Food Tourism of Noho Nyc - Research Paper Example

? FOOD TOURISM OF NOHO, NYC and Food Tourism of Noho Nyc The primary objective of this research paper is to discuss food tourism in the context of Noho, NYC. Food tourism has become the most critical part of the tourism industry. Noho, New York City, receives several food tourists every day who visit the restaurants in the district. New York’s Noho Food Tour is the most famous food tourism program in Noho district. Food tourism restaurants in Noho include Siggy’s Good Food, Bohemian, Aroma Kitchen and Winebar, and Mile End Sandwich Sgop. Factors that contribute to increased food tourism in Noho can be categorized into socio-economic factors, changes in technology and product development. Economic recession, love for home-cooked meals, rising number of baby boomers, stiff competition and lack of knowledge about the significance of food tourism are among the factors that reduce demand for food tourism of Noho, NYC. The stakeholders in the food tourism industry of Noho need to strategize on how to mitigate the effects of limiting factors and maximize on the factors stimulating increased food tourism. Key words: Noho, foods, tourits, New York City, food tourism Introduction Food tourism is currently growing at a high rate, and is becoming one of the most dynamic and creative segments in the tourism industry. Food tourism is crucial in economies since it stimulates local, regional, and national economic development. The World Food Travel Association defines food tourism as the pursuit of the unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences1. Food tourists have interests in exploring unique food places filled with memorable experiences. Food tourists primarily intend to experience the food of the region, country, or area in designated places and restaurants. Food culinary is considered the crucial component of the tourism experience because it incorporates other aspects of tourism such as scenery, climate, and accommodation, which are of vital necessity to tourists. Food tourism is not limited to gourmet food; gourmet is a subset of food tourism, and it comprises of 8.1 percent of food travelers. Noho is one of the districts in New York City that receives several food tourists every day. Noho is a historic and vibrant district in New York City, which offers diversity of artistic, educational, commercial, and cultural and tourism features. The areas neighboring North of Houston (Noho) Street includes East 9th Street, Broadway, and Cooper Square. Artists started to occupy the Noho buildings during the 1970s and 1980s2. The District comprises of approximately one hundred and twenty five buildings that represent the period of the New York City between 1850s and 1910s. The Noho district also has early 19th century buildings and modest 20th century commercial structures. The district has potential for food tourism, although there are some factors that limit the amount of tourism available. New York’s Best Noho Food Tour Tour Description The Snapshot Godfather, good eats and Graffiti in the attractive Noho food tour is filled with little secrets of Italy, mafia stories and notwithstanding bites. Full Description Food tourists are requested to: tour New York’s cosy corners of Noho where old-world charm coincides with downtown vibe, test salivating eats from unique spots that specialize in traditional recipes and one-hundred year old techniques, and Walk through the same streets that were used by John Gotti and Martin Scorsese when they used to visit sites made famous by The Godfather. The tour provides tourists with opportunities to learn the color history of The Bowery and to explore its dark and seedy past. The Bowery is the original theatre of Noho district. Other possible areas of the tour include Skid Row burns and CBGB’s music venue; these venues were previously referred to as flophouses3. The participants in this tour also have chances of getting a glimpse of the cast-iron facades and the cobblestone streets of Noho in the East village and continue to examine the origins of New York City’s water towers, hollow sidewalks, and fire escapes. Tour Details When: Tours take place between Thursday and Sunday throughout the year Time: 11:45 am between Thursday and Friday, and 10:45 on Saturday s and Sundays Duration: Three hours long Rendezvous: Near Mott St. where payment receipts are received Weather: Rainy and sunny seasons Dress code: Casual and comfortable shoes and clothing Capacity: Sixteen tourists per group; each group is assigned one guide. Foods: Foods include seven tastings. Five of them are sidewalk tastings; that is, tasting is done inside the establishments while tourists are standing. The remaining three tastings are done while tourists are seated inside the restaurants. Food package: All food tastings are enough for most people’s lunch; they include bottled water and foods of New York Tours Neighborhood Guide are included. Food tastings can be changed without notice. Food substitutions: The tour provides food substitutions for vegetarians, but cannot guarantee food substitutions for allergies. Food Tours have been designed to highlight the best and unique food from each establishment. Cost: $52 Food Tourism Restaurants in Noho Siggy's Good Food The objective of Siggy’s Good Food is to set the standards for home-style and comfort food. The company aims to enrich the nutritional