The Bristol Food Tour is our Bristol Business of the Week
Posted on: 31 Oct 2016The Bristol Food Tour has very quickly become a Bristol institution. The many satisfied customers always leave happy...and full. Catering for carnivores, veggies and vegans across the city, we're delighted to award them our 365Bristol Business of the Week.
Bristol Food Tour will take you on both a literal and and figurative food tour of Bristol, experiencing all the great culinary aspects our great city has to offer. You'll get the chance to walk and experience first-hand some of the city's best eateries, and also be transported to the home cuisine of those venues. It's the perfect way to explore and enjoy the best Bristol has to offer.
Jo and Alice are the brains behind this great Bristol venture so we sat down with them to find out more...
When was The Bristol Food Tour founded and can you give us a brief history?
We both moved to Bristol 7 years ago and after brief stints in other areas of the UK and abroad, we've settled in Bristol as it's got such a great vibe. Jo has worked with food in a number of different ways, from being a cheesemonger at world famous Neal's Yard Dairy in London to her current job at a wonderful deli in Clifton. Alice has never worked in food but spends most of her spare time thinking about it. She currently works for an arts charity and spends her weekends snooping out new places to eat. We've both always been "go to" people for food recommendations so being able to use this skill and make it into a business is a dream come true. Both of us had the idea to do food tours in Bristol independently of each other, so in true Bristol fashion we decided to collaborate at the end of 2015.
Tell us about The Bristol Food Tour and what makes you unique in Bristol?
The Bristol Food Tour is a culinary adventure which allows you to experience the very best of Bristol's independent food scene. We are unique because we were the first walking food tour to come to the city and we only include independent businesses. We want to champion them above the food chain's because the food is so much better! We loved that when we met the businesses, the owners could tell us the stories behind their company and also about where they source their ingredients. We really enjoy telling our tour goers about this and also some historical insights about the areas we walk through. We're a city walking tour with a twist and the twist happens to be lots and lots of delicious food. Not only can our tour goers learn about the local area but also directly support the independent businesses that we visit. We feel like it's the best way to get your bearings in a new place - to really get a flavour for the city. Also it's a great way to explore and visit places you wouldn't necessarily go to even if you'd lived there all your life!
How do you find running an independent business in Bristol?
It's brilliant! Bristol has such a commitment to local and independent businesses and we've really enjoyed working with other independent business' on our tours. We love showing how many hidden gems there are in the city and also what a unique and affordable offering they have which makes them stand out when compared to the larger food chains.
Which venues do you visit? Is it always the same?
We like to keep where we visit a secret, because it's more fun that way! We also like to switch where we go, to keep the tour exciting and also to cover all of the best food, which in Bristol, there is a lot of! When we first created our tour route, we thought it'd be the same places every week but as we discover more places, we want to be able to include them all so varying the stop offs is a great way to do that.
What if we're vegetarian or vegan?
All of our regular Sunday afternoon tours are suitable for meat-eaters and vegetarians. We are also able to cater for food intolerances and allergies. For vegans, we run specific vegan tours on a Saturday afternoon (our next two dates have sold out but we'll be announcing more soon!). Purely because the places we include on our regular food tour, may not have the best vegan options and we want to make sure that our tour goers get to experience the very best of the vegan food scene.
You've built up quite a following already - how can Bristol people get in touch to book a spot?
The best way to contact us is via email: thebristolfoodtour@gmail.com, on Twitter: @bristolfoodtour or via our Facebook page. We announce all of our upcoming tour dates & special events on social media so that's the best place to look! We're also happy to run private and bespoke tours so definitely send us an email if you'd like to arrange something extra special.
Where do you like to eat out in Bristol when you manage to get some time off?
That is a very tricky question as there are so many options. We love Bakers & Co on Stokes Croft for breakfast, The Kitchen on Silver Street for lunch and The Cauldron in St Werburghs for dinner.
What's your favourite place in Bristol?
There are so many brilliant places in Bristol that'll we'll have to do a top 5. We like the Harbourside/Whapping wharf for wandering, Leigh Woods for walking, The Lido Bristol for escaping, Strawberry hill (The mound) in St Werburghs for a cracking view of the city & fireworks and St Nick's market for eating.
Where do you see The Bristol Food Tour in 5 years time?
There's so much potential for the Bristol Food Tour to expand to different areas of Bristol. Our current tour takes place down Cheltenham Road, Stokes Croft and into the city centre. This is because it's where we both live and love, but we're also really keen to commence tours in St Werburghs and Easton, and in Clifton, too. In addition to our regular Sunday afternoon tours, we also host special tours such as vegan tours, market specials and we are also able to create bespoke tours too. We are so excited for the future of the Bristol Food Tour and have lots of exciting collaborations in the pipeline. If we're able to share our excitement, insider Bristol foodie knowledge, passion for this city and some cracking food with folks on our tour, then we've succeeded in our mission!
What advice would you give to any aspiring Bristol business owners?
Go for it! We started the company with the idea of running one food tour a month but due to demand have been running them weekly and are now adding in additional days too. Bristol is a very supportive city and it's the perfect place to try out a new business idea.
If you were Mayor of Bristol for a day which one thing would you change?
We're torn between a better bus service and free ice cream for all...
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Article by:
Born and raised in the suburbs of Swansea, Jimmy moved to Bristol back in 2004 to attend university. Passionate about live music, sport, science and nature, he can usually be found walking his cocker spaniel Baxter at any number of green spots around the city. Call James on 078 9999 3534 or email Editor@365Bristol.com.
