Denver Restaurant Week 2012 Offers Sneak Peek at Menus

DENVER, Jan. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --The eighth annual Denver Restaurant Week (DRW), presented by VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau, will be held Feb. 25 to March 9, 2012, with nearly 300 restaurants offering multi-course meals for the "Mile High" fixed-price of $52.80 for two, $26.40 for one, tax and tip not included.

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This year, for the first time, diners will be able to have a sneak peek of the menus being offered during DRW from Jan. 17-20 by going to VISIT DENVER's official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/visitdenver and clicking "Like". Once they click on the VISIT DENVER "Like" button, diners will see a tab on the page that contains all the menus, starting at 4 p.m. on January 17.  Anyone who already Likes VISIT DENVER on Facebook or does so before January 17 will be notified via Facebook when the menus go live.

The traditional www.DenverRestaurantWeek.com site with menus will go live at noon on Jan. 20, 2012 for everyone else.

People who sign up via Facebook will also have the advantage of receiving notices throughout DRW about new restaurants joining, menu changes and other specials. They will also receive information throughout the year on other Denver restaurant specials, as well as special deals on the arts, museums, attractions and fun city events. 

"One of the challenges in past Denver Restaurant Weeks was that we had no way of creating a conversation with all prospective diners during the event," states Justin Bresler, vice president of marketing for VISIT DENVER, the organization that presents DRW. "By having people sign up through Facebook, we will have a database of people who we can engage with throughout the event. For taking the time to sign up, we are rewarding potential diners by giving them a three day sneak peek look at the menus to help them make early reservations," Bresler said.

The immensely popular DRW saw more than 360,000 meals served in 2011. Diners viewed more than 8 million page views of menus at the www.DenverRestaurantWeek.com site.

"The fun of DRW is looking at the menus and trying to decide where to go," Bresler said. "This year, we're offering prospective diners three extra days of viewing the menus, simply by going to the VISIT DENVER Facebook page and clicking the 'Like' button. Menus will go live at noon on the 17th and will be exclusive on Facebook until noon on the 20th, when our main DRW site will go live," he said.

In addition to the regular DRW activity, diners will be encouraged to "Make a Night of It" with one of several hotel deals being offered on the DRW website beginning on Jan. 20, allowing locals and out-of-towners alike to experience more of what the Mile High City has to offer this winter.

DENVER RESTAURANT WEEK GOES SOCIAL, OFFERING "CHECK-INS" AND BADGES TO SPECIAL DINERS

What could be more fun than dining out with multi-course dinners at Denver's best restaurants for an incredible deal of $52.80 for two? Earning DRW "check-in" badges at the same time!

In 2012, Denver Restaurant Week (DRW) will offer fun badges of honor that diners can display on their Facebook walls, earned by first creating a "Must-Dine" list (live on the website on Jan. 20) and then by checking in throughout the two-week program. Badges will be awarded for various types of activity during DRW, and the most coveted badge of all will be "The 14er". This badge will go to people who dine out at participating DRW restaurants on all 14 nights of the event, Feb. 25 to March 9, 2012.

"We have heard of people who dined out on all 14 nights in previous Denver Restaurant Weeks, and we wanted to have a way of recognizing and honoring them," said Bresler. "The few, the brave and the obviously hungry foodies who tackle 14 restaurants in a row need to have something to acknowledge their accomplishment, and so we created 'The 14er," he said. To earn the badges, diners will have to check in while dining during DRW, either on the mobile version of the website or on the desktop version after they are done. 

The DRW badges that can be earned include:

• Eat Drink Denver: Easy! Just create a Denver Dining List on the Denver Restaurant Website, and this badge will be unleashed. 
• The First-Timer: This badge is given when the diner checks into their first restaurant during Denver Restaurant Week.  
• School Night: Everyone deserves a study break! Dining out on a weekday evening will earn this shiny badge.
• The Leap Year: This badge can only be unlocked every four years on February 29 (Leap Year), so diners should make reservations early to earn this beauty. 
• The 14er: The most coveted of all the badges, this one requires dedication, endurance and an insatiable appetite. Eat at a participating DRW restaurant every night during the 14-day event and this badge shall be bestowed upon the diner. (There may also be a few extra prizes thrown in there too, and a moment of glory with a profile on the DRW website following the event.)

About VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau
Celebrating more than 100 years of promoting the Mile High City, VISIT DENVER is a nonprofit trade association that contracts with the City of Denver to market Denver as a convention and leisure destination, increasing economic development in the city, creating jobs and generating taxes. A record 12.7 million visitors stayed overnight in Denver in 2010, generating $3 billion in spending, while supporting nearly 50,000 jobs, making Tourism the second largest industry in Denver. Learn more about Denver on the VISITDENVER website and at TOURISMPAYSDENVER, on Twitter @iknowdenver and the VISIT DENVER Facebook page, or by phone at 800 2 DENVER.

With press or photo inquiries, please contact:
Rich Grant - (303) 571-9450 or [email protected]
Debbie Park - (303) 571-9451 or [email protected]
Katie Adamson - (303) 571-9418 or [email protected]

SOURCE VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau