Today we’d like to introduce you to Rose Woelker
Hi Rose, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We began our tours in 2018. The idea came from being a guest on various wine and food tours in Italy. I felt Greenville could benefit from a great experience like the ones we had on our international trips. I approached several restaurant owners and managers and explained the concept of visiting four venues in the span if 2 hours offering different food. We originally created a breakfast tour, dessert tour, and two cocktail tours. We were very successful until COVID arrived and like everyone else we shut down. We were able to reopen later that summer and it was basically like starting all over again. But, we have managed to keep the momentum going, added another cocktail tour and are steadily moving forward. Our tours are always evolving so that we can keep them fresh and interesting. We also enjoy adding additional venues when others close or drop off our tours. It’s always changing and very fun and exciting. The best part of what we do is offering our guests a great way to experience Greenville through local food and historical stories.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The COVID shutdown came as a complete surprise to us. One night we got a call from.one of our venues saying the City was closing down “tomorrow.”
This resulted in panic among our guests demanding refunds immediately…..it was quite and extremely stressful as those refunds completely depleted us financially
My business was and still is an important aspect of our financial well-being and we are grateful every day for the opportunity to have and operate a business in the beautiful city of Greenville. We cherish our lessons learned and we are using every day as another opportunity to grow, learn and be the best we can be by providing our guests with a great tour experience.
We’ve been impressed with Foothill Foodie Tours, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Foothill Foodie Tours is an idea we copied from Italian food and wine tours. We had great experiences in Italy and wanted to share these experiences with Greenville in the form of food tours. Our brand strives to be an ambassador and promote Greenville whenever and wherever we can potentially do that. Prior to COVID we promoted local restaurants on our tours almost 100% of the time. But. COVID caused some of our local partners to go in different directions and/or close. Therefore, we pivoted and now promote local venues about 80% of the time on our tours. Some chains have moved in where local venues were.. in order to keep the tours moving forward we have added one or two of them to our tour routes. We continue to seek out locally owned venues .
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Regarding Greenville: I love Greenville and would not have started my business anywhere else. Greenville is growing, moving forward with great people helping it get there.
When I began my business in 2018, the downtown area was on the cusp of opening a while new host of restaurants, large sky scrapers were being built, and work on improving the west end was in full swing.
When you look at the downtown now, I have to say with all the big buildings, some of the quaint charm is a little lost. But, on the other hand, it’s vibrant, exciting, and growing. My hope is that there is a carefully thought out plan for the downtown area and that major sprawl does not take away from the charm and character of this beautiful downtown.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.foothillfoodietours.com
- Instagram: @foothillfoodietours
