The annual Restaurant Weeks programme is set to boost the trade — at a time when restaurants struggle to fill tables in the wake of the festive season.

Philip Barnett, head of the Island Restaurant Group chain and also industry spokesman on the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, said: “It’s become a very popular event.

“In the restaurant business and bar business, January and February are usually the worst months of the year.”

Restaurant Weeks, organised by the Bermuda Tourism Authority, will see a range of restaurants offer special deals over a three-week period — with lunch being added to dinner for the first time this year.

Mr Barnett said: “It’s a great promotion for the BTA to put on because it shows value to our tourists when they’re coming in on the shoulder season period, so they’re getting much more bang for their buck.

Restaurant Weeks, to be launched next Thursday and will run to Friday, February 3, includes 50 restaurants across the island, up on the number of participants last year.

Two course lunch menus, priced at $22, will be available and available at 15 local restaurants.

Three-course dinner menus, priced in three bands of $32, $42 and $52, are also available.

“I personally love Bermuda in the winter compared to somewhere on the upper east coast of the US where they have snow on the ground,” said Mr Barnett.

He added that everybody who participates in Restaurant Weeks has business boosted. “It creates a good vibe among tourists and residents take part in it too.”

IRG includes the Frog & Onion in Dockyard, the Hog Penny and Pickled Onion, both Hamilton, who will be offering the $32 dinner menu.

The firm’s Victoria Grill is at the $42 mark, while it’s upmarket Barracuda Grill will do dinner for $52.

Emilio Barbieri, a veteran of the industry who runs Little Venice restaurant and wine bar in Hamilton’s Bermudiana Road, part of the Dining Bermuda/Little Venice Group, backed Mr Barnett.

Mr Barbieri said: “Generally, it creates quite an interest because people come up with different dishes. It’s an important event — it does create interest among tourists as well.

“We always pull out a special price so that tourists and locals will want to take advantage of it.”

Mr Barbieri added that the event helped bring visitors in through the doors of Little Venice, which gets much of its custom from the island’s international business sector.

He said: “Bermudiana Road is the Wall Street of Bermuda so we get a lot of business people coming in.”

Mr Barbieri added that Little Venice, in a nod to health consciousness, was also considering offering a two-course dinner option to the promotion.

He said: “We have to come up with new ideas all the time. The event does create interest and it’s an excellent offer. Because of the holidays, people have a tendency to eat less and go out less.”

The group’s La Trattoria and L’Oriental in Hamilton are to offer both the $22 lunch and $42 dinner options, while Sul Verde at Rosewood Tucker’s Point will offer the $42 dinner.

Little Venice, Harbourfront at the BUEI, Blu Bar & Grill in Warwick, The Point at Tucker’s Point, Fourways in Paget and Cafe Lido at Elbow Beach will do the $52 dinner menu.

Pat Phillip-Fairn, BTA chief product and experiences development officer, said: “We’re adding lunch, which brings additional small businesses into the promotion and gives consumers a lower price point.

“Simultaneously, we slightly increased the price points on dinner menus, which is welcome news for establishments that have been Restaurant Weeks participants since the beginning, battling rising costs year after year.”

The BTA will also continue its People’s Choice Award, which allows diners to vote for the restaurant they feel makes best use of island food culture in their menus.

Muse, on Hamilton’s Front Street, won the public vote in 2015 and 2016 and the restaurant confirmed the event was a good marketing tool and helped drive customers through its doors.

A total of 32 restaurants will offer Bermuda-themed menus, making them eligible for the public vote.

Ms Phillip-Fairn said: “We are very proud of the way visitors and locals respond to Restaurant Weeks every year and now, with these exciting additions, we hope 2017 will be the best year yet.”