From Harford County government:
Harford County’s Restaurant Week was successful for the fourth straight year. Restaurateurs and patrons alike hailed the week as a big success, and are already looking forward to next year’s event. Sean and Michelle Wingate of Bel Air agree, since they won over $1,000 worth of local dining by participating in the Restaurant Week contest.
“We never thought we would win!” stated contest winner Sean Wingate. Mr. Wingate is a police officer with a state agency, and Mrs. Wingate works for the University of Maryland Medical System in Baltimore.
Over 2,000 contest cards were entered by patrons to win the Restaurant Week grand prize of $1,000 worth of dining gift cards donated by participating restaurants. This year there was also the option to enter the contest on the “Harford County, Love it!” facebook page. The winner was picked at random by Jim Richardson, Director of Economic Development. Tourism Manager Wini Roche and Mr. Richardson presented the prize at the Mountain Branch Grille & Pub in Joppa, which was also recognized for being the busiest restaurant during the promotion.
“We love Restaurant Week – it’s great for business!” commented Carol McCarthy, General Manager of Mountain Branch Golf Course Grille & Pub of Joppa. “The Restaurant Week promotion brought in a lot of new faces to our restaurant and many returned from last year. Our employees get very involved in the promotion. We hope to welcome everyone back throughout the year!”
Mountain Branch has won the contest the past three years. Ms. McCarthy said they ran a contest this year for the servers and whoever sold the most Restaurant Week dinners was given a cash prize. Rounding out the top five busiest restaurants during the week were Silver Spring Mining Company, Liberatore’s, MacGregor’s, and Main Street Tower.
During Restaurant Week, participating restaurants in Harford County offered special prix fixe menus for $20.13, plus beverage, taxes, and gratuity. Like last year, participating establishments reported a 10-15% increase in business during the promotion.
“We are very pleased with how well the promotion went this year,” said Wini Roche, Tourism Manager and Restaurant Week Coordinator. “Thanks to all who supported our local businesses!” For more information on dining out in Harford County or other ways to enjoy the summer, visit the Office of Tourism’s website at www.harfordmd.com.
There probably were 5,000+ entries. But the joke of a tourism dept in Harford county demanded that restaurants bring there entry tickets to bel air and drop them off. I know of 3 restaurants that had piles of filled out entry forms, and could not get them to the drop off point. I was sitting in one of the establishments when the tourism deptartment called them and told them they had one half hour to get the entries to Bel Air. The place was packed and the bartender laughed in frustration after he hung the phone up. Not every place is in Bel Air, or is frequented by Winnie (whom personally picked theirs up) or has the staff to leave the floor and drive twenty minutes to Bel Air.