Episode Overview

Episode Topic:
In this captivating episode of TravelPreneur, we get into the essence of a culinary food tour in Toronto and how it offers a unique way to experience the city’s diverse food scene with Kevin Durkee, the culinary tourism leader and owner of Culinary Adventure Co. Kevin shares insights into what makes these tours stand out, from the authenticity of the experiences to the rich stories behind each local vendor. The discussion also delves into the growth of Culinary Adventure Co and its impact on supporting local businesses. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in culinary tourism and discovering Toronto through its vibrant food culture.

Lessons You’ll Learn:
Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of what goes into creating an exceptional culinary food tour in Toronto. Kevin Durkee reveals the secrets to ensuring each tour is authentic and immersive, highlighting the importance of knowing the origins of the food and the stories behind it. You’ll learn about the challenges faced in expanding a culinary tourism business and how resilience and adaptability played a crucial role, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kevin also shares valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own niche travel business, emphasizing the significance of passion, consistency, and guest satisfaction.

About Our Guest:
Kevin Durkee is the owner and driving force behind Culinary Adventure Co, Canada’s largest and best-rated food tour company. With a background that includes working with the Walt Disney Company, Kevin brings a unique perspective to culinary tourism. His company specializes in offering award-winning food tours that celebrate small and local businesses. Kevin’s passion for food and storytelling shines through as he discusses the intricacies of running a culinary food tour in Toronto. Under his leadership, Culinary Adventure Co has become synonymous with quality, authenticity, and memorable culinary experiences, making it a beloved choice for both locals and tourists.

Topics Covered:
The enlightening conversation covers a wide range of topics centered around the theme of the culinary food tour in Toronto. We discuss the diverse neighborhoods featured in the tours, such as Chinatown, Kensington Market, and Saint Lawrence Market, and how each area offers unique culinary delights. Kevin shares memorable experiences and feedback from guests, showcasing the profound impact of these tours on both locals and visitors. The conversation also touches on the future of culinary tourism, the importance of supporting local food businesses, and the innovative ways Culinary Adventure Co adapted during the pandemic. Finally, we explore the company’s plans for expansion and new offerings, promising even more exciting culinary adventures.

Our Guest: Kevin Durkee – Transforming Culinary Food Tourism

Episode Transcript

Megha McSwain: Hello fellow travel enthusiasts. Welcome back to another episode of TravelPreneur. I’m your host, Megha McSwain. Today we have a special guest, Kevin Durkee, the culinary tourism leader and owner of Culinary Adventure Co. Kevin’s company has been offering award-winning food tours since 2011, focusing on celebrating small and local businesses through immersive culinary experiences. Culinary Venture Co has grown into Canada’s largest and best-rated food tour and adventure company. We’re thrilled to dive into Kevin’s journey and the unique experiences his company offers. Welcome to the show, Kevin.

Kevin Durkee: Thanks so much for having me. How are you?

Megha McSwain: Good, Culinary Adventure Co offers a variety of food tours in dynamic neighborhoods. How do you ensure each tour provides an authentic and immersive experience for your guests?

Kevin Durkee: I think anyone in the attractions and tourism space like we are,  needs to find a wow factor. I had the pleasure of working with the Walt Disney Company for a number of years before sort of moving into this industry, and there’s something about that pixie dust. There’s something about that magic and that sort of sense of wonder. And when we’re telling stories about food and we take that wonder to your tongue and to, you know, something really delicious that you get to enjoy, that really kind of makes the difference. We keep it authentic because we work with really small local vendors, restaurants, businesses that have been around for generations. And so their stories are the most powerful and sort of tasty part of the experience. And by being local, supporting local, it’s just, you know, there’s nothing better than kind of sharing your favorite spots in a neighborhood across the city.

Megha McSwain: And with tours spanning neighborhoods like Chinatown, Kensington Market, and Saint Lawrence Market, how do you highlight the unique culinary aspects of each area? I’m sure you know the different businesses that are there and just kind of have connections, people you want to collaborate with.

