Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 15, 2016 (SKNIS): Much like the St. Kitts Music Festival, Restaurant Week, which is being held from July 13 to 24, stimulates the economy while affording persons the opportunity to sample some of the unique and diverse dishes in the Federation provided by a number of restaurants and street vendors.
“Restaurant week is the promotion of local food on St. Kitts and Nevis and also the local dining scene and is taking place at several restaurants,” explained Kathleen Pessolano, Consultant to the Ministry of Tourism, adding that restaurants will range from the small street vendors up to the fine dining establishments. “The major themes are local sourcing, celebrating the delicious food and culture that make up the cuisine and also supporting those opportunities for citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis to go out and enjoy their own tourism product and to bridge those linkages between the local agricultural product to the economic development,” said Ms. Pessolano.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Carlene Henry-Morton supported Ms. Pessolano’s point that economic linkages arise during Restaurant Week.
“It’s not just about going to the restaurant, but the restaurant has to go to source the food, produce the ingredients from somewhere,” said Mrs. Morton. “So we have our farmers, we have our supermarkets, we have the persons who are going to deliver and more.”
The Permanent Secretary noted that Restaurant Week is taking place around the time when traditionally the tourist season is slow.
“It’s very much like Music Festival,” she said. “It’s a time when you want to stimulate the economy, you want people to still make a decent living. You want the restaurateurs, [and] the eating establishments to be able to keep a full staff so that persons can meet their commitments. It’s almost like a stimulus package. That is what Restaurant Week is all about.”
Mrs. Morton added that those linkages are very important, as the Ministry wants the restaurants and eating establishments to take this opportunity to promote and market themselves to gain exposure.
“Restaurant Week at this stage is heavily targeting a domestic type of market because it is just in its second year and we want our local people to understand that the restaurants are there for them as well,” said the Permanent Secretary. “It’s not only for the smaller restaurants where persons can hop over to for lunch, but for larger eating establishments. They can make it a social or family affair.”
Mrs. Morton added that, by having this, the public is made aware of new restaurants and the growing restaurant industry in St. Kitts and Nevis.
For persons who wish to take advantage of the week long deals, visit www.restaurantweek.kn to view the entire list of restaurants that are participating this year and their locations.
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