{"id":2231,"date":"2014-09-10T11:50:35","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T15:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/?page_id=2231"},"modified":"2014-09-10T12:49:05","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T16:49:05","slug":"2231-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/our-off-campus-reporting\/2231-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Spice offers diners discounted lunches, dinners in top local restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted September 10, 2014<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By GABRIELLA CANAL<\/p>\n

With humidity steadily rising and everyone going back to school, Miami Spice Week has come back just in time to feed your desire to get out to eat.<\/p>\n

This promotion created to showcase only the best of Miami\u2019s cuisine is, in fact, not just one week long. With offers running until Sept. 30, The Greater Miami Convention and Visitor Bureau (GMCVB) has organized 175 restaurants in the Miami district to price-set their menus. Each of the restaurants participating in Miami Spice will include their own signature appetizer, entr\u00e9e and dessert, offering an average discount of 40-50 percent off the regular value.<\/p>\n

Founded 13 years ago, Miami Spice started as a way to bring in local customers to Miami restaurants after the 9\/11 tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was modeled after New York\u2019s Restaurant Week, which started in 1992,\u201d said Rolando Aedo, senior vice president of marketing and tourism at GMCVB.<\/p>\n

The whole promotion is aimed at stimulating demand during South Florida\u2019s slower fall tourism period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were looking for different, creative ways to kick-start the economy. Doing restaurant promotions isn\u2019t unique, many other communities have done it. The difference is we originally made ours a month long. Now after 13 years, it\u2019s become two months,\u201d said Aedo.<\/p>\n

And no one is complaining. These restaurants are typically two, three and four dollar-signs worthy on Yelp. The GMCVB reviews each restaurants\u2019 menus and determines the average price.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis way,\u201d Aedo said, \u201cwe set the price so that the consumer is getting a tremendous value.\u201d<\/p>\n

These linen-laid and fine-dining restaurants also gain from no longer appearing so intimidating and creating loyal customers.<\/p>\n

Donatela Vacca, a senior studying journalism at the University of Miami, was eating at Jaguar, a Latin American-themed restaurant in Miami\u2019s glamorous Coconut Grove, with her mother when she learned about Miami Spice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always heard good things about Jaguar and wanted to try it out. The Miami Spice menu they offer is really economically-friendly,” she said.<\/p>\n

Carlos Reyes has been working as a shift leader at Jaguar for five years now and for the three or four years that the restaurant has participated in Miami Spice, he has noticed that the excitement of offering new options has brought in more customers.<\/p>\n

Vacca and her mother were excited to try the snapper \u201ca lo macho<\/em>,\u201d which is usually served as swordfish \u201ca lo macho<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reyes notes that \u201cthe customer usually ends up asking something like: \u2018But does this promotion serve less food?\u2019 To which we tell them it\u2019s the same portion. And what could make them happier?\u201d<\/p>\n

Every year, the GMCVB does a recap of the program and asks the restaurants to provide them with their sales data.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, approximately 150,000 Miami Spice meals were served,\u201d said Aedo, \u201csome would serve lunch and dinner, some would serve either or.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Jaguar, usually 15 to 20 Miami Spice courses are served for lunch and 15 to 30 for dinner in one day. Reyes has noticed an overall increase in revenue from lunch alone.<\/p>\n

Ronald Sheffield, Jaguar\u2019s bartender, noticed that \u201cthe majority of the customers who have come in and known about the promotion are tourists.\u201d<\/p>\n

GMCVB, the organization that put the program together, is focused on tourists. However, programs like Miami Spice is a program for locals to enjoy as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the better educated locals become in Miami experiences, the more they\u2019ll become ambassadors to their friends, family and relatives,\u201d Aedo said.<\/p>\n

The options that are offered serve all palates.<\/p>\n

With 25 new restaurants in this dynamic program and an already extensive cuisine, Miami Spice has made chefs celebrities and turned Miami into a certain cache.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestaurant business a tough business. Some close, some open, but there are always fresh, new options. Our guiding principle for the restaurants that participate in Miami Spice is that they showcase the finest and best that Miami has to offer,\u201d said Aedo.<\/p>\n

For a list of restaurant options, visit http:\/\/www.miamiandbeaches.com\/special-offers\/monthly-deals\/miami-spice-month<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted September 10, 2014 By GABRIELLA CANAL With humidity steadily rising and everyone going back to school, Miami Spice Week has come back just in time to feed your desire to get out to eat. This promotion created to showcase … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":131,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2231","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2231"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2236,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2231\/revisions\/2236"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}