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Bethia Woolf is the food blogger behind Hungry Woolf, Taco Trucks Columbus and the newer Alt Eats Columbus. Her latest project serves as a bit of a departure though, as she’s making the jump from the online world into the real world with a new “food tourism” business.
Columbus Food Adventures is the name of that new business, which will serve as a food tour operation company beginning on July 27th. The tours will be guided, personalized experiences with some of the best restaurant and food vendors throughout Columbus.
“We have such an exciting, diverse food scene that I want to help show it off,” said Bethia. “Urban food tours are an exploding trend in larger cities, and it became obvious that Columbus needed a food tour business of its own.”
The three tour itineraries available at launch include:
- A walking tour through the Short North
- A van tour of various Taco Trucks in Columbus
- A van tour features ethnic foods highlighted on Alt.Eats
Additional tours will soon be added, which include a tour of local microbreweries, a tour of local ice cream shops and a walking tour of the German Village area. Additionally, Columbus Food Adventures will offer seasonal and special private event tours.
For more information, or to purchase tickets to an upcoming tour event, visit ColumbusFoodAdventures.com. You can also follow them via Twitter or Facebook.
Way to go, Bethia! I think this will be an extremely compelling addition to the Columbus culinary scene.
Yes, this is extremely awesome.
The more I think about this, the more I think there’s a screaming need for this in all sorts of ways. The steady flow of visitors coming to town is just the most obvious reason — there are a lot of businesses that could use these tours to draw new people here, the University could do tours for prospective graduate students, faculty members, and/or administrators, and given the interest that I’ve seen from people who live here in the taco trucks phenomenon it wouldn’t surprise me at all to find that residents constitute a significant percentage of the customers… all sorts of possibilities. Great news — really excited!
Way to go Bethia! Hopefully you might have some bicycle tours… pretty please:)
You continue to kick major ass, Bethia. Rock on.
do you get to eat on this tour?
Neat concept but not sure about the pricing structure – $55 to go to 5 taco trucks?? Yikes.
This seems like a great idea not just for this city, but many others. Will have to check it out.
spookygoddess78 Says: Neat concept but not sure about the pricing structure – $55 to go to 5 taco trucks?? Yikes.
If you’re someone already familiar with Taco Trucks and comfortable exploring new ones, I imagine this tour probably isn’t for you. Otherwise, the extra cost is about the experience of having a self-guided tour and having the assistance of someone who knows where they’re going, what they’re doing, and can hold your hand along the way. I don’t really think $55 is that bad for that type of service.
“Neat concept but not sure about the pricing structure – $55 to go to 5 taco trucks?? Yikes.”
As Bethia’s partner in Columbus Food Adventures, allow me to speak to this.
I can understand why that might appear a bit steep, but it’s worth noting that food costs are a small part of our total costs. The van and insurance (participants are highly covered) are the biggest chunk of it all. We’ve done significant research on van-based food tours in other cities, and we’re confident that we’re more than competitive cost-wise.
We will be running some specials on occasion and hope that will help to make the tour more accessible.
It should also be noted that the taco truck tours are run by the creators of Taco Trucks Columbus, so you’ll be getting the absolute most knowledgable guides providing insider info that can’t be found anywhere else.
“do you get to eat on this tour?”
Absolutely! You’ll get to try something at each location we visit. In total, the food offerings on each tour should add up to be enough to replace one meal.*
*unless you’re a competitive eater.
This is awesome. I’m telling everyone I know. Great work, Bethia!
Bethia is doing a tremendous service for the Columbus dining scene and putting Columbus on the map as a culinary tourism destination!
This is just amazing!
nice! best of luck to you guys!
Great idea! Good luck Bethia! :)
Hey, good luck and I mean that! If you can get people to pay that kind of money to go to a couple of taco trucks, then more power to you!
I think that is a fair cost for an excursion type trip. I would have paid that for a similar trip when I visited Hawaii.
I was a little surprised when I first saw the price, but then I realized that I would easily pay that if I was visiting Columbus, had recently moved here, or wasn’t a regular on Columbus Underground. Most of us on here are familiar with these destinations, but there are a lot of people (even people in central Ohio) who are not.
It’s not $55 for the food, it’s $55 for the knowledge.
The other day, I was watching an episode of No Reservations, set in Maine. I lived there for two years and never even heard of any of the places he visited. I’m fortunate to have foodie friends and CU to help me find great places in Columbus, but this is exactly the kind of tour I wish I would have taken in Maine. If I knew someone moving to Columbus, this is one of the first things I would suggest they do.
$55.00 to find your new favorite place to eat in a new/strange city or neighborhood? That’s a bargain.
I’d pay $55 to hear Bethia tell me great stories about the history and people behind the trucks. She’s spent time establishing wonderful relationships with the folks she will be visiting and can offer an experience and insights you wouldn’t otherwise get on your own.
Agreed.
These folks have spent a huge amount of time and energy uncovering information about those trucks that wasn’t public, and making it public. Just because they’ve done that for free doesn’t mean that it has no value. I don’t really think it’s fair to turn around and act like it doesn’t, just because they’ve been generous enough to give it away.
I think the information definitely has value. Again, if there is a market of people who would pay $55 to visit a handful of taco trucks in Columbus, Ohio, then that’s great for Columbus Food Adventures! If not, I’m sure they will adjust pricing or tours accordingly. Taco Truck Tours aside, I think some of the other tour and tour ideas mentioned sound really great and it’s nice to see the Columbus food scene getting some well deserved highlights.