Kevin Durkee: Well, the Culinary Adventure Company, as you said, has been running for now 13 seasons. And so for sure, we have been working with many of the same partners since the day we started. It’s their stories, as I said a second ago, that are kind of the most compelling and the most tasty.  but our why, the reason that we get up every day is that the culinary adventure company believes that things taste better when you know where they come from. And so when you’re on one of our food tours or one of our culinary experiences, we’re giving you that context. We’re telling you where things are from, where the ingredients have come from, how things have been made and curated, where the recipes have, where the individuals that are in the kitchen are making what’s their stories and how they got there. And I think, you know, quite often food tours or other local operators maybe go towards a tourist component. Over 60% of the folks that take our experiences are local. They want something different. They want to go a little deeper with what we offer. And, you know, we make sure that we look at maybe telling a story that’s been overlooked.  in a neighborhood.  and that’s a great way to sort of make sure that each of these neighborhoods is delicious and fun to explore on one of our food tours.

Megha McSwain: Can you share a memorable experience or feedback that you may have received from a guest that encapsulates the essence of Culinary Venture Co?

Kevin Durkee: Well, as I just said a moment ago, over 60% of our guests are local. And so when you think about someone who has lived in Toronto, maybe their entire lives, why would they ever take a food tour?  And they come to us because we, you know, share things that they may not have paid attention to.  Behind me is sort of a fun image from the Saint Lawrence market, which is the best culinary market in Toronto. And people are like, oh, I’ve shopped here all my life. Why would I want a food tour? And they get brought maybe by a friend or family member, but no matter what, within a couple of hours they’re like, I didn’t know that. I’ve never met that vendor. I didn’t understand that this was sort of the thing I’d seen from my entire life. Those are important. But I think when you take a look at our reviews, we’re really proud to be the number one-rated food tour company in Toronto. And the reviews consistently say, oh my God, there was so much food.  we were, you know, we run food tours, not snack tours.  and so people are excited to see sort of the quality and the value proposition that we offer, but it’s because we’ve given that extra little deep dive of, you probably didn’t know this, and we’re the insider on giving you that story that you might not have heard of before. So it’s been really fun.

Megha McSwain: Yeah, I will say, I think no matter how long someone has lived in a city, it could be their whole life. I would still highly encourage them to take a food tour of their city, because I guarantee they would learn something that they didn’t already know. Or I mean, there’s just things. Things are always changing. There are always new players in the game. And I think it’s especially even more fun when it’s your own city and you’re able to learn about it completely.

Kevin Durkee: We couldn’t agree more. So we’re ready for anybody who’s hungry for a good time.

Megha McSwain: What challenges have you encountered, if any, in Growing Culinary Adventure Co and how have these experiences shaped your approach to the culinary tourism business?

Kevin Durkee: Well, the company itself is 13 years old, but I purchased it 10 years ago. So when the company originally started, it was in Toronto. When I purchased it, I continued to work closely with one of the partners.  and then that didn’t work out so well. So I continued as a family-owned and operated business, and we did expand. We did expand to other cities, and we actually took on other partners and other operating partners. And unfortunately, when you stretch yourself too thin like we always do, you bite off maybe more than you can chew. And we’re really, you know, upfront about that. That culinary adventure company probably expanded too far too much at the time. And it was a tricky time because as a family business, I make every selection. We have a really small team that ultimately, you know, delivers the product we do, and when we didn’t get the quality that we wanted from some of the partners that we had worked with or had talked about, because we didn’t see them on a daily basis or didn’t interact with them as we do with our vendors in Toronto, it became really, really tricky. So we pulled back. Covid, of course, was a significant challenge for us. We could not run any of our tours in person.  so we pivot. We did a few things online. We did what we call the food tour in a box where we still took all the bites and delicious elements from all of our vendors. We curated them into a box and shipped them to people’s doors so that they could continue to support the small businesses including ourselves. So we found different ways to keep telling that food story. But I think that any entrepreneur in this industry or any others, I think it’s silly for anyone to say, oh yeah, I’ve never had a problem. Of course, you’ve had problems and you need to find ways to get through it.  and we’ve been able to do that over the last 13 years.