lives of the available food tourists and employees by coordinating in the process of serving superior quality food in a casual and warm environment. Food tourists of Noho district are mainly concerned with the comfortability of the environment in which food is served. The restaurant buys local food products to ensure freshness, and to support the local organic farmers. The management of Siggy’s Good Food promises to serve 100 percent organic, sustainable and whole-food ingredients at customers’ preferred prices. The food that is served to tourists should promise a difference to continue attracting more tourists to the restaurant. The philosophy of Siggy’s Good Food is based on its belief to provide good food that plays a vital role in the lives of citizens. The restaurant intends to promote physical and emotional well-being through believing in the power of food and its positive effects. Siggy’s Good Food promises its customers quality foods and services while ensuring that price is maintained within the customers’ desirable levels. The major parts of Siggy’s Good Food menu include soups, starters, salads, sandwiches, magic burgers, hot delights and grains. Soups are homemade, mainly from scratch with the fresh organic ingredients. They are mixed with organic chicken vegetable and lentil garlic. Starters cost between $7.5 and $8.5 and are composed of quinoa spinach cakes, black bean sweet potato cakes and parsley hummus plate. The restaurant serves Hummus with parsley and garlic topped with extra-virgin olive oil oil and paprika. Salads costs range between $6 and $12; the most common salads include live earth salad, simply greens, splendid raw slow and grilled baby artichokes plate. Sesame kale and cabbage salad is new in Siggy’s Good Food menu, and it costs $11. Siggy’s Good Food offers magic burgers such as turkey burger, veggie burger, wild salmon burger and beef burger at $11. Hot delights include macaroni and cheese, tofu lasagna, beef ragu pasta bowl and sauce bowl; all these costs between $11 and $154. Siggy’s Good Food operates in other locations, including Brooklyn, 76 Henry St., Manhattan and 292 Elizabeth St. Siggy’s Good Food-Brooklyn is closed on Mondays, operates between 11 am and 10:30 pm Tuesday through Sunday. Siggy’s Good Food-Manhattan remains closed on Sundays, open between 11 am and 10:30 pm on Monday to Friday. Siggy’s Good Food-76 Henry St. and Siggy’s Good Food-292 Elizabeth St. operates on all days of the week between 11 am and 10:30 pm. Bohemian Bohemian is located in the back of a building that used to be the property of Andy Warhol. Food tourists in Noho who want to access the Bohemian pass through the hallway dubbed Basquiat Road. The restaurant accommodates two hundred tourists in its apartment-like, low-ceiling room that has twenty-five plush seats, couple of coaches and a six-seat yellow bar. The walls of the restaurant are painted white in Zen simplicity. The park of the restaurant is made up of tatami mats while a diorama-like mini Zen is built into the wall to a central skylight. The features of the wall and ceiling composition provide uniqueness and beautify the internal scenery that is crucial for tourism. The Bohemian attendants serve a mixture of signature together with classic Asian and American cocktails. One strategy that Bohemian attendants use to attract and maintain customers is by ensuring they enhance the newness and uniqueness of each drink they offer to their customers. The attendants offer a mixture f American, Japanese and French small plate simultaneously. Food tourists have a wide range of choice; every customer goes for the drink that enhances their utility. The Bohemian management maintains a maximum of 60 percent capacity to ensure that their customers have enough space for enjoyment and relaxation. Aroma Kitchen and Winebar Aroma Kitchen and Winebar is located on Noho, 36 E St. between Lafayette and Bowery, New York, NY 10003. The restaurant is dedicated towards enhancement of food tourism. Aroma Kitchen and Winebar offers more than one hundred and fifty wine options at reasonable prices5. There is a working fireplace in the dining room for cosy dinners during periods of chilly months. The restaurant provides rooms for private events: La Tarvernetta that accommodates twelve guests and Farmhouse that has a capacity of twenty-two guests. Aroma Kitchen and Winebar offer beneficial foods to the customers; for example, customers enjoy a flight of three wines and antipasti for only $15 during aperitivo at the bar between 5 pm and 6:30 pm. A selection of wines by the glass and bottles are also available for 50 percent off during the aperitivo6. The restaurant provides a program named “My Aroma Awards”, which gives customers an opportunity to accumulate points for every dollar spent and a $30 off to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. The signature menu for Aroma Kitchen and Winebar comprises of gluten-free pasta made of corn or rice flour and is available upon request. The dinner menu for the restaurant comprises of piatti piccni, antipasti, primi, secondi, contorni and desserts. The Aroma Kitchen and Winebar menu bears the following foods: Arancini for $ 9, house marinate olive for $ 4, artisinal Italian cheese for $ 6, Italian cured meals for $ 14, warm beets and gornzola for $ 12, taralli for $ 5and sauteed broccolini for $ 9. The Aroma Kitchen and Winebar supports food