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Restaurant Month just keeps getting better

News story
Wednesday 26 Oct 2016

Restaurant Month 2016 provided a strong economic performance with both participating and total Heart of the City restaurants benefiting from the campaign this winter. Spend for 90 merchants was up 6% during August 2016 versus 2015 and the total Heart of the City spend was up 8%, whilst competitors saw a 3.6% increase.

Participating restaurants received an average transaction value of $63 whereas non-participants had an average transaction value of $18. In real terms the overall increase for Heart of the City represents $2.4m in growth and when we measure the whole campaign period from 1 July – 31 August year on year this increase represents a significant $6.8m in growth.

The success of the event and campaign is further supported by editorial coverage from media--‘unpaid’ promotion was worth a massive $1.5m.

Now in its sixth year, there is strong awareness of Restaurant Month with 72% of Aucklanders* having heard of the event and 77% of restaurants from 2015 returning to participate again in 2016.

Heart of the City is already into planning for 2017 which means our event managers will be knocking on your doors fairly soon after the new year! In the meantime, make the most of the impending busy Christmas trade.

*Neilsen post event research report 2016

Below: Restaurant Month's Chef Dining series gave diners a chance to get up close to celebrity chef and their culinary masterpieces.