Megha McSwain: That’s great. And, you know, you mentioned, I mean, even before, after Covid, the food tour industry is evolving. I mean, it had to pivot, of course, but even now it’s like I feel like it’s back stronger than ever. There are even more companies doing this. So how do you see the future of culinary tourism, and what opportunities do you envision for Culinary Venture Co. in this landscape now after kind of like an A post, I hate to say post-Covid world because I know Covid is still happening, but four years after?

Kevin Durkee: You’re right, there are more operators out there.  and I feel that I’ll take a step back. I think the food tour industry has sort of come of age, certainly in the last 5 to 6 years. But unfortunately, Covid was in the middle of that. We had legacy companies that were probably in places like Spain France and Italy that were doing gourmet travel and culinary tourism. On a larger scale, you would travel somewhere, you know, exotic around the world, and you would use a food tour to kind of bring that vacation or that experience to life. You can go to every city and every neighborhood, and there is now a food tour option. That doesn’t mean that they’re all good. I think, unfortunately, there are still some that are more interested in doing the tourist thing, the kind of feeding you and getting you out of the system. We’re a family-owned and operated business. We’re actually LGBT owned and operated as well. We work with small other family businesses. And so I think we have always taken that extra care to make sure that the prices, the food, the story, the experience that we offer is really unique.

Kevin Durkee:  You know, I’ve taken over 70 tours myself around the world. I’ve seen good ones and bad.  I think self-guided tours are going to be an interesting thing in the future. I think that’s a challenge as well, because sure, you can guide yourself around, but you miss the insights, the little tricks, the food hacks that a guide or a professional organization can provide.  but I do think with more content, everything from TikTok and social media, you can curate your own eating experience in any city that you visit. But I think you still should find a local guide, someone like a culinary adventure company, to say, hey, we’re going to kind of curate all of the noise, all of the Instagram pics, all of the stuff that it might look really delicious, but when you show up, you’re like, that’s what I’m going to get. I think you need to go work with a local operator that is on the street and is,  you know, physically in the cities that they’re working on. That’s the difference.

Megha McSwain: I think Toronto and other Canadian cities are known for their vibrant food scenes. How do you capture and showcase the essence of these cities in your tours, like how do you decide kind of who gets to be showcased? Are these some of your favorites? Are they it’s a lot of word of mouth or.

Kevin Durkee:  It’s a little bit of a blend, but I would say that we’re probably in three categories. We’re definitely things that we are addicted to, that we are super proud and excited to share because if we’re not passionate about what we eat, what we see, and what we tell, then we’re not doing a job. The second thing is that it needs to be consistent. Do you mean the partners that we work on have been there for decades? They’re not the Instagram buzzworthy fad that might have shown up in a couple of years. They are legacy. They have got rich, delicious stories and, you know, teams and families that bring that to life. And so we make sure that that’s part of the choice that we look at. And then the consistency I said a second ago is that the guest that takes the tour today writes a fantastic five-star review saying, I did this, tried that, enjoyed it. Someone sees it three months later and buys that tour, they want that same expectation. So I like the fact that we try to stay very, very consistent. Certainly, COVID and other changes happen, restaurants and businesses are closed or things change. But I feel that we go a little deeper in making sure that there’s a reason that that person is on our tour and it’s not, you know, like some food tour operators that might be making choices on, oh, it’s a good deal or someone gave us a free sample. We don’t have anybody like that on our food tours. We pay full price for everything and that shows in the amount of food we provide, our guests, the quality of food we provide, and ultimately the relationship that those businesses have with us and our guests. It makes a difference. And we’re proud to support it that way.

Megha McSwain: And looking ahead, what are your future plans and aspirations for the company? You mentioned expanding to different cities or you’ve already sort of done that. Are there plans to expand to different countries like the US? Yeah.

