Over 75 venues took part in Liverpool Restaurant Week in April, organised by the Liverpool BID Company. Each venue created culinary and drink offers ranging from £5 to £35. Over 13,800 individual downloads of those offers were made from Liverpool Restaurant Week’s website, liverpoolrestaurantweek.com.
Food and drink is worth millions to the Liverpool city region economy. In the first three months of 2024, £76m was spent in Liverpool venues. In 2022, food and drink spend in Liverpool was £0.851bn. The average visitor spends £29.98 on food and drink when they come to the city.
It also contributed to footfall in the city centre. On Bold Street, which had 16 offers as part of Liverpool Restaurant Week, footfall rose by 19% compared with the same week last year. There were around an extra 50,000 visitors in the city centre.
For restaurants who took part, the week was a great success. 78% of local restaurants surveyed said they thought it had brought it extra business, with increases from the previous week reaching up to 40%.
Nedwah Abdo from Haute Dolci on Bold Street said: “Liverpool Restaurant Week was a huge success for us. We were able to showcase our exquisite menu from brunch, heavenly desserts and refreshing drinks at a low price. As we are newly opened this offer allowed a lot of new people to try out our menu for the first time and hopefully, they will become loyal customers. We are also looking at keeping a similar offer on for the next few months for the people who didn’t get a chance to visit us during Liverpool Restaurant Week.”
Becky Todd from Leaf agreed: “We were delighted to have taken part in Liverpool Restaurant Week. It was a brilliant way to showcase all of the delicious food and drink the city has to offer. We loved welcoming new faces and regulars into our venues to enjoy our deal and see what else we have to offer. We can’t wait for next year!
Emma Hocknell the BDM at Hawksmoor commented: “It was a no brainer for Hawksmoor to get involved with Liverpool Restaurant Week, it was a fantastic week of collaboration across the city for the hospitality scene. The amount of brilliant offers available meant the city was spoilt for choice with dining options. We loved showcasing Hawksmoor to hundreds of first time visitors and we would most definitely take part again.’
Bill Addy the CEO of Liverpool BID Company explained: “For us and for our levy payers, our work focuses on how we can give more value to the city centre, not just to businesses but visitors as well. The impact of Liverpool Restaurant Week shows that our ambition was met. We wanted to increase the profile of the food and drink offers in the city, to encourage more visits and for people to explore the city plate by plate, trying somewhere new. We will be bringing Liverpool Restaurant Week back as it has been so warmly received by venues and diners alike”.
Head of Marketing and Communications at Fat Hippo, Nick Fountain added: “It has been great working with the Liverpool BID team, their approach to the campaign has been brilliant with some wide coverage across the city. We have seen a great uplift in new customers visiting the restaurant, and we wouldn’t hesitate to sign up for next year.”
Co-Owner & Founder of Lunya, Peter Kinsella said: “We are delighted with the impact of the first Liverpool Restaurant Week. We saw a great impact from existing customers coming out and taking advantage of our great deals as well as seeing lots of new faces. Our deals right across the price range were very popular with 246 guests enjoying them.”
As the week gets more established over future years Liverpool BID Company hopes it will become eagerly anticipated and supported. It’s a superb way for restaurants to say thank you for the year round support from their customers as well as the people of Liverpool and beyond to show their love of local restaurants.
Liverpool Restaurant Week will return in Spring 2025, dates to be confirmed. To register your interest, you can get in touch with the Liverpool BID Company at marketing@liverpoolbidcompany.com
