NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville Restaurant Week kicks off Monday. Here’s what local foodies can look forward to this year.
Every January, several locally-owned restaurants offer special deals and unique dishes just for this week.
The idea is to keep people eating at locally owned bars and restaurants, not at large chains.
"There's so many chain restaurants. So, people start getting in the habit of doing that. So, this way you kind of get out, you can try out all of this great food prepared by all of these chefs that have started the original restaurants," said Carol Quinn, manager of Germantown Cafe.
Around 35 restaurants are participating this year. Click here to see menus for each restaurant.
This year’s restaurant week wraps up on January 27.
Experts we talked with say restaurant week is a boon for local business owners.
According to the principle broker of National Restaurant Properties, Todd McGlamery, restaurants are a difficult venture.
"It's a competitive business. And it's one of the most hardest businesses to go into compared to maybe a banking job and an office job, where most people will go in from either 9 to 5, where a restaurant and bar business is almost 365 days a year, 7 days a week and it just doesn't stop," said McGlamery.
Recent closures of restaurants or bars are just part of a cycle McGlamery said. However, for the restaurants that do survive, they can benefit from Restaurant Week.
