(jazz music) With a smooth mix of piano, bass, and drums, the 7th Street Gator Band cranks out another jazz blues jam.

- Live music every night for 40 years.

- [Jason] It's an industry in which 60% fail within the first year.

80% are gone within five years.

- The restaurant business is a very hard business.

- [Jason] The Cajun Queen, though, is the rare exception.

- Still that's an incredible feat in Charlotte.

Being around 40 years is an incredible feat in Charlotte.

(upbeat piano music) - [Jason] Nestled into Charlotte's Elizabeth neighborhood in a converted single family home built in 1918, the Cajun Queen has been serving up New Orleans style dishes like gumbo since 1985.

- Everything in this restaurant, everything in this restaurant is homemade except for the bread that we get delivered every day.

And the key lime pie that Chef thinks is so good, he doesn't need to make it.

Everything else starts from scratch.

He comes in every day and makes the etouffee, the creole, the gumbo, I mean, it is literally celery, onions, and peppers up to here all day long.

- [Jason] Since the early nineties, Tim Freer has served as Cajun Queen's managing partner.

He says it's the music, the house, and most importantly, the food that all blend together creating a magical formula.

- I went into the kitchen the other night and there was 100 years of Cajun Queen kitchen experience standing in there.

- [Jason] But despite its long-term success, Tim is always trying to lure in new customers.

That's why Cajun Queen has been participating in the Queen's Feast Charlotte Restaurant Week since it began in 2008.

- Restaurant week, every year, those two weeks are our higher, highest grossing weeks.

(meat sizzles) - [Jason] Over in Midtown, the sizzling sound of steaks on the grill serve as a little slice of heaven.

It's another busy Friday night at Dressler's, the kitchen crew, hard at work getting the succulent dishes out to customers ASAP.

- So we have five full service restaurants, two Fin and Fino, one Dressler's Restaurant, one Porter's House, one Chapter Six.

- [Jason] Owner Jon Dressler is what you'd call a restaurant lifer, getting his start in the industry when he was just 16.

- I was a dishwasher with Denny's.

I spent two years washing dishes in high school, and to this day, no one is allowed to fire a dishwasher in my employee without my approval.

- [Jason] And just like Tim at the Cajun Queen, Jon is always looking to earn new business during Restaurant Week.

- So for me, it was very simple.

It was an opportunity to expand your fan base and make it an affordable option for people to come during that week.

- It's a great deal for the dining public.

So we have different price tiers.

It's three course, prefixed dinners for 30, 35, 40, 45 or $50 and is up to the restaurant to set the price.

- [Jason] John and Tim have combined for decades in the business.

But interestingly, the man who started Restaurant Week doesn't work in the industry, but he does know public relations and marketing.

- And we've specialized in hospitality and tourism over the years and worked with a lot of restaurants.

- [Jason] Bruce Hensley and wife Jill run Hensley Fontana Public Relations.

They were working with a group of investors on another restaurant project back in 2007.

- And one of 'em said, "Well, how about Charlotte Restaurant Week?"

And we had no idea what they were talking about.

And so they explained the Restaurant Week concept to us, and the more they talked, the more we liked it.

- [Jason] At the time, there were only about two dozen cities doing Restaurant Weeks nationwide.

Now it's over 200.

In most cities, it's run by a visitor's bureau, Chamber of Commerce or a restaurant association, but not here.

- Initially we wanted to be hired by Visit Charlotte.

They told us no.

So I went to the Charlotte Hospitality and Tourism Alliance.

They told us no, and they sent us back to the Visit Charlotte folks, and they again told us no, but they said, "We will support you if you want to do it yourself."

Which was the best no we've ever gotten.

- [Jason] Using the blueprint from Denver, Colorado, Bruce spent the next 14 months putting the first Restaurant Week together.

- I mean, Bruce sent out a note, would we be interested, and I was very interested.

Any chance to have somebody else advertise for us, it's a good idea.

- When Bruce introduced it, at first it was a no brainer.

And to me, it was just a cool opportunity at not the busiest times of the year to be able to showcase your restaurant.

- They see the value in it because they get a spike in business and they see that, the new faces, they see trial business and it helps with their branding and it certainly helps with their bottom line in the slow periods of late January and late July.

- [Jason] Queen's Feast hit its peak in 2019 with 143 participating restaurants across 10 counties.

COVID then put a little damper on things, but it's coming back now to around 110 restaurants with each paying a $1,000 entry fee to participate.

- So we put all the registration fees and the sponsorship fees into a co-op marketing program, and we do broadcast, print, outdoor, a lot of social, a lot of earned media.

So it's a comprehensive six-figure marketing campaign twice a year.

- [Jason] And for old school owners like Tim and Jon, it's been great seeing the Queen City evolve and grow as a foodie kind of town.

- Charlotte, as a restaurant town has come a long way.

The depth and breadth of cuisine and choices.

The restaurant groups that have started in Charlotte and flourished in Charlotte, the level of service, the level of cocktail program, the level of food sophistication has really been awesome to be a part of and to see as a consumer.