Every time we see little glimmers of strength in the economy, we are bombarded with a piece of information that makes us question if the news holds true for the restaurant industry. With so many restaurants tweaking their menus and adding small plates for guests to share and help diners reduce the cash outlay, something still is amiss. The same goes for wines as so many restaurants have half-priced wine bottle nights and more restaurants are doing mini pours to encourage wine purchases rather than have guests skip the beverage all together. All these food and beverage promotions are in place for a reason: A financial one.

Most major cities have had a restaurant week promotion and a number of spots continued the concept well beyond a week. Yet before this time we have not had a two-month restaurant week promotion. The Palm announced a Restaurant Week menu (a starter and an entree that comes with at least one side for $39.95) until the end of May. That’s an impressive strategy that should heat up the restaurant wars a little.

So much attention of late has been focused on the mid-tier dining establishments, but now the big guys want to show their food stripes. This will be a major promotion that will prove inordinately successful or be a tell tale sign of limited strength in the industry. It will be worth watching to see how other competitors jump in for the challenge.

A little step forward and two back. We still need promotions and incentives.