Even though this year’s Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District Restaurant Week had less participating eateries than past years, the Great Neck Plaza BID is still optimistic about the future of Great Neck’s economy.
“This is a great town and we can get it back on track,” BID Vice President Jay Corn said. “If we can get merchants to participate — get a group effort — we could be very successful.”
During this year’s restaurant week, which ran from May 3 to May 10, 13 restaurants participated – four less than in 2014, Corn said.
The restaurants, which included Bareburger, Era Asian Cuisine and Sake68 and Sushi, each offered a three-course tasting menu at a $27.95 fixed price.
The participating restaurants have yet to report to the BID how they thought restaurant week went.
Corn said he hopes the questionnaire the BID sent to the participating restaurants will shed some light on why there were fewer restaurants that took part in restaurant week.
“Hopefully we’ll get some good feedback and see some consistencies in the answers,” he said.
Corn said the challenge with restaurant week, or any of the other BID promotion, is getting merchants to participate.
“They have to meet us half way on these promotions,” he said. “We can advertise and bring people into town, but they have to be behind the promotions.”
Restaurant week began in the Plaza about 20 years ago, Corn said, but after a couple years the promotion decreased in popularity.
About 12 to 15 years ago, Corn said, former Poncho’s Border Grill owner Jeff Moss revived restaurant week.
“He was the motivating force behind it,” Corn said of Moss. “I rallied the troops.”
In 2012 though, Poncho’s closed its doors after 21 years in Great Neck.
In recent years, many restaurants and stores have also closed, leading to an increase in the number of vacant storefronts. Corn said a reduction in the number of restaurants also contributed to the lowered restaurant week participation.
“It’s difficult to promote vacancies,” Corn said. “The BID is doing everything it can to bring people into town.”
Corn said the BID has been trying to get a Great Neck restaurateur to join the BID to be a unifying force among Great Neck restaurants.
The BID, Corn said, is also asking merchants about a promotion in which stores and restaurants would stay open late on Thursday nights. He said the BID won’t promote it unless they can get the merchants to participate.
Despite the fact that two merchants suggested being open late Thursdays, Corn said, only one of them said they would be willing to be part of the promotion.
Corn said merchants can’t look at the Thursday night promotion as an isolated event — once the promotion gains momentum as weeks pass, more people will come to shop late on Thursdays.
“It takes time to get the word out, but we have to get them to participate,” Corn said of the downtown merchants.
