Popular Sarasota restaurant week hits milestone, extends to 20 days

More than two decades ago, several prominent Sarasota-area restaurateurs came to Visit Sarasota County with a request: Create a restaurant week for the destination, where eateries of varied price points offer fixed-price choices, in addition to the regular menu. Some big cities were already doing them, but the concept hadn’t become as widespread in Florida and midsize communities as it is today.

Visit Sarasota County was on board. It began creating sign-up forms for restaurants to participate. This was, after all, still in the early days of email and Internet use. “The biggest way we signed people up was by driving to locations or picking up the telephone,” says Erin Duggan, who was on staff at Visit Sarasota County at the time and is now president and CEO.