Kansas City Restaurant Week sales off to cold start

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Restaurant Week, a 10-day event, kicked off Friday, but some local businesses said sales have been off to a slow start.

“With the temps being so low and us getting all of these different waves of snow, I think that’s kind of deterred people from coming out,” said The Combine owner Alan Kneeland.

Kneeland is also the president of the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association, the group responsible for organizing Restaurant Week.

“We have 10 days, a whole other week, a whole other 7 days to come out and support local restaurants,” Kneeland said.

RELATED | Restaurant Week supports good food, giving back in Kansas City

In the Brookside neighborhood, managers at Michael Forbes Bar & Grill said their customer base is down 25-30% compared to KCRW years past.

“Hopefully it will warm up and people will get out and brave the cold. We’d definitely love to see people,” said manager Jeremy Smith. “We’ve got a lot of comfort food.”

Regular customer Mark Smith said there are no excuses to skip out on a good meal.

“60,000 people can go sit in the cold at a Chiefs game, [so] you can come out for breakfast,” Smith said.

Restaurant Week continues through Sunday, Jan. 21. You can find participating restaurants HERE.

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