Restaurateur Wes Zane wants to give one customer $5,000 as part of a promotion aimed at increasing business at his Formaggio Wine Bar & Grill.

On Saturday, Zane will begin a contest, "What I Love About Wine," in which a creative diner will get a chance at the cash and to have their contest entry made into a commercial.

Zane is looking for people to answer the contest's namesake query as creatively as possible. He is charging $1 to enter with all proceeds going to Share Our Strength, a charity for hungry children.

The promotion is Zane's biggest contest since May's "Burger Genius" promotion for his build-a-burger restaurant, Burgers on the Edge. Zane said that contest was a phenomenal success, with the winner's burger being placed on the Kapahulu eatery's menu for a year.

"Wine brings people together, makes life a little better every day. It makes food better. And it's a strong part of the social dynamic," Zane said.

Zane, 57, has made a career of being around wine.

He was the regional sales manager for Robert Mondavi winery for five years, president of the Hawaii Restaurant Association and vice president of operations at Hy's Steakhouse for 20 years.

More recently, wine led Zane to purchase Formaggio Wine Bar and Fujioka's Wine Bar from Lyle Fujioka in 2004. Even his cell phone message reminds callers to "drink your wine every day."

But last year, Zane did something that was unprecedented for him. He opened three restaurants in the same shopping complex and not a wine glass was in sight.

Zane opened Burgers on the Edge, Caliente del Sol and Good to Grill at the Safeway shopping complex on Kapahulu Avenue. He also opened Formaggio Grill in Kailua in January 2008.

And with thousands of his own money riding on three unproven concepts and competing, essentially, with himself, Zane found that spending money, combining resources and unique promotions could help any restaurateur weather an economic drought.

"I respect companies that are constantly reinventing themselves. They already have people coming in and out of the door, but they see down the road, the change in the demographic."

Zane knows customers demand lower prices these days and won't change any time soon. So he added free starch to many of Formaggio's a la carte items at the request of customers and his staff.

But he refuses to cut corners that may cause problems when the economy picks up.

"It's so easy to say I'm not going to have that extra cook or server or bartender, well, that's a short-term fix, but it creates a long-term problem," Zane said.

Zane traveled to California just to research taco recipes; he says Caliente del Sol's are now the best.

He flew to Colorado to check the meat-packing plant supplying Burgers on the Edge and shipped in his grill at Good to Grill from Texas before showcasing it in rocks and glass.

"People usually ask if I can afford to do this, when they should be asking, can I afford not to do this?"

Zane's restaurants are under his management company, Laughing Gravy. For uniformity, all his stores feature strong colors and clean lines. Regional fare, like Caliente del Sol's Mexican menu, lend to decorations that give each restaurant their own personality.

He also uses each restaurant as a promotional tool for his others.

All receipts at the Kapahulu restaurants feature deals at the other eateries. TVs at Burgers on the Edge advertise the deals at Good to Grill and Caliente del Sol on an endless loop between menu listings.

At Formaggio Grill, menu descriptions call attention to the other restaurants such as the Kobe Burger Panini, inspired by Burgers on the Edge.

Zane said it helps keep standards high and cut excess waste.

"We cross-utilize produce, meats and seafood across a number of dishes engineered for our menus to provide us with optimal return. We took a good, hard look at what's selling and what our gross profit dollar of each item is to make sure it's a top seller."

Zane said that recent endeavors like the Lanikai Catering company, which he runs out of Formaggio Grill in Kailua, are key to growing a customer base.

He recently opened an extension of Formaggio Grill named "The Gallery." He had been hesitant, but now he can't imagine what he would do without the room, which hosts private parties, extra seating and cooking lessons.

Encouraged by the potential, Zane is currently contemplating a Formaggio in Waikiki and a new concept at Kapahulu.

"If I didn't do anything, I would just die a slow death," he said.