Niche Biz: Local Tours

Who knows your community better than you? If you know where all the great places to visit and eat are at in your town and city, why not start your own tours for tourists?

That is exactly what Julia Segal is doing with her own business, Kingston By Fork. According to Frontenac EMC, she started a food tourism business with some help from The Entrepreneurship Centre’s Summer Company program.

Segal offers two tours: Homegrown Eats, which allows participants to experience the local food scene in Kingston and ends with lunch at Aqua Terra by Clark Restaubistro, and A Taste of the World, which focuses on the diverse tastes that can be found in the Limestone City. Segal approached downtown business and restaurant owners with her idea, hoping they’d be eager to participate.

“I started calling people and started dropping in and talking to managers and owners,” says Segal. “It was really nerve-wracking at first, but it got easier really quickly because people were so positive and so receptive to the idea.”

Virg Allegrini, the owner of Pasta Genova, took Segal up on the offer to include his store on a tour.

“I thought it was a great idea,” he says. “It’s promoting a lot of local, established businesses in Kingston. All around, it seemed like a no-brainer.”

Photo by Matt Davis

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