MEDIA RELEASE

Monday 24 September 2012

Huge successes around town for Auckland Restaurant Month 2012

BIG little City and American Express® kept Aucklanders and visitors alike very busy in August with the incredible array of culinary delights on offer, in celebration of Auckland Restaurant Month. The winter months are often synonymous with turning many into hibernation mode, yet this wasn’t the case for thousands of diners who indulged in the abundance of special menus and events on offer from participating restaurants throughout the month of August.

Managed by Heart of the City and delivered by the Brand Events & Festivals (Taste of Auckland) team, Auckland Restaurant Month delivered an overall 14.1% increase in customer spending at participating restaurants for August 2012 in comparison to last August’s results, and a 5.2% increase for total CBD restaurant spending year on year. This increase was achieved despite the bumper period in 2011 with extra visitors in the central city for the Rugby World Cup.

With 110 participating restaurants on-board, the event also brought new and old visitors into the CBD to wine and dine. Research showed a 23% increase in non-regular restaurant goers at participating restaurants, many of whom came in multiple times. The success of the program has been endorsed by the restaurants involved with 97% indicating that they would participate again.

To top off the success story, Heart of the City is also delighted to announce Peter Prema of Mount Roskill as the Auckland Restaurant Month winner of $9,000 worth of meals from the participating central city restaurants and $1,000 worth of Auckland Co-op Taxi vouchers. With over 3400 entries to this competition the event has further demonstrated the popularity of the month-long showcase of dining in Auckland’s BIG little City.

Watch the biglittlecity.co.nz space, as the Auckland Restaurant Month winner Peter Prema dines his way around town over the next twelve months.

ENDS

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