The ICT Restaurant Week Pass: Raising $41K and Feeding Thousands

The Goal

ICT Restaurant Week had a clear mission: to raise funds for the Kansas Food Bank, while celebrating Wichita’s local food scene.

“At a time when 1 in 7 neighbors in Wichita are food insecure, and 1 in 5 kids are hungry, the campaign promises hope & relief for thousands.”

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The Event

The event helped to foster inclusivity and increasing community engagement – encouraging diners to participate across 24 diverse restaurants and 45 different locations, who all have a passion for feeding people.

Each participating restaurant was able to decide how they wanted to participate – Kansas Food Bank explained, “some featured a specialty menu item that prompted a donation to the Kansas Food Bank, some restaurants invited customers to donate at the register or round-up their change to the nearest dollar, and some restaurants donated a set percentage of their sales during ICT Restaurant Week.”

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The Pass

To achieve their goals, the Kansas Food Bank partnered with Bandwango to create a digital Check-In Challenge Pass for ICT Restaurant Week.

The gamified pass allowed users to visit participating restaurants and check in to earn points. Points could then be redeemed for a choice between 30+ prizes: Dinner for Two at FioRito Ristorante, a 1,000 point Dillons voucher, gift cards, and exclusive swag, just to name a few.

Kansas Food Bank also utilized one of Bandwango’s new features: they showcased QR codes on table tents at each participating restaurant, which would direct the scanner right to the passport signup page.

The Bandwango platform also empowered the Kansas Food Bank to track participation metrics in real time, offering valuable insights to both the organizers and participating restaurants.

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The Marketing

ICT Restaurant Week employed a comprehensive marketing strategy that drove significant engagement and awareness, featuring the event on multiple channels:

• Billboard Advertising: A LAMAR campaign delivered impactful messaging, achieving an impressive 4.7 million impressions.
• Radio Promotions: Over 800 ads aired across 10 stations, complemented by on-air mentions that amplified the event’s presence.
• Television Campaign: On-air interviews and digital blasts ran in the weeks leading up to the event, generating excitement to viewers.
• Kansas Food Bank Network: The food bank leveraged its own platforms, including social media which reached 84.4K people in September alone.
• Influencer Partnerships: Collaborations with over a dozen of Wichita’s top food bloggers garnered e-newsletter features and social media posts, tapping into local audiences.
• Official Website: The dedicated ICT Restaurant Week website served as a central hub, driving thousands of views to its landing page and increasing traffic to participating restaurants’ sites.

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The Impact

ICT Restaurant Week 2024 was an overwhelming success. The event raised $41,411.33, helping provide up to 165,645 meals for food insecure Kansans through the Kansas Food Bank.

With the help of Bandwango’s reporting capabilities, they also recognized:

• 900+ instances of customers rounding up, donating at the register, or ordering the featured menu item

• 351 Check-ins during the week using the ICT Restaurant Week Digital Passport
• 31 Prize Winners collecting nearly $2,000 worth of ICT Restaurant Week giveaways
• 75+ tagged posts on Facebook & Instagram talking about ICT Restaurant Week

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"Adding the Digital Passport element for our very first ICT Restaurant Week was a great way to engage and entice our community to get involved in the fight against hunger! Not only was it super easy working with the team at Bandwango to build our pass, but it was really meaningful to be able to track the results of the campaign in real time throughout the week and deliver those metrics afterwards to our participating restaurants."

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ICT Restaurant Week is a testament to the transformative power of partnerships, technology, and community engagement. With the ICT Restaurant Week Pass, the Kansas Food Bank not only raised essential funds but also fostered a sense of hope and togetherness, setting a strong foundation for years to come.