7 - Foodie Tours (Southern Pines, NC)

00:00
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Biscuits and Gravy, a southern food and travel podcast. I'm Michelle, I'm your host and today I am talking about something really fun that I did with my college girlfriends a couple of weekends ago. So we've been looking for something to do together for a while now and we were kind of playing around with the idea of going off somewhere. And uh...

00:28
getting an Airbnb somewhere and that would have been fun and we still might do something like that. But I came across a really fun account on Instagram when I was doing a little research for this podcast and found Foodie Tours. So the Instagram account is Foodie Tours NC I believe. Let me look that up just really quickly.

00:57
I wrote down the website but I forgot to make sure I had the handle correctly for Instagram. Yes, Foodie Tours NC. So F-O-O-D-I-E Tours NC. And I will link that in the show notes as well. But Foodie Tours is really cool because this is like, this just speaks to my heart. This is something that I would love to do.

01:26
myself but In the Sandhills area, which if you guys have followed me for any amount of time on Instagram You you probably have heard me say before that I love the Pinehurst Area of North Carolina. So that's like the Sandhills area Pinehurst Southern Pines Aberdeen that area. I don't know why I've just always been really drawn to that area I used to work close by there

01:55
for many many years after I graduated from school. And anytime that I went anywhere with my friends, we would always go down to the Sandhills area and go out to eat and that kind of thing. And I just fell in love with that area. So anyways, so this is where the foodie tours happen is in the Southern Pines area of North Carolina. She does tours in Aberdeen, Southern Pines and Pinehurst.

02:24
She does walking tours most of the time but she also has an option for trolley tours using the Sandhills trolley. Now I've never been on the trolley so I think that would be an awesome tour. In fact I told her her name is Tori who owns the Foodie Tours. So if you book a foodie tour be sure to tell Tori that Michelle from Biscuits and Gravy sent you over there. But she's super sweet and I told her that

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would be booking another tour and hopefully with my husband this time and we'd like to do a trolley tour because I think that'd be super cool. But we chose to do with my girlfriends from college we chose to do a walking southern pines tour and it was for brunch and it was $65 per person which I after and I'll go through all the places that we went the things that we we tasted and I'll just

03:22
I think that was a deal for $65 because, and I'm sure Tori has this out, like I'm a business woman. I love running numbers and I love coming up with ideas and figuring out how to market and implement them and all that kind of stuff. And so in my mind, I was going through like, how is this business working for her? And I was like, she's really giving us a good deal on.

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on these tours, I believe. So I mean, I assume she's making money as well, but she's not profiting a lot. I don't think so. Anyways, she's doing a great, I think she's doing a great service for the community because she's taking people to these establishments. I mean, she's really promoting their establishments. So I really think that

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once people try them on a foodie tour, then they're gonna come back with their spouses or their friends outside of the foodie tour to be patrons of these businesses. So I think you're doing a great work, Tori, if you're listening to this. All right, so we started off, this is supposed to be a two and a half hour tour. It was a little bit longer. It was...

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really about three hours maybe um two hours and 45 minutes something like that. And I'll kind of explain why that it probably changes every tour. So one of the challenges with with doing something like this is uh you know just having to coordinate with all of these different establishments of a time that you're coming. It has to be a time when they're not very busy and um

05:12
then you're really at their mercy. You're kind of on a time crunch if you're going to all these different places and you've got a certain amount of time that you're gonna spend at each place, but what if something happens and you're not exactly on schedule and then it kind of throws off the rest of the day. So if you've been in any kind of service industry, you probably know what I'm talking about.

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when you have kind of a window of time that you're supposed to show up somewhere. If you're outside of that window, then it just throws your whole day off. So, all right, so we started out with sampling some of the crepes that are available at Betsy's Crepes. And we tried the cinnamon and the lemon. We did not actually get to go into Betsy's Crepes because Tori informed us that that was

06:06
super busy time for Betsy's crepes. So she actually went and put in an order for the crepes before she met us at the train station. And that's where we were all gathered together to start our tour. Let me back up to the other ladies in our tour. So there was, I think there was, hmm, if I'm not mistaken, there were ten of us total or eleven. I can't remember counting Tori the tour guide.

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But the other ladies that were in the group, so there was four of us girlfriends from Campbell University, that's where we went to school. And then there was another group of ladies who were probably, I don't know, probably mid-50s maybe. And they were college girlfriends as well.

