Community Corner
Economic Development Official Says 'Restaurant Week' Was a Success
ED Coordinator Alexander Sulpasso said he is waiting for responses to a questionnaire from participating restaurateurs to assess the promotional event.
East Haven Restaurant Week appears to have been a success, judging from the opinions of restaurateurs who participated.
Economic Development Coordinator Alexander Sulpasso told members of the Economic Development Commission Monday he is waiting for the restaurateurs to return a questionnaire he sent to them after the event earlier this month. But comments they made during the promotional week were encouraging, he said.
East Haven Restaurant Week took place Sept. 11-17, with nine full-service restaurants participating.
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The event was designed to promote dining out in East Haven, so fast food restaurants, corporate chain restaurants and Chinese takeout restaurants were not included.
"We were looking for a complete dining experience, similar to the New Haven Restaurant Week," Sulpasso said.
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Town officials were careful not to schedule it to conflict with New Haven’s, which took place in April, or any other similar event in Connecticut.
Fifteen restaurants were eligible, 11 signed up, but two had to drop out because of losses from Tropical Storm Irene, Sulpasso said.
Participants contributed $299 and two gift coupons. The town raffled off the coupons at its booth at the Fall Festival the Chamber of Commerce held Sept. 9-11 on the Green. Proceeds from the raffle and the contributions were used to advertise the participating local restaurants during Restaurant Week.
Following the event, Sulpasso said he sent out a questionnaire to the restaurants that participated, asking whether the owners thought it was a success, did it increase patronage, and was it worth the cost of their contribution.
Tropical Storm Irene definitely affected the Restaurant Week event. Sulpasso said any assessment of this year’s event must take that into consideration. Fortunately, such storms are rare events.
Overall, about 50 food service establishments in East Haven were affected by Irene, mostly by the power outage causing food spoilage, he said. Many other businesses also saw financial losses from the storm.
"We’re asking businesses that took a loss to document everything," Sulpasso said.
as the town’s part-time economic development official. One of his main jobs will be to match up businesses with vacant commercial properties .
He is also working on a Facebook page where East Haven businesses can post information about their goods and services.
