Promotional events catch restaurants' malaise

Restaurants’ financial struggles are spreading to dining-out promotional events.

News emerged yesterday of an involuntary bankruptcy filing for Taste of Minnesota, an annual food fair where restaurants set up booths to provide paying attendees with samples of menu specialties. More than 40 restaurants reportedly participated in the most recent festival, which was held over the July 4th weekend in Minneapolis.

Now comes word that the presenter of Texas’ Austin Restaurant Week is having financial problems as well. The local branch of the Business Journal newspaper chain said the fate of the weeklong promotion of local restaurants is now “uncertain.”

Those developments are in sharp contrast with the recent disclosure that California will hold a Restaurant Month next year as a complement to local week-long promotions.