CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new trend at local restaurants and breweries is drawing visitors to Charlotte and helping local businesses.
"Food tours" are booming in Charlotte, and are part of a new program by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Association they call experiential tourism.
"When visitors visit a destination, they really want to get a sense of the culture and character a destination holds...and visitors want to eat," said Laura Hill with CRVA.
Kristi Martin launched Feast Food Tours in the summer of 2012 and said almost all of her tours these days are sold out.
"I came across the food tourism concept in other cities and felt Charlotte really needed to have it, because of the culinary scene that has just blossomed," Martin said.
City officials are banking on Charlotte's burgeoning culinary scene, and the success of Johnson & Wales, to attract visitors from out of state. On Friday, the Mint Museum will debut a new exhibit, F.O.O.D., which combines art and presentations from local restaurants.
In the food tours, guides lead visitors on a walking tour of different restaurants in neighborhoods like Center City, South End and NoDa. The tours include tastings at each location, and some sort of hands-on experience, either with a cooking demonstration, beer or wine tasting, or conversation with the businesses' chef or owner.
Martin said her tours are also filling up with locals.
"They are utilizing this as a great way to maybe find new restaurants they wanted to try, or maybe discover new areas of town they don't normally go to," Martin said.
Ciara Caron is leading her first tour with the new startup company Dishcrawl Charlotte on Wednesday.
"We know great things happen around the dinner table and we want to do that on a larger scale," Caron said.
Caron said she is focusing on many smaller eateries that often don't have the advertising or marketing budget to attract crowds.
"We work with people that are hidden gems," Caron said.
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