scene we have here in Florence, said Shields. Our out of town guests are always amazed at our restaurants, their variety of cuisine and the number of our options. Florence Restaurant Week was a way of showcasing our great food to folks in our area”.While the primary effort was attracting local diners, Main Street Event Coordinator, Christina Dorough wanted to make sure folks from all over knew about Florence and our culinary treasures, so she researched regional food bloggers and invited several to visit during Restaurant Week along with inviting local bloggers and writers to share their dining experiences also. “We invited food bloggers from Urbanspoon with highly rated blogs in the Southeast. Taking into consideration of specific writing styles, age, and experience, we narrowed them down to Grant Goggans of Marie Let's Eat from Atlanta, GA and Lauren Widelitz of Old Red Boots from Nashville, TN. They seemed very impressed with all we had to offer and Grant even commented that if one of our restaurants was in Atlanta ‘folks wouldn’t’ shut up about it’. We look forward to reading all of their reviews”.Florence Restaurant Week participating restaurants included Sperry’s Restaurant, The Pie Factory, City Hardware, Ricatoni’s Italian Grill, Rosie’s Mexican Cantina, The Chicago Café, Legends Steakhouse, Rivertown Coffee Company, Bookmarks Coffee Shop, Montagu’s Sandwich Shop, Frostbite Frozen Treats, Sweet Basil Café, Poplar South Deli & Grille, FloBama Music Hall and the Dish Gourmet Café & Catering.Charities eligible for the top prize include Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, Pets Are Worth Saving (PAWS), Scope 310, Hearts of Alabama: Save, Rescue, Adopt (HASRA), and Safeplace Inc.More information about the nominated charities and food reviews blogs can be found at eatoutflorence.com. For more information contact Florence Main Street at 256.760.9648.