Sarasota Restaurants Promote Website with Discount Dining

CAP Creative
741 B Central Avenue
Sarasota, Florida 34236
(941) 953-9191

CONTACT:
Roxanne Joffe
E-mail: rjoffe@capcreative.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

$30,000 RESTAURANT DINING CERTIFICATE SALE
Originals Launch Site with Massive 40% Discount Dining Sale

Sarasota, FL- Imagine going out to your favorite restaurant, enjoying a perfect dinner with a great bottle of wine, and know that you're only going have to pay for sixty percent of the check. It sounds like a dream, but it will be reality for some savvy web users.

Michael Klauber, president of the Sarasota-Manatee Originals and co-proprietor of Michael's On East restaurant, announced that the Originals are launching their new website with a remarkable online only Dining Certificate sale. "We want people to visit our new website," said Klauber. "And we think giving people the opportunity to enjoy their favorite restaurants at forty percent less than they'd normally pay would give them plenty of incentive to check it out!"

The 55 independent restaurants that comprise the Sarasota-Manatee Originals are all offering either $50 or $25 Dining Certificates. "Whether people use the Certificates as gifts or they just want to save a bundle on their own evenings out, they get an incredible deal," Klauber added. The Gift Certificates will be sold for $30 and $15 respectively. He said the sale will begin this Thursday, October 20th and run until the last Gift Certificate is sold.

For a look at the Sarasota-Manatee Originals fresh new site and have the opportunity to pick up forty percent off Dining Certificates next Thursday, visit www.FreshOriginals.com.

About the Sarasota-Manatee Originals

The Sarasota-Manatee Originals came into being in September 2003 as a way to celebrate and maintain the heritage and flavors of the independently owned restaurants in the Sarasota region. The upsurge in population growth on Florida's Gulf Coast attracted the notice of legions of chain restaurants that became determined to grab their slice of the burgeoning dining out trade. With no deference to local culture and a blind eye to regional cuisine, the chain's number one priority remained the expansion of their bottom line. Recognizing the economic threat this posed and cognizant of the chain's deep-pocketed marketing departments, a handful of independent Sarasota restaurateurs decided to organize and work together to protect the heritage flavors of the Sun Coast.

The Sarasota-Manatee Originals were born to become Florida's first local chapter of the Council of Independent Restaurants of America (CIRA). CIRA has chapters in 16 other cities and works tirelessly to preserve a deeply rooted sense of place with commitment to offering the best of local products and indigenous cuisine.

Nowhere is this sense of independence more important than the Sarasota region. Within a twenty-mile radius of downtown Sarasota, there are more Florida Trend Award and Zagat top-scoring restaurants than any other area of the state and every one of this acclaimed coterie is independently owned.

The main goals of the Sarasota-Manatee Originals are:

> Increase the awareness level of local residents and visitors about the location and quality of member restaurants
> Bolster public awareness of the significant social, economic and charitable contributions the Sarasota-Manatee Originals make to the surrounding community
> Educate restaurant goers about the differences between chains and independents
> Improve the economic viability of independent restaurants by combining buying power to obtain pricing levels compatible to those available to national chains

The Originals have roots in the Sarasota region—-many delighting locals and visitors for twenty to thirty years—-and have established a culinary heritage that simply can't be replicated in the corporate kitchens of Chicago, Los Angeles, or Dallas.

The Sarasota-Manatees Originals have quickly grown from the few nascent visionaries to a 50+ restaurant stronghold. For more information and a list of member restaurants with links to their websites, please visit www.FreshOriginals.com.