07:00
from Penn State. So I thought that was really neat that they were doing a little college get together reunion thing just like we were. So we all met at the train station in Southern Pines. That's where we started our tour. So we ran by Betsy's crepes. We saw the outside of it and Tori ran in and got our crepes. And then we walked over to where the Southern Pines Farmers Market is held in a park. And we found a picnic table there.

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and Tori had a book bag and she had, well, she forgot her plates that day. She said they were with her other tour guide, but she had napkins and she had disposable forks and things like that so that we could all sample the crepes. I will say, so we tried a cinnamon one and a lemon one. I love cinnamon things, but it was like almost too cinnamon-y.

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I really love the lemon. I could have eaten a whole lemon crepe, I think, but I had just a couple of bites, but that was my favorite by far. So we all enjoy sitting there. Tori had even brought us some little bottles of water, and we all enjoy just sitting there chatting and talking about college and getting to know the other ladies in the group as well. And then after that, we headed over to the farmer's market and Tori gave us...

08:22
time to meet her at a certain booth. And so we all just kind of crows the the farmers market and I bought some tea from a tea vendor and then we met up with Tori and she had bought us some cronut. So she had a bag of those and she said she would disperse those at the very end of the tour. Then we walked over to a sit-down restaurant.

08:49
called Rooted and it was a vegan restaurant. And they were doing, it might have been just not the most ideal timing for them because we walked in and they didn't seem to know we were there, we were coming, even though I know Tori had arranged all of that and everything, but I think they were just very preoccupied because they were having their grand reopening that day. So they were like decorating the restaurant and everything anyways.

09:20
We had to wait a while there. So that was just, that was probably, probably the biggest hiccup in the day was just, they didn't seem to be prepared for us. And so we, but we didn't mind. I mean, we sat around and we just chatted and everything. They had a beautiful restaurant inside. We took a picture by a really pretty painted wall and just enjoyed each other's company.

09:47
They served us water while we were waiting, but they had made up for us some apple nachos. Is what they called it. Sorry about the screams. I am here. I am here with children today. So, so, uh, so they made us some apple nachos, which were just apple slices drizzled with honey and some nuts and some cow cow chips, I think. And, um, so it was really good. I.

10:16
Personally, I'm not a sweet for breakfast kind of person. Actually not very sweet eater anyways. Like maybe occasionally we'll have something sweet for a dessert or a special occasion or something, but I don't even really like fruit very much. I just don't eat a lot of sweets. And so when we started with crepes that were very sweet,

10:41
and then we went to apple nachos that were sweet. I was just like, I just didn't eat very much at all. I had maybe one apple slice. But everyone else in my group really loved it. I think that was one of their favorite stops. In fact, I asked my girlfriend. So when I get done with the list of places we went, I'll tell you what they said about about their favorite places. But you know,

11:09
the farthest from vegan that you can get. I eat a lot of meat and cheese and milk and animal products. So that would not be somewhere where I would dine normally. But one of my girlfriends in our group is vegan right now due to some health issues that she's having. And so...

11:36
So that was right up her alley was to go to a vegan restaurant. So, all right. From Rooted, we went to a place called the Ice Cream Parlor and it was on the main street and it was just a super old looking building. It was so cute, just very retro. And their specialty are hot dogs and they have like some, just some real...

12:02
Interesting combinations of toppings for their hot dogs. They have all beef hot dogs that they serve We tried a couple and I can't for the life of me remember what one of them was but one of them was called Something about a dragon Red dragon I believe is what it was called maybe and it had like Like wasabi

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and cucumbers and just some different oriental kind of flavors and it was really good. Next we went to a and we had to wait a little while at the ice cream parlor as well so that kind of threw off the rest of the morning as well. Then we went to a place called

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and Tori just told us to choose anything on the menu that we wanted and order it and she would pay for it. So I thought that was cool. I thought everything that we were gonna do that day was planned for us and already paid for and picked out and everything. But I thought that was a neat little.

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twist was that we got to choose anything we wanted. So everyone had a good time just picking what they wanted, looking around the coffee shop. The coffee shop had really cute merchandise to purchase as well. Some funny little tea towels and t-shirts and things like that in there as well. I got a dirty chai latte which is kind of my go-to when I don't really know what to order somewhere at a coffee shop and that's always always delicious.

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we went to a meat and cheese shop which already when they said we were going to a meat and cheese shop i was like this is going to be my favorite stop of the day it was called southern way w h e y which i thought was a really cute name for it and they had a very nice charcuterie tray that was just laid out in the window um they had you know those big storefront windows and um

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some cute seating and then one of their employees stood there and explained to us everything that was on the tray, where the cheeses came from. That's something that they specialize in there is that they have local, they source local meats and cheeses. So there was like a goat cheese. There was pimento cheese spread. There were...

