Photo by Lexi Coon.
Mayor Stewart Welch, center, stands with some of the many Mountain Brook restaurant owners who will be encouraging the public to try the Restaurant Trail, which kicks off with the beginning of the new year.
Starting the first of the new year, the city officials will be introducing a new “challenge” to the people of Mountain Brook: a restaurant trail.
Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce Suzan Doidge said it’s similar to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Residents will be able to access a list of restaurants throughout the city and keep track of which ones they have visited, with the goal of eating at all of them.
“Because of my business background, what I wanted to do is to be part of helping promote … business within the city,” said Mayor Stewart Welch.
He created the idea when thinking about what he wanted to accomplish as mayor. While the restaurant trail idea was originally a personal challenge to help him branch out to different restaurants, he wanted to invite the public to join him, too.
“If people are anything like me … we have 40 something restaurants within our city limits, but there’s, like, half a dozen we go to all the time,” he said. “So this forces me to go and eat at every restaurant.”
People will be able to access more information and guidelines at the Chamber of Commerce, and as they complete the trail, they’re encouraged to post their meals for the night or a group photo to social media using the hashtag #i8mb.
Doidge said when she and Welch met with restaurant owners to discuss the idea, they were excited to be a part of the trail.
“They loved it,” Welch said.
“They do see the value [of the trail],” Doidge added.
As residents finish the trail, chamber project manager Molly Wallace said the chamber will check to see if they have completed by checking the #i8mb tags it and enter them into a drawing for Village Gold and “a whole lot of bragging rights.”
“Which I think becomes a great incentive for residents to, you know, [try] the restaurant trail challenge,” Welch said. “It’s a great win for them and a great win for the residents as well.”
Both he and Doidge agreed it’s a win for the community, too.
Sales tax is the city’s greatest source of income, second to property tax, and by encouraging residents to eat at restaurants within the city, tax dollars are staying within Mountain Brook.
“His [Welch’s] goal and mine as well is to keep tax revenue in our community,” Doidge said. “And you know as well as I do there are a million restaurants in Birmingham … For him to put this out there is driving home the message [to please eat in your community].”
People participating in the restaurant trail challenge will be required to complete the trail by the end of 2018 to be eligible for Village Gold, for a total of 48 restaurants.
“If you live here, even better because it’ll take a year to go to all of them,” Doidge said.
“The concept is to get people to try the different restaurants here and all across the city, and take it as something fun, something as a challenge and take it as a win,” Welch said.
