Mercer Island launches campaign to help E. coli battered businesses

The city of Mercer Island is launching a new campaign to try and help local restaurants and food businesses that lost thousands of dollars when an E. coli scare forced them to close.

The city and Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce unveiled the Dine Local campaign Monday in an effort to aid the over 60 businesses affected by the week long boil-water alert.

“It takes a village to recover from an incident like this, and without any prospect of help from our insurance company, we are especially grateful for the efforts of the city and chamber to promote dining out on the Island,” said Subway franchisee Rebecca Wilson in a statement. Wilson still had to pay employees throughout the closure despite the boil-water order.

The city is asking both residents — and anyone else — to do five things for the beleaguered businesses:

-Dine out or shop at a Mercer Island food business

-Buy gift certificates from Mercer Island restaurants

-Tip wait-staff well

-Try a new restaurant and write a review

-Spread the word and organize a “dine-out day” on Mercer Island with a group.