Sudbury restaurateurs sharing food and expertise: association of locally owned restaurants working together.

AuthorMyers, Ella
PositionCONFERENCE & CONVENTION

A group of Sudbury restaurateurs are working past their natural culinary competitiveness and working together to protect their interests, and give back to the community.

In September 2014, P&M Kouzzina's owner, George Moutsatsos, was visiting a fellow restaurateur when they decided to do something about a common problem they'd been facing: "getting lost in the limelight of the big places."

"We wanted to create an association of independent, local restaurants, to shine our light about," said Leslie Moutsatsos, P&M's coowner.

"We have a lot of talent in this city, especially in the independent restaurant scene. Unfortunately, we seem to get overshadowed by big box businesses, so this is a way to show our community that we have much more. SHARE (Sudbury Hospitality Association of Restaurant Entrepreneurs) is also about building relationships with organizations and foundations by giving back to the community through fundraising events," said Mark Gregorini, member and owner of Ristorante Verdicchio.

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SHARE was officially launched in 2014 and has 11 members, from a whiskey bar to pizza joints.

Part of the not-for-profit association's mandate is to give back to the community. They launched Localicious to accomplish this. The biannual event has each restaurant feature a set price menu, with a portion of the proceeds going to the NEO Kids Foundation. Since they started, they've raised over $28,000 for the organization.

But Localicious has other goals as well.

"It's two or threefold," said Moutsatsos. "It brings awareness to us, it offers value to guests, and it gives back to the community."

Importantly, the event brings awareness to the restaurants during their down...

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