A new, multi-organizational initiative is aiming to soften the blow to local restaurants brought about by the Big Mac Bridge closure as well as the predicable slow season that often occurs in late winter. Called DineNKY, the initiative will run from Jan. 21 to Feb. 14, and participants can enter to win prizes by patronizing local restaurants.
“Winter is always a tough time for restaurants, and Tuesdays can be especially challenging,” said Emily Badger, general manager of Covington restaurant Lisse Steakhuis, in a press release. “People tend to spend more during the holidays, which leads to them cutting back in January and February. The cold weather doesn’t help either. This year, we’re feeling the impact in Northern Kentucky more with people’s routes from the north impacted due to the bridge closure.”
The initiative is the brain-child of several business advocacy groups in the region, including the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, meetNKY (the region’s tourism bureau) and the local business councils of several of the river cities, including Covington, Fort Thomas and Newport, among others.
“So the idea is to patronize your favorite restaurant on Tuesday, starting this Tuesday all the way through mid February,” said Covington Business Council Executive Director Pat Frew at a meeting of the Kenton County Mayors Group on Saturday. “That’s one of the leanest seasons for our restaurants and bars.”
From Jan. 21 through Feb. 14, participants can take part in the program by dining out or ordering drinks at a locally-owned bar or restaurant. Then, customers must snap a photo or record a short video of their visit, tag the establishment and share it on Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #DineNKY.
Participants will then be entered into a weekly random drawing for a chance to win a $50 gift card to a Northern Kentucky bar or restaurant. At the conclusion of the campaign, participants will also be entered into a grand prize drawing for $300 worth of gift cards to a variety of local bars and restaurants in the region.
The end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 have proved to be a tough time for Northern Kentucky restaurants, with several notable local eateries like Opal and Rich’s Proper closing permanently.
“I see every day a restaurant pleading for help,” said Erlanger Mayor Jessica Fette at the mayors group meeting. Fette herself is the owner of Erlanger restaurant The Hive.
To be fair, in spite of the concerns, it’s not all doom and gloom. Covington Mayor Ron Washington pointed out that, even though two major restaurants have closed in Covington, two more have opened up.
“We did have two high profile restaurants closing, but we also had two restaurants open with West Sixth Street Brewing in the old Covington Haus building on 6th and Washington and also Galaxie in the 800 block of Madison,” Washington told the mayors group. “And why these two places are significant is both of these restaurants are founded in Lexington and Louisville. So, those entrepreneurs still found Covington to be a rich environment to do business.”
Still, the restaurant business can be unpredictable and with construction for the Brent Spence project on the horizon, the stress on local restaurants is likely to continue, said Tami Wilson, the NKY Chambers’ vice president of public affairs, at Saturday’s meeting. Wilson encouraged the officials in attendance to persuade their constituents to support local restaurants during the downturn.
“We’re doing this because we’ve known that they’ve been struggling,” Wilson said. “Once the Brent Spence Corridor Project really gets rolling, we know that especially our river city restaurants are going to be challenged with that.”
Frew encouraged people to dine out when they could, even if it wasn’t on Tuesday when business tends to be slow.
“If Tuesdays are not a good day for you, go another day,” Frew said.
You can learn more about the region’s dine out options by consulting meetNKY’s dedicated webpage. You can also keep up with all of the region’s dining news by following LINK nky’s culture and restaurant pages.
