Cape Cod Foodie Tours
“I wouldn’t have thought to do a food tour in Hyannis even five years ago,” confesses Colleen Franzreb, owner of the new Cape Cod Foodie Tours operation.
Launched this past summer, Colleen’s first foodie tour is called Hungry in Hyannis and follows a meandering 1.8 miles on and off Main Street for 2. hours spent sampling local goodies interspersed with quick stops of historic, cultural and architectural interest. The tour, which costs $42 per person, is conducted at a relaxed pace with frequent stops, including spending approximately 15-20 minutes at each of the designated tasting spots.
As the former Sales Manager for Pain D’Avignon bakery’s wholesale department Colleen had connections with most of the restaurants in Hyannis. She developed a real appreciation of what many young chefs and business owners were doing with high quality fresh food. In creating the food tour she wanted to support and showcase small owner-operated businesses, especially those that have been actively involved in the recent revitalization of Main Street.
Before launching her business, Colleen had taken food tours wherever she traveled. Last fall, she took an educational course with Shane Kost the lead instructor of Food Tour Pros, a company Kost developed from his own successful Chicago Food Planet to help others start and operate their own food tour businesses.
Colleen’s goals for the participants on her tours are threefold: to be entertained; to learn about the food scene in Hyannis; and to be moderately and comfortably sated. To ensure a mutually-satisfying experience for both participants and vendors, she limits the number of people on tour to eight. The tour a recent group of five—including both locals and tourists—took started at the Brazilian Grill on the east end of Main Street for rodizio-style BBq and included stops for tastes of an ethereal organic omelet prepared with local produce, Italian-style gelato, traditional neapolitan pizza baked in an Italian wood-fired oven, award winning chowder and the iconic Cape Cod salty oat cookies. By the end of the tour, all agreed they couldn’t eat a single bite more. Several actually tucked away their cookies for later snacking. Everyone came away with an appreciation for the range of cuisines on Main Street in Hyannis.
Because many of the stops are serving freshly prepared hot foods, Colleen does not allow tour participants to shop other than purchase water or other libations along the route. Before arriving at each successive stop, Colleen placed a discrete phone call so the food was, indeed, hot and fresh. Despite the ban on shopping during the tour, Colleen’s goal is to be the biggest customer of the stops on her tour by driving a lot of new business their way.
Colleen plans to run the tours seasonally from May to October. next year, she’ll start the tours beginning Memorial Day running on weekends until July 4, then five days a week until Labor Day, and weekends again through Columbus Day. She also plans to offer foodie tours of other towns on Cape Cod, so stay tuned.
800-979-3370 / www.capecodfoodietours.com Tickets must be purchased in advance.