tourism in Noho through its dedication to provision of personalised and intimate approach to event planning and design. The restaurant promises to create a customer-focused menu, select the right foods for customers’ events, and facilitate specific requests and personal needs such as decorations, special equipments and flower arrangements7. The restaurant has a passionate and experienced team whose primary mission is to make the food tourism and celebrations unforgettable experiences. Mile End Sandwich Shop Mile End Sandwich Shop is located in 53 Bond Street, New York, NY 10012. The shop operates between 10:00 am to 6:00 pm during all days of the week. Mile End Sandwich Shop offers traditional deli food, Montreal-style Jewish classics made of meats cured and smoked in-house. The signature food for Mile End Sandwich Shop is smoky lamb sausage layered with harissa and regional foodstuffs. The shop piles fillings between halves of onion-specked rolls, challah bread and fluffy pitas. Mile End is dedicated towards enhancing the effectiveness of food tourism through provision of a variety of foods and services8. Mile End Sandwich Shop provides dining halls for customers who prefer to take their foods from the shop. Reasons for increased Growth of Food Tourism in Noho Food tourism in Noho district has constantly increased since the year 2005. Additional joints and restaurants have been put up in Noho district, encouraging more food tourists to visit the place than before. Among the factors that have led to increased tourism in Noho district include socio-economic factors, changes in technology and product development. Socio-economic contributors comprise of factors such as increase in car ownership, additional leisure time and greater ownership of wealth. Most citizens in New York City and its environs such as the Noho district have owned cars. Availability of comfortable means of transport encourages people to travel in search of unique food restaurants within and outside the district. Modern companies guarantee leisure time and give holiday entitlements for employees to relax and enjoy themselves9. The working week across the United States has been reduced; this has added to the number of leisure hours available, leading to increased amount of time available for food tourism. People have come up with a strategy of working hard during early years of employment and retiring young. Early retirees have a lot of time to tour around because they had saved enough money for their retirement. Another factor motivating food tourism is greater wealth accumulated due to larger incomes, less number of children and two wage-earner families. These factors provide greater avenues for making sufficient savings that encourages food tourism in Noho district, NYC. Technological factors contributing to increased food tourism in Noho include availability of internet booking services, improved motorways, jet crafts, and computer reservation systems. Internet booking services assure customers that they will find their desired foods at Noho restaurants before they start travelling to the rendezvous. Jet aircrafts provides a convenient mode of transport to and from Noho for food tourists. Improved motorways also promise customers using cars that they can comfortably to and from Noho district without fearing involved perils10. Computer reservation enhances the quality of services through ensuring that interested customers have opportunities of reserving rooms and meals from their convenient places. Product development elements that accelerate food tourism in Noho, New York City, include package holidays, ecotourism, activity holidays, theme parks and weekend breaks. The restaurants at Noho district avail a variety of these forms of product development, which attracts several food tourists from all parts of the world. Factors that may limit Noho’s Food Tourism The factors that may limit food tourism of Noho include economic recession, rising love for home-cooked meals, increasing number of baby boomers, competition from establishments in other districts and lack of knowledge about the significance of food tourism. Economic recessions reduce the amount of money that people have budgeted for food tourism. When money is scarce, people tend to consume basic foods at their homes with their families to avoid buying expensive foods at the food at tourism centres. The current population is made up of majority of baby boomers; this generation believes that they need a relaxed and peaceful environment of their homes11. It is hard for them to go out for adventuring in form of food tourism. Other tourism entrepreneurs are actively investing in the food tourism business. The effect of this is rising cutthroat competition from other districts in New York City and outside the city. The implication of this is reduced number of food tourists to Noho with consequent reduction in profits for the district’s restaurants. Most people do not have the knowledge concerning the significance of food tourism; lack of knowledge is the greatest factor reducing the number of tourists visiting Noho. The Future of Food Tourism in Noho The future of tourism of Noho, NYC, depends on how effectively the concerned stakeholders will address the issues leading to reduction in number of food tourists. The first step to safeguard food tourism of Noho is to set prices that are consumer friendly in order to maintain demand