Kevin Durkee: Well,  so I wouldn’t say that we would be expanding in sort of,  in a specific city-focused element. What we wanted to do when we turned ten years old, and this was a couple of years ago, we do 2 or 3-hour walking food tours like most operators, but we wanted to go a little bit deeper. As I said earlier, our guests are loyal, they come back, they do multiple tours with us and they want more. They want a bigger bite. So instead of doing 2 or 3-hour tours, we’re actually looking to develop into two and three-day culinary experiences. And those will be launched. Yeah, those will be launched later this year in 2024 and beyond in 25 and 26. So coming and visiting Boston or Austin or Montreal or Winnipeg with us and eating the city for an extended period of time. So not only culinary tours within that time, but maybe cooking classes, visiting producers, cheesemakers, bakers, and things like that, and enjoying Chicago over three days or enjoying Montreal over three days. Then we’re also about a year after that, we’re going to be including two and three-week experiences. So as I said, right at the very beginning, this sort of culinary destination to places like Italy and Spain has sort of always been there, and we want to sort of continue to offer that. So in the fall of 2025, we’re going to be doing a 15-day experience across Japan and working with local food.

Kevin Durkee: Tour Operators there. We’ll also be doing things in Australia and New Zealand. So yeah, it’s we’re going to be eating the world in bigger ways, but Toronto will always be our home.

Megha McSwain: Amazing. For aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own culinary or niche travel business, what advice or lessons from your own journey would you share with them?

Kevin Durkee: Well, I think it’s you need to trust yourself, and I think you need to build a company that you are proud to spend money on. I think a lot of people within this industry, or almost any industry were like, oh, well, there’s a niche there or there’s an opening there, I can fill it. Well, it’s not about filling it. It’s like maybe it was supposed to be open. Maybe we’re not supposed to have someone in that operation. And I think that the difference is that if you are an entrepreneur, you should be excited about the product that you offer.

Kevin Durkee: You should Consume it. It should be something that’s really passionate.  and I think it comes down to care. I think the biggest, you know, and the best marketing campaign ever is caring about your guests, making sure that your guests are, you know, satisfied in all aspects of what they’re enjoying, what they’re seeing, what they’re learning, and how much they’re eating. And for us, it’s about that. It’s not about finding something. Well, this company’s not doing it, so we should do it. Well, maybe not. Maybe you should continue to do what you’re already excited about.  and so I think it’s about finding maybe a smaller niche that you can spend time with, but it’s ultimately the care in the product that you offer, whether it’s a food tour or a tourist product or a hotel or a boutique or what have you, it’s the individual care of making sure those guests have a fantastic experience with you.

Megha McSwain: Right at the end of the day, this is hospitality and you have to have hospitality to be able to do something like this.

Kevin Durkee: Exactly right. I mean, you know, there’s lots of conversations over the last couple of years about Will Guarderas and 11  Madison Park and the conversation around unreasonable hospitality and sort of that push of making sure people are really enjoying it. And we’ve sort of leaned into that. And it’s coming from my experience with Walt Disney Company and others where the guest has taken their time to purchase a ticket. They’ve taken a time to come and see you, and they’ve given you part of their memory, right? If they’re coming to a city, they want to be entertained. They want to be fulfilled, they want to be filled up. And that’s a really big responsibility that they have taken the time and energy to put that trust in your organization. And when you work with an operator like us, we don’t have a muse we don’t have theaters, we don’t have buses, we don’t have boats, we have people. We have smiles. We have stories, we have vendors, we have incredible food. And so making sure that an entrepreneur puts all of that together so that when you’re in Saint Lawrence Market or Chinatown or Kensington in Toronto, that you’re going away with a memory that is really fulfilling.  and it’s one of the reasons why our guests keep coming back,  which is incredibly surprising.

