Hampton Restaurant Week: Eat, drink and save money

As they say, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

Of course, such conventional wisdom applies to women and children, too.

“That’s something we’ve heard from our community for a long time, that restaurants are an important part of what they want to see with our business offerings here,” Amanda Lukas said. “And I think Step One for that is to make sure that people are aware of the restaurants we do have, and to make sure we do everything we can for them to be successful.”

She serves as municipal staff liaison to the Hampton Economic Advisory Board, which is launching its first initiative to help promote local businesses.

During Hampton Restaurant Week, Sept. 8-14, customers will have the opportunity to save money on specified menu items while trying a variety of places to eat, drink and spend less time in the kitchen. The timing coincides with the start of the new school year, “when many of people are back from summer vacations but may be busy with new routines and activities,” according to Lukas.

The economic advisory board was formed in 2023 at the direction of township council to encourage a vibrant, active and supported business community. Volunteer members include business owners, commercial landlords, attorneys and elected officials.

As the township’s director of community development and land use administrator, Lukas is examining the impact of municipal policy on achieving the board’s goals.

“We’re going to update our zoning ordinance next year,” she said, “and at that point we’re going to look at some ways to maybe make it easier for new businesses to come and develop and open in Hampton.”

She took the initiative for a head start around the time of the advisory board’s formation.

“Last year, most of what I focused on was preparing some guidance documents and checklists for land use applications,” she said. “If a new business wants to open, usually they have to go through a land development process, and the point of that was to try to make the process easier.”

Another goal of the advisory board is enhancing the aesthetics along Route 8, the primary area for commercial activity in Hampton.

“It’s an older developed corridor, so the buildings that are there predate a lot of the modern things that we have to try to improve the appearance,” Lukas explained, referencing applicable township codes and ordinances.

With Hampton Restaurant Week on the schedule, other economic advisory board activities could be in the works.

“In the future, we might try to do some events promoting other sorts of retail businesses, maybe like a Health and Beauty Day,” Lukas said, corresponding to comments from community members: “They’d like to see a little more retail and restaurants, so that’s what we’re focusing on first.”

For more information, visit hampton-pa.org/423/Economic-Advisory-Board.