PEABODY — It may be getting colder outside, but Peabody Main Streets is doing what it can to keep outdoor diners eating at city restaurants.
Dine-Out Peabody, a month-long celebration of local fare, will be held from Oct. 1-31. The program, formerly Peabody Dine-In, a restaurant week event usually held in September in conjunction with the International Festival, offers diners discounts, special offers and other unique promotional deals on meals.
“Since the festival wasn’t happening and many restaurants are still struggling from managing through this whole COVID process, we decided to continue with restaurant week,” said Peabody Main Streets President Deanne Healey. “We know that as we are going into the colder months, outdoor dining may not be as popular as the weather changes, so we decided to push it from September to October and instead of doing it for a week or two, we would do it for the whole month to try to keep focus on supporting our local businesses and our restaurants.”
Restaurants have until Sept. 25 to sign up to participate. They can use a traditional restaurant week-type offer — a two- or three-course meal for $20.20 — offer a 20 percent discount or customize their own offers tailored to that restaurant’s offerings. From coffee shops to ice cream shops to ethnic foods, pizza, and fine dining, no matter what your craving, there’s bound to be something delicious for all.
“We have a very wide range of eateries in Peabody from quick fast food to high end dining, so we are giving the restaurants a flexible program,” Healey said. “The program is meant to attract people to try restaurants they may have never stepped foot. We all have our favorites, the ‘I always wanted to try that place type thing.’
“Sometimes all they need is a little incentive to try a new place, so that’s what we hope will happen.”
Brodie’s Pub owner Michael Votto said he will be offering a 20 percent discount on food purchases.
“That’s always worked best for us in past years,” Votto said. “We’re always happy to support anything that brings more people to downtown Peabody. We’ve been extremely busy the last two months, which have been my best July and August months ever. We wanted to be able to give people a break, kind of make them feel they were on vacation in Key West, so it’s been a blessing that people have supported us.”
About a dozen restaurants have already committed to participate, including Breaking Grounds Cafe on Main Street, which will be offering 20 percent off lattes. Edible Arrangements located at the By Y Plaza on Lowell Street plans to offer a gift box of a dozen dipped fruits for $20.20. A few doors down, Lupo’s is offering a three-course meal and drink for $20.20. At the North Shore Mall, Big Fin Poke’s will offer a third bowl for only $1 with the purchase of two bowls and fountain drinks through Nov. 31. Capone’s, Mr. G’s Pizza, Nothing Bundt Cakes, La Siesta and Granite Coast Brewing Company have also committed to participate.
Healey said that participating restaurants and their offers will be available online beginning sometime next week and that Peabody Main Streets will be posting a list of all participating restaurants online starting next week. Prospective diners will also be able to view special Peabody Access Telecommunications (PAT) on-site videos to learn about house specialties unique to each eatery.
Healey said already she is hoping people will not be deterred by falling temperatures.
“People might not want to eat outside if it’s going to be 40 degrees but I think that most mindsets are so different from a year ago when you might never have thought you would sit outside on a cold night and have a burger and beer,” she said. “But now people are so quarantine-fatigued, so we are hoping that people will still want to eat outside, even if it means bundling up a bit.”
Healey said some city restaurants are already thinking ahead to the colder weather and that Brodie’s and Champions Pub have heaters in place ready to go.
Anne Marie Tobin can be reached at [email protected].