Winter months are tough for Mesón Sabika, its owner says. In the winter, the restaurant — a 36-year fixture in downtown Naperville — cannot use its outdoor patio space. There are fewer weddings and parties. The holiday season is over, and people are watching their pennies and less inclined to v enture out when it’s cold. But in some ways, Restaurant Week is a celebratory event, Hossein Jamali says. For Mesón Sabika, the volume of business during Restaurant Week, which this year started Friday and runs through Feb. 8, tends to go up 20% to 30%, Jamali said. It’s not always enough to make a huge profit, but it does help them stay afloat financially during the slow months. “We are accustomed to not expecting to have a profit in January, February and March,” Jamali said, noting that the promotion helps reduce their losses by 2% to 3%. “The impact, I don’t want to say it’s minimal, but every penny counts, so it definitely helps to have Restaurant Week compared to not having it at all.” Local businesses participating in Restaurant Week, which started in 2014, offer discounts and special prix fixe menus as customer incentives. Not only does it bring in more patrons, it’s a good way for restaurants to introduce themselves to new clientele and showcase what they have to offer, owners say. The inside of Lennon's at 16 W. Jefferson Avenue on Aug. 8, 2025. Lennon's is one of the 61 restaurants participating in Naperville Restaurant Week. The Restaurant Week concept was introduced in New York City in July 1992, when restauranteurs Joe Baum and Tim Zagat came up with a special four-day event to attract people in town for that year’s Democratic National Convention by offering discounted or prix fixe lunches. “Frankly, we thought it would be a short-term money loser but have long-term PR benefit for New York and the restaurant industry,” Zagat wrote in The Atlantic magazine in 2010. Now, more than 30 years later, the event has become a widespread tradition in many cities across the country, and the “week” sometimes stretches beyond seven days. In Naperville, 61 restaurants will be offering deals for a two-week period. For those who seek out Restaurant Week promotions, what Naperville has to offer is attractive because it has one of the strongest food scenes in the suburbs. According to a 2025 report by Melaniphy and Associates, since 2017 the city has consistently ranked second only to Chicago in dining and drinking sales. “Restaurant Week has helped the city develop a food culture that makes us attractive for diners and restaurant operators,” said Monica Conners, president of the Naperville Development Partnership. Aidan Brynes serves a meal to Len and Bobbi Pawlowski in 2021 at Fiammé. Will Cullen, whose restaurant group owns Fiammé, said that the prix fixe menu and special discounts during Restaurant Week entice people in Naperville to dine at local businesses during the winter months, which is generally a slower period for the restaurant industry. (Naperville Sun file photo) Will Cullen, owner of the Empire Restaurant Group, said that one of the main appeals of Restaurant Week is the value that comes with the deals. “It’s not a huge revenue driver, but it’s better than not participating in it,” said Will Cullen, owner of Empire Restaurant Group. “And it gives people, local residents a reason to kind of stay local, spend money local and kind of keep supporting not only the businesses, but the employees there that are working downtown.” Empire Restaurant Group has participated in the event every year since being established nearly 10 years ago. In general, 10% of Restaurant Week customers have never dined at one of Empire’s businesses, which includes Fiammé, Empire Burgers + Brew and The George, Cullen said. “The risks are you’re making a little less on some of those items that you’re putting on your Restaurant Week (menu),” he said. “But the upside outweighs those risks of rising costs on some of that stuff because, again, you’re exposing (your business to) what could be new customers.” That’s the appeal as well for Jeff Chiang, owner of Wild Tuna Sushi and Grill. His restaurant, which has been in Naperville for 20 years, usually sees about a 20% dip in business during the winter months, he said. Last year was the first time his business participated in the promotion. Jeff Chiang, owner of Wild Tuna Sushi and Grill, decided to serve an omakase menu for the first time during Naperville Restaurant Week this year. (Steve Metsch/Naperville Sun) “We did see an uptick in business for sure,” Chiang said. “We had people wanting to try us and especially with (our) prix fixe deal last year, so I felt like it enticed people to come out.” While it was not huge, his restaurant did fill an extra five or six tables a night during event, he said. “The ultimate goal is to get repeat customers (and) we did see some people come back even after Restaurant Week, so that’s always a plus,” Chiang said. This year he’s trying something he’s never done before: an omakase menu. An omakase menu is one in which the chef chooses what is served rather than the patron selecting from a list or menu. It’s a way to showcase the depth of what his restaurant has to offer, Chiang said. Chef Luis Alvarez cooks in the kitchen at Lennon's on Aug. 23, 2025. (Lennon's) “We’re not just your boring, old sushi restaurant,” he said. “We can do some creative things too.” It was a daunting task at first because he was uncertain about what ingredients he wanted to use and whether diners would be interested in it, he said. “I don’t know any sushi restaurant in Naperville that does an omakase menu so we didn’t know how people would react. But it’s been pretty positive,” Chiang said, noting that as of Thursday afternoon, he had 15 bookings for it. For new restaurants, any sort of marketing or exposure is critical, and Restaurant Week is one way to help get the word out. “As a new restaurant, obviously we want to get as much exposure as we possibly can,” said Jeremy Stolberg, owner of Lennon’s, which opened in August. He’s excited to launch Lennon’s full-time lunch menu alongside the special prix fixe dinner and lunch options, he said. “We are opening now for lunch and decided to have that coincide with Restaurant Week because hopefully there’s a little bit more traffic,” Stolberg said. “Another reason for people to come out, another reason for people to come here.” [email protected] ...read more read less