for restaurant services during economic recessions. Second, food tourism operators need to carry out extensive advertising campaigns to enlighten the New York citizens about the necessity of food tourism. The advertisements and further information should be extended to baby boomers and people who love home-cooked meals12. Third, overcoming stiff competition will require the management of all restaurants of Noho collaborating to implement the principles of total quality management based on customer focus. The Noho tourism stakeholders will have an upper hand in inspiring customer trust and maintain the current customers while attracting prospective customer Conclusion Food tourism promises great opportunities for the residents of Noho district, NYC. Noho has more than one-hundred and twenty-five buildings with restaurants that are suitable to accommodate several food tourists every day. The restaurants of Noho offer beneficial services that attract new customers and retain the current consumers. New York’s Best Noho Food Tour program attracts several people from various parts of the country in to the district of Noho in search of food tourism. Most restaurants of Noho provide menus in their websites to ensure customers access the details about the restaurants when making decisions about their tour rendezvous. Restaurants that have adopted modern technology in areas such as internet booking and reservation will win more customers than those that have not because of convenient. Effective management of the restaurant is critical because it will enhance performance of operations and customer focus; these elements are crucial in managing the food tourism industry. Bibliography Aldredge, Marcus. "(Re) Constructing and Negotiating the South as Other: Southern Food Restaurants in New York City." International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research 2, no. 2 (2008): 152-169. Bessiere, Jacinthe and Laurence Tibere. "Traditional Food and Tourism: French Tourist Experience and Food Heritage in Rural Spaces." Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 93, no. 14 (11, 2013): 3420. Fridell, Gavin. "The Co-Operative and the Corporation: Competing Visions of the Future of Fair Trade." Journal of Business Ethics 86, (04, 2009): 81-95. Greenfield, Beth. "In a Distant Dot of Florida, a Taste of the Islands." New York Times, Jan 09, 2005, http://search.proquest.com/docview/432952132?accountid=145382 (accessed November 2, 2013). Huang, Christina and Tamara Dumanovsky. "A Brief Overview of New York City's Calorie Labeling Regulation and Evaluation." Nutrition Today 45, no. 5 (Sep, 2010): 226. Kelly, Bridget, Katarzyna Bochynska, Kelly Kornman, and Kathy Chapman. "Internet Food Marketing on Popular Children's Websites and Food Product Websites in Australia." Public Health Nutrition 11, (11, 2008): 1180-7 Martin, Sarah and Peter Andree. "The "Buy Local" Challenge to Institutional Foodservice Corporations in Historical Context." Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 2, no. 3 (2012): 161-175. Olivares, Orlando. "The Formative Capacity of Momentous Events and Leadership Development." Leadership & Organization Development Journal 32, no. 8 (2011): 837-853. Seaford, Bryan, Robert Culp and Bradley Brooks. Starbucks: Maintaining a Clear Position. Arden: Jordan Whitney Enterprises, Inc, 2012. Yaniv, Eyal and David Brock. "Replication Strategies, Knowledge and Attention: A Study of Coffee Chains." International Journal of Service Industry Management 19, no. 3 (2008): 379-399. Footnotes Beth Greenfield, "In a Distant Dot of Florida, a Taste of the Islands." New York Times, Jan 09, 2005, http://search.proquest.com/docview/432952132?accountid=145382 (accessed November 2, 2013). Bridget Kelly, Katarzyna Bochynska, Kelly Kornman, and Kathy Chapman, "Internet Food Marketing on Popular Children's Websites and Food Product Websites in Australia." Public Health Nutrition 11, no. 11 (November, 2008): 1185 Bryan Seaford, Robert Culp and Bradley Brooks. Starbucks: Maintaining a Clear Position. (Arden: Jordan Whitney Enterprises, Inc, 2012), 54. Christina Huang and Tamara Dumanovsky, "A Brief Overview of New York City's Calorie Labeling Regulation and Evaluation." Nutrition Today 45, no. 5 (Sep, 2010): 226. Eyal Yaniv and David M. Brock, "Replication Strategies, Knowledge and Attention: A Study of Coffee Chains." International Journal of Service Industry Management 19, no. 3 (2008): 379-399. Gavin Fridell, "The Co-Operative and the Corporation: Competing Visions of the Future of Fair Trade." Journal of Business Ethics 86, (04, 2009): 81-95. Jacinthe Bessiere and Laurence Tibere, "Traditional Food and Tourism: French Tourist Experience and Food Heritage in Rural Spaces." Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 93, no. 14 (11, 2013): 3420. Marcus Aldredge. "(Re) Constructing and Negotiating the South as Other: Southern Food Restaurants in New York City." International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research 2, no. 2 (2008): 152-169. Olivares Orlando, "The Formative Capacity of Momentous Events and Leadership Development." Leadership & Organization Development Journal 32, no. 8 (2011): 837-853. Sarah Martin and Peter Andree, "The "Buy Local" Challenge to Institutional Foodservice Corporations in Historical Context." Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 2, no. 3 (Spring, 2012): 161-175. Read More