The Batavia Chamber of Commerce is hoping Fox Valley residents will find a cure for cabin fever this winter through a new dining promotion it is calling Shiver by the River.
Beginning Feb. 15, a new free digital pass will allow visitors to participating Batavia restaurants, bars, cafes and coffee shops to “check-in,” which will allow the Chamber of Commerce to keep tabs on foot traffic to the establishments while offering participants a chance to win prizes.
The program will run through March 14.
Margaret Perreault, president and CEO of the Batavia Chamber of Commerce, described the new program “as a way of shaking things up.”
“We wanted to shake up our restaurant promotion and we felt like our Restaurant Madness promotion from previous years kind of had run its course and it was time to bring something new and fresh and technologically savvy to our community,” Perreault said. “What’s amazing about our new promotion – which is a reference to how it’s supposed to be cold – is that we partnered with a company that can provide a mobile pass for us.”
The program involves a mobile pass, not an app, so participants don’t have to download an app on their phone, according to officials. Participants register on the Chamber’s website and then save the pass to their phone’s home page.
Perreault said “what’s really beneficial is that each restaurant can now come up with its own promotion.”
“Previously, we had offered 20% off across the board but that didn’t really work well for some restaurants especially with their tiny profit margins,” she said of previous promotions in Batavia to entice people to dine in the city. “This way, they are able to highlight the specific items they would like to spotlight. This new program gave us the opportunity to do that.”
She said the mobile pass is easy to use.
“Each time you go to one of the participating restaurants, you can hit the button and check in and mention the promotion to the wait staff and they’ll give you the deal that specific place is offering,” she said. “The check-in portion lets the Chamber know how many people have checked in at which places throughout the month. We extended this to be a month-long promotion as opposed to a week-long restaurant thing knowing that people don’t go to more than one restaurant a day and this gives everyone more opportunity.”
Perreault said the Chamber of Commerce will give out prizes each week to participants as part of the program.
“We have $25 gift certificates, $40 and $50 gift certificates to the participating restaurants where we will choose winners and the final week will do a drawing and give out $200 in Chamber bucks,” she said. “Those are given and funded by the Chamber.”
More than 30 establishments will be taking part in the promotion, organizers said.
“We described the new promotion and the restaurants were super-excited about this new revamping of the program,” Perreault said.
In a press release from the Chamber of Commerce, it was noted that although the program doesn’t officially begin until Feb. 15, participants can sign up for the pass now at bataviachamber.org/shiver-by-the-river.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.