Auckland’s Restaurant Month – Serving up the BIG little City with great success!

Auckland Restaurant Month has wrapped.  Held in August 2011, the inaugural event featured more than 60 participating restaurants in the central city, and raised awareness of the fantastic offering we have here in the central city. We couldn’t think of a better way to hunker down from the last of the winter chills, with delicious delights from across our city’s finest. 

And what a huge 3 weeks they were, of great eating and thousands of amateur Auckland foodies-turn-food-critics. After an outstanding 5,215 People’s Choice votes received during the course of the month, the winner of the 2011 BIG little City People’s Choice Restaurant Winner, was Ebisu. A new star in the city’s eating experience.

Other Auckland Restaurant Month Awards, voted by the public went to:

Best Experience - Ebisu

Best Food - Ebisu

Best Ambience – Bruschetteria

Best Service – O’Connell St Bistro

And it doesn't stop there. MarketView Limited were commissioned by HOTC to determine how consumer spending was impacted by the event (Marketview traced 10,000 customers that used BNZ credit cards to dine at the target restaurants between 28 July – 14 August 2011, and compared this to all Auckland restaurants. The results were outstanding.

….“Overall spending with the target restaurant list (Restaurant Month participants) increased by 44.9% over the same period as last year. There was a corresponding lift in transaction volumes and customer numbers (40.9% more cardholders spending during ARM). Spending at other restaurants in Auckland was up during the same period by only 3.4%. The increase in customer numbers brought people into town from throughout the region.

Auckland Restaurant Month was about drawing great attention to the city centre’s dining offer, during the quieter colder months of winter…but that’s no reason to stop enjoying the best of the central city now that the weather has turned warmer….there’s plenty going on to keep us entertained, and not least Rugby.

We can’t wait till Friday night’s opening event and the fun, great rugby and buzz that the tournament is sure to bring to the central city and the wider region. Get out there and enjoy it Auckland!