When the post-holiday doldrums hit, Marianne Kresevich relies on Baltimore Restaurant Week — and the three-course, $35 dinner menu she serves during it — to fill seats. The biannual event, which kicks off its winter version Friday, “brings in a bunch of cash flow at a time of year that would normally be very slow” at Verde, the Canton pizzeria she owns with her husband.

The promotion, during which restaurants offer discounted meals to diners, is hosted by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore and Visit Baltimore. Kresevich said that in the past, she was typically emailed by organizers several times in December about signing up for the event, which Verde pays more than $300 to join. But by early this year, Kresevich said she didn’t recall seeing an email from organizers even as the deadline for participating approached. “I was panicking a little bit,” she said.

While Kresevich eventually called Downtown Partnership and found the correct person to send Verde’s menu to, she and several other business owners say communication and promotion for the event dropped off at a time when they especially need the buzz.

Latoya Horton, co-owner of Bertha’s Soul Food Bar and Grill in Northeast Baltimore, said the rollout for this year’s event took longer than usual. “I was waiting for us to get some type of email,” she said. “It was a little slower this time.”

“We didn’t even get an email about signing up,“ said SoBo Cafe owner Anna Leventis, who added that advertising for the event seemed “minimal.” She’s planning on paying out of her own pocket to run ads on Facebook for SoBo Cafe’s restaurant week menu, which features three courses for $45. “It’s hard because this is just a slow time of year with everybody doing Dry January, on a diet, trying to work out,” she said.

When it started in 2006, Baltimore Restaurant Week was the first of its kind in the region, modeled after a similar event in New York City. It became a flagship event for Downtown Partnership, which manages the twice-a-year promotion with input from Visit Baltimore, and inspired imitators like Baltimore County Restaurant Week, which ends Sunday, and Howard County restaurant week, which runs through Feb. 2.

Particularly in the years following the uprising of 2015 and in the aftermath of COVID-19 restrictions, the events have helped draw customers from the surrounding counties to support the city’s eateries.

“Both of the restaurant weeks [in winter and summer] are pretty important to restaurant operators in the city,” said John Shields of Gertrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen. And while the cheaper meal options may not bring in much in the way of profits, the winter event in particular can bring crowds up to 50% higher than typical. “Plus I think it’s exciting for diners,” Shields said. Foodies travel from Washington, D.C., or Philadelphia to check out his restaurant, getting a hotel room to make a night of it.

But Shields said he struggled to get through to organizers as the event neared. The “about” page on the Baltimore Restaurant Week website, which notes “an extensive media relations and advertising campaign that cuts across print, electronic, and broadcast media,” still features registration for the summer 2024 Restaurant Week.

On Tuesday evening, three days before the start of winter Restaurant Week, fewer than 40 eateries were listed on the event’s website. More than 70 restaurants participated in winter of early 2023.

While organizers appear to still be updating the page, not all the businesses who signed up were listed. While restaurateur Jesse Sandlin registered for the event in December, paying the registration fee for all three of the eateries she co-owns, none of them were listed on the event’s website as of Tuesday evening. It was news to her. “That’s upsetting,” Sandlin said. “Restaurant Week’s usually huge for us.”

A spokeswoman for Visit Baltimore referred questions about Restaurant Week to Downtown Partnership. Shelonda Stokes, president of that organization, did not respond to a request for comment, but through PR agency Collins + Co., the nonprofit said that transitions within the organization had led to a “slower start” than usual.

The statement highlighted marketing efforts — including featuring Restaurant Week in a holiday guide distributed to local schools “via student backpacks” — that “have laid the groundwork for success.”

Downtown Partnership said their media plan “ramps up significantly leading into the launch on Friday … with a robust lineup of promotions” including media interviews, digital billboards, email campaigns, social media marketing and partnerships with local influencers.

Moving forward, the statement said, the nonprofit’s team will ask for feedback about how they can “enhance the campaign.”

“It’s obviously not a focus” for Downtown Partnership, said restaurateur Tony Foreman. “I would like to see more effort, frankly, as an operator, as a resident and taxpayer.”

Three of Foreman’s eateries, Cinghiale, Johnny’s and Petit Louis Bistro, participate in the event, which he sees as a chance to reach diners who might otherwise see his restaurants as financially out of reach. “I think its really important to say to people, ‘We want to be accessible to you,’” he said. “If you’re jaded about it, it’s not good for anybody.”

The lack of momentum around the promotion comes at a time when some Baltimore operators say they’re hurting for customers.

Marcel Benkharafa, who owns Twist in Fells Point, pointed to more than a dozen vacant eateries in the surrounding neighborhood, including a few spots that closed just in the first weeks of 2025. His spot will be participating in the event.

“It’s been a terrible month of January,” he said. “We’re trying to take advantage of everything.”