Downtown restaurants look to recoup G8/G20 losses with special menus

In a response to losing more than half of her restaurant’s revenue due to the G20 last weekend, Church Street’s Wine Bar co-owner Mary McGugan has initiated G-Ate, a campaign meant to encourage customers to eat downtown again after the G8/G20 summit. “It’s pretty devastating,” McGugan tells us. “This is our high season, [and the G20 summit] has gutted a week out of that when we’re still paying rent downtown. I immediately thought this was not just us—having come from Joy Bistro, which was very community oriented—that if we put out this promotion, we should ask others to join us.”

McGugan has enlisted help from Gregory Hewitt to get the ball rolling, and they are encouraging other restaurateurs from downtown and Huntsville to join the initiative through Twitter and Facebook. To inspire patrons to come out, the Wine Bar is offering three courses from its regular menu for $25. Since the invitation has just been announced, a list of other participating restaurants has yet to be confirmed.

This promotion will run until July 15. Check with the restaurant for operating hours.