DOVER — After a successful inaugural year, Kent County Restaurant Week is back for a second time, Oct. 18-25.

“The goal is to drive new customers to existing local eateries,” said Cindy Small, executive director of Kent County Tourism.

“There might be a place someone always drives past but Restaurant Week is when they finally decide to stop and try it out,”she added.

Restaurant Week begins Sunday, the morning after the Delaware Wine and Beer Festival wraps up, with a brunch at Harvest Ridge Winery near Marydel and catered by the Inn at Duck Creek. Drink selections will be from Harvest Ridge, Painted Stave Distilling, Rebel Seed Cider and Liquid Alchemy Beverages.

The rest of the week will continue with nearly 20 area restaurants creating new recipes and dishes for their customers.

“We provide models for restaurants to follow for Restaurant Week, but since there’s such a wide variety of participants some have done their own thing,” Ms. Small said.

She cited the examples of Frankfurt Bakery & Deli on South Governors Avenue and the north Dover Chick-fil-A.

Neither is a traditional three-course restaurant, so both have taken their own approach to the event: Frankfurt creating a specialty chicken salad sandwich and Chick-fil-A hosting kitchen tours and biscuit-making demonstrations.

Abbott’s Grill of Milford is taking the traditional three-course approach with a specialty menu featuring three appetizers, three entrées and two desserts, all incorporating fall flavors like pumpkin.

“It’s an opportunity to highlight seasonal menu items and offer a good, unique selection for a reasonable price,” said Kevin Reading, co-owner of Abbott’s Grill and co-chair of Restaurant Week.

Not only has Kent County Tourism been promoting the event, each restaurant has played its part, too. Mr. Reading said Abbott’s has taken to social media and advertised at the restaurant to get regular customers back to try out the specialty menu.

“This is one of those events we hope keeps growing,” Ms. Small said. “Last year went well, but we want to turn this into an annual event that people look forward to. That’s what cities like Newark and Rehoboth have managed to do and it could be successful in Kent County, too.”

For more information about Kent County Restaurant Week and to view a full list of participating businesses, visit www.kentcountyrestaurantweek.com.