Gourmand Tours: The Origin Story
It all started back in 2011. My family took a to Seattle and on the itinerary was the famous walking tour of Pike's Place Market. I greedily enjoyed the samples and bites (me: a hungry college student) as we were guided through the town's history and long-time culinary presence, but my mom, Chris McLaws, was inspired. On returning home from this family vacation, I remember her talking about how great it would be to start a food tour in our own hometown, Park City, Utah.
Sure, Mom, I thought. It seemed like a Herculean task to start a business out of thin air. But just weeks later, Chris had established an LLC, designed her brand, and invited her friends on her first official food tour. Gourmand Tours was born.
It was a slow, grassroots growth over the years, but more and more people heard about Chris' fun, friendly, and gastronomic tour. With word of mouth marketing and TripAdvisor reviews flowing, the business gained regular, weekly attendance.
Covid hit Gourmand Tours as hard as it hit the rest of the country's restaurant and tourism industry. There was over a year of tour hiatus, and getting back into the swing of things was rocky. The business had lost most of its momentum and networking, and getting guests to join also was a struggle.
However, in the years since Covid, Gourmand Tours grew to its previous strength and surpassed all expectations. I (Hi 👋 my name is Rachel and I'm Chris' daughter) jumped on the team to help with communications and ran tours when Chris couldn't. Chris, a full time therapist and manager over other team members, decided to step back from running so many tours (a decade of entertainment earned her an early retirement from it) in 2022 and gave me full responsibility over the company and I have been following in her footsteps continuing our family legacy on Park City Main Street.
Tours are still held weekly in group forum (different couples and groups sign up for a mixed group-type tour) as well as private tours being regularly set up for corporate and other private events.
Park City has changed dramatically since the days I was growing up there and our journey being a part of its legacy and development is a badge of honor for me and my mom.
Welcome to Le Blog Gourmand. It is my dream to start making record of our company's history, the history of Park City as well my family and friend's greatest recipes. So join me in experiencing life through food. Enjoy!
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