B.C. is helping Canada become a world leader in the field of culinary tourism, says the executive director of the International Culinary Tourism Association.

Erik Wolf, whose Portland, Ore., based group has 450 members in 19 countries, said B.C.’s location on the Pacific Ocean, its agriculture, wineries and diverse ethnic dishes, among other factors, have combined to make the province a dining mecca for the overseas traveller.

As a result, predicted Wolf, B.C. will become even more attractive in the years ahead and culinary tourism will help boost Olympic-related traffic.

Culinary tourism is defined as anything about the food or beverage that makes a traveller’s trip memorable or unique. Most culinary tourists are just regular travellers who look forward to a good dining experience in addition to whatever else they are doing. But some do travel to a specific place just because of the meals that it offers, said Wolf.

“(Food) is a common denominator,” said Wolf, as he drove through Washington state back from the ICTA’s first international conference on culinary tourism held last week in Victoria.

“Not all people will visit a museum. Not even everyone will stay at hotels – but everyone has to eat.”

Dining is an experience, said Wolf, because it involves all five senses – taste, sight, sound, touch and smell. B.C. food manufacturers and providers and the tourism industry are banding together to try to woo the international food lover.

Tourism B.C. offers its SuperHost customer-service training program locally and internationally in such countries as New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico. Considering that travellers may spend up to three hours in a restaurant, SuperHost trains servers on how to assist travellers who need directions to various venues and other information during their stay.

Nancy Frederickson, Tourism B.C.’s training co-ordinator, said it’s vital for servers to create a good first impression for travellers to ensure that they return to the province.

“They’re the frontlines when visitors go into restaurants,” said Frederickson, adding the first impressions of the customer are critical.

SuperHost, created in 1985 in preparation for Expo ’86, offers eight different workshops while also producing customer-service programs and developing curriculum for customer-service trainers.

In full-day, half-day, three-hour or customized sessions, Tourism B.C. trainers offer tips on telephone techniques, good communication, creating first impressions and other customer-service skills.

Geoffrey Howes, chairman of the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association and also a member of the B.C. Culinary Tourism Assoc., said culinary tourism is part of the global trend that has seen a boom in cooking.

“So there’s a whole culture now of people who are travelling to places where there are unique foods,” said Howes.

And people are willing to pay a premium for those products. As a result, one of the three restaurants that Howes manages, the Salmon House on the Hill in West Vancouver, is going through a rebranding to emphasize local specialties.

“There’s more work and there’s more of a cost,” said Howes, but he suggested, the extra effort is worth it.
Since smaller producers are more conscious of the culinary tourism movement, said Howes, they’re producing better products. But larger companies must do a better job of getting those products to market – because they are simply not available from major
suppliers.

Howes, who also manages Aqua Riva in downtown Vancouver and Horizons on Burnaby Mountain, said B.C.’s economic factors – such as SARS and the government of the day – make it difficult to determine how the local emphasis has boosted business. But restaurants that push fresh local products are “way busier” than the ones that do not.

“It all kind of works together,” said Howes. “There’s no magic silver bullet.”

But Erik Wolf believes small food manufacturers and providers, such as wineries and restaurants, could do a better job of working together with larger organizations.

For example, he said, last week’s conference in Victoria took months to organize as large and small companies concentrated on their own activities, whereas it would have taken a few days to set up in California.

Bigger companies can provide a foundation, stability and money to the relationship, while the smaller firm brings a better product, said Wolf.

“And I don’t know if the smaller players understand that yet,” said Wolf. “It’s an ongoing educational process. It won’t happen overnight. It’s certainly nothing negative. It’s just how (smaller companies) are. Usually, they don’t have the staff or the money to put in things.”

Wolf praised B.C.’s tourism industry for using food in its promotions and advertisements. He said B.C. and Ontario are neck and neck for first place when it comes to culinary tourism in Canada.

Next year, the ICTA plans to hold a larger conference, including food and restaurant and tourism personnel from B.C., Oregon and Washington State.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)