During Restaurant Week, restaurants in the Washington region offer steep discounts on meals to attract customers during the winter slump. The promotion usually lasts — you guessed it — a week, and this year’s was supposed to end this past Sunday.

But it’s been extended through Jan. 27. According to Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), which runs the promotion, it’s the first time Restaurant Week has been extended in its 18-year history.

The reason? The federal government shutdown. Restaurant operators across the region have reported a 20 percent average decrease in business compared to this time last year. Some operators say business has dropped as much as 60 percent.

“During the longest federal government shutdown in our nation’s history, restaurants want to continue providing an opportunity for their guests to save, but also to promote dining out,” said Kathy Hollinger, RAMW’s president and CEO, in a statement.

About 250 restaurants participated in the first week, and almost 200 will stay on for the second week. The list of participating restaurants in D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia is listed on RAMW’s website.

Restaurant Week menus are priced at $35 for dinner and $22 for lunch and brunch, which means not all establishments can afford to participate. “There are restaurant operators that don’t have the luxury to offer anything, other than trying to sustain their business,” Hollinger explained by phone last week.

Other restaurants are offering special deals to furloughed workers, ranging from 20 percent off specials to free pizza or drinks.

Meanwhile, a number of area food banks and nonprofits are offering free food to furloughed federal employees, for whom a restaurant meal might be an impossibility:

• Food & Friends is delivering free meals and groceries to any furloughed worker battling a serious illness or caring for a sick loved one.
• The Capital Area Food Bank is operating eight pop up markets around the region for anyone with a valid government ID or federal contractor ID.
• Bread for the City is giving out five-day supplies of groceries for furloughed federal employees at both its Northwest and Southeast locations.