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different slices of different cuts of Meats and I cannot remember the names of anything. It was it was all like so much to take in You know, and I couldn't remember what each type of meat was and but it was all delicious That was the only place that I was like I need some more of that So I had like a little sampling and then I went back and got a sampling of something different but

15:13
It was a neat shop. I enjoyed looking around there a lot. And then the last stop of the day was to the Southern Pines Brewing Company. And once again, Tori let us choose anything we wanted there. They had alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to choose from.

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I actually was so full from the meats and cheeses at the last stop and I still had most of my coffee left that I chose not to order anything there. So I just finished my coffee while me and my friends chatted and just got ready to go home and say goodbye to each other.

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and then Tori gave us our cronuts for the road and told us goodbye and then she actually had to head on because she was doing another tour at one o'clock and it was already probably 12.15, 12.30. So that was, it was such a fun time and I asked my girlfriends to give me some feedback so that I could share it with my podcast audience and that was what

16:19
they said was just that it was such a fun, interesting, like a unique outing to do with your friends. We've all talked about doing another one, doing one with our husbands along with us. Tori is really growing this. She started to book some international food tours. So she's expanding to not only our area, but also...

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She's doing two tours one to Paris and one to Italy next year and I would give just about anything to go to either one Of those but especially the Italian one Because that is like my homeland And not like Historically, but it is like that is that is my number one place that I want to visit before I die Is to go to Italy

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So in a food tour, I mean, that's one of the main reasons why I'd want to go to Italy anyways. So, so I am, I'm just thrilled that Tori is, is here in our area and she's providing such a neat service for the area and for the local businesses around. I really think it's very unique. In fact, Adam and I went out of town this past week to Charleston, South Carolina and

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The next podcast episodes will be kind of my breakdown of Charleston. And I'm really excited to go over those with y'all as well. But, um, you know, when we're out of town, we get to, it's the time where we get to just sit and dream and talk about the future together and everything. And I kept telling him about these foodie tours and he was just like, you ought to do something like that. And I was just like, I ought to do something like that. And, um,

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And I mean really that's what I'm doing right now. You know that's what I bring y'all along for is basically the same thing. I know I don't get to actually physically meet you and take you along to my favorite places to eat but this is kind of my virtual way of of doing that. I'm kind of your virtual tour guide to some great places to visit and to eat and so I don't know. I don't know what the future holds with that, but we have played around with that idea.

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maybe trying to introduce something like that even closer to home or not. So y'all be praying for me as I'm thinking through that. And if you know me personally, you know that I'm always thinking up new business ideas and just trying to figure out their marketability and all that. And that is super exciting to me. That's just where I get this,

19:03
the biggest high from is to think up new business ideas and figure out how we could implement them and how successful they might be and that kind of thing. So just the possibility of something similar to one of these food tours or some sort of travel tour is really exciting to me. So anyways, still thinking on that one, but.

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I do want you guys to go and check out foodytoursnc.com. That is Tori's Foodie Tours website. And you can book directly on her website, any kind of tour. You can see her calendar and what's available. She has she's booking more and more. I think in the beginning they weren't super often. I think there was maybe one tour a weekend maybe. And now I was just looking a few minutes ago and they are

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like three times a week, several a day. So she does walking and trolley tours in the Sandhills areas and like I said if you are looking to expand your travel to international travel then she is doing tours to Paris and Italy next year. So I'm super excited for her. I think this is a great business that she's got going.

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and I would love for y'all to support her and let her know what a good job she's doing and a good service she's doing for the community, getting people out, eating local food. And so if you do go and book your foodie tour, please mention Michelle at Biscuits and Gravy podcast and she'll know who you're talking about. I introduced myself there to her and we've chatted online as well.

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So she'll know who you're talking about and who sent you over and I would so appreciate it. But thank you guys for listening. I hope you guys enjoyed this and I hope you would consider booking a foodie tour for you and your spouse or you and your girlfriends. My kids were super jealous that I didn't take them with me to this one and so I may have to figure out something that at least the oldest one can do with me.

21:25
I know they do some pizza tours sometimes. She would probably like that. So anyways, I hope you guys are having a good week. And like I said, I will come back to you next time with the first installment of our Charleston, South Carolina trip, which I'm still on this Charleston high right now. So I am so excited to share with you all of the details from our trip and I will talk to you soon.