Kevin Durkee: We have one guest who has literally taken nine of our tours, and he’s taken two tours more than four times each. And it’s like, you know, his name is Adam. And every time I see him, I’m like, Adam, why are you standing in front of me? You’ve been on this tour. You’ve enjoyed all these bites. You know what’s coming up. You know, all my cheesy jokes that are happening or all of our guests and say, Kevin, it’s like why you watch your favorite TV show again, or why you watch your favorite movie when it’s on a Sunday evening, or maybe why you read your favorite novel. He’s like, I love the culinary adventure company. I love what you do and why you do it, and I’m here to support it. And it’s just a good afternoon. I’m like, no problem, we have lots of that. So that’s the passion that I find and that our culinary guides and everyone within the organization leads with it’s it’s you got to have a big smile. You got to make people hungry and you got to feed them, you know, you got to feed their soul and their mind and their body all at the same time.

Megha McSwain: Yeah. Amazing. I was just in Toronto in the fall. I wish I knew about this. I would have loved to take a food tour. I have a lot of family in Toronto and I’ve, you know, visited a lot. But when you’re seeing family, you don’t get all the time to go food exploring as you might want. And I want a lot of food exploring time.

Kevin Durkee: Well, exactly. And you probably spent some time with your family and others do. It’s like, oh, you’re going out for dinner to celebrate that you’re in town. And you’re right. I mean, it’s a great opportunity to take a food tour and say, hey, let someone else do the homework. Let someone else do the planning. Let’s just go take some pictures. Let’s go make a memory with mom or dad or aunt or uncle or whoever you were experiencing with. And it’s probably the biggest pro tip when it comes to a food tour, particularly when you’re traveling. Do it early. Do it like the day you arrive or the day like the next day. Get it early in the system. Because whether it’s our organization or others, we’re the local folks. We know where the good stuff is. We can give you the recommendations. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen over the last ten years where guests come into the city of Toronto and they’ll do a food tour with us two or 3 or 4 days into their experience, and they’ve listed this whole, you know, I’ve made reservations for here and here and here. And I went to this restaurant and that restaurant and I looked at them like, did you have a good meal? It was okay. Yeah. Well, you should have bugged us two days ago because we would have taken that off. This off this off? Yeah, exactly.

Megha McSwain: You gotta get.

Kevin Durkee: The other local.

Megha McSwain: Scoop. Yeah. From the locals. Exactly.

Kevin Durkee: You know, exactly. English-speaking cities across North America. We’ve got all the content we possibly want. Destination marketing organizations, TikTok bloggers, Instagram, you know, fantastic podcasts like your own, providing lots of inspiration.  but it’s always nice to get a little bit of a local story, a little inside track, or like, where do we eat? Do you want to know where the chefs eat? You want to know where they are taking their friends and family. And that’s not always in a magazine or online. So exactly. Go to the professionals first. We’ll feed you first.

Megha McSwain: Exactly. We’ll let our listeners know where they can learn more about Culinary Venture Co and where they can connect with you.

Kevin Durkee: Yeah. So they can head to our website, which is a culinary adventure. Co.com. Obviously, all of the food tours that we offer in Toronto and the exciting new initiatives that will be launched in the weeks to come. We do have two brand new food tours that are coming this summer, so if you’re looking to come to Toronto or even if you’ve got friends or family here, it’s a great gift idea. We’re going to be headed to the west side of the city and the Bronzeville Village on Saturdays at 3:00. A brand new tour starting in the middle of June. And then we’re super excited to be partnering with the Toronto Downtown West.  BIA. And we’re creating a brand new brunch tour,  for Sunday mornings,  which is going to be starting in the middle of the summer so you can find us on  culinaryadventureco.com and then the best other place is to connect with us on social, and we are culinary advocates. So culinary advocates, find us on X, find us on Instagram. Got some delicious pictures to make you happy and hungry. So find us there.

Megha McSwain: Sound sounds good. Kevin, thank you so much for sharing your journey and the amazing work you’re doing in the culinary tourism space.  listeners, definitely. I mean, I my next visit, I’m going to book a tour. You’ve sold me,  to our listener. Made you.

Kevin Durkee: Hungry? Yeah.

Megha McSwain: Yes, definitely. Listeners, please,  follow and subscribe for future episodes and leave us a review if you enjoyed today’s show. Until next time, this is Megha McSwain signing off from TravelPreneur. Thanks so much, Kevin.

Kevin Durkee: Thank you.