- September 17, 2024
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When Susan Robinson opened her business, Key Concierge, on St. Armands Circle, she recognized the wealth of restaurants and the history the area held.
But it took a lot of work for most tourists and locals to understand the depth of its culture without digging for it themselves.
The answer to this problem was Robinson’s must-do itinerary item every time she travels — a culinary tour. Robinson said she doesn’t visit a city without going on a culinary tour because it is the perfect combination of cuisine and history to experience what each location has to offer.
After being inspired by a client looking to show off the area to family members, Robinson created Key Culinary Tours in 2016. Now, the company has expanded past St. Armands to provide various opportunities for people to experience the culture of Sarasota, Venice and Bradenton.
“We feel like we're ambassadors to Sarasota or Venice or whatever town we're in,” Robinson said. “We want to show the location in its best light. We want people to come away feeling favorable not just about the food they ate, but about the city they're vacationing in.”
Starting as the only tour guide in 2016, Robinson led tourists from all over the country through St. Armands Circle to share its unique cuisine and history. But tourists aren’t the only audience she reaches.
She is proud that about half her customers are locals. The tours allow locals to experience their favorite restaurants differently since they're being presented for a group’s enjoyment. Robinson said the best feedback she received is when people tell her that they discovered their new favorite restaurant in town or learned something new about a restaurant they frequent.
“You can pick up a lot of secrets and a lot of information that you might not have known before about where you live,” said Robinson. “I love seeing people's eyes light up when you tell them something that they didn't know, or you tell them a bit of history that they're like, ‘I didn't know that.’”
Key Culinary Tours keeps locals in mind when choosing restaurants and crafting the concepts for new tours. Robinson constantly meets with local restaurants to curate stops for her customers. She takes into account what tour regulars recommend, what’s popular and businesses that reach out as well.
Robinson doesn’t lead as many tours as she did when she first started the company. Six tour guides have taken over to continue her legacy of providing top cuisine with a side of history. Currently, they are looking for more tour guides to join their team.
With the St. Armands tour as the original model, the culinary tours expanded to breakfast, lunch and dinner tours on the Circle.
The Circle is not the first place that comes to mind for breakfast, but the St. Armands Breakfast Tour is the perfect starter for locals wanting to experience a culinary tour because of its casual concept.
Mike and Sherry Dover drove from Venice to attend the breakfast tour. The tickets were a Christmas gift from their son.
“We haven’t explored Sarasota, and going on this tour introduced us to places we would have never tried,” said Sherry Dover. "It makes me want to go to the tours in Venice and come back to explore more of Sarasota."
There is no other way to start a historical culinary tour of St. Armands than to meet at the John Ringling statue. Tour Guide Susan Johnson, a chef and caterer, sets the tone by sharing how Ringling helped popularize St. Armands.
According to Johnson, people were scared to cross from the mainland over to St. Armands Key. In true Ringing fashion, he eased everyone's nerves by leading a procession over the bridge with his circus animals to show that it was safe.
The Dovers started their tour by trying breakfast crepes at a restaurant that Key Culinary Tours has considered adding to this tour: Cilantro Grill. They enjoyed seeing the Circle from a different view on its balcony and tasting a heavier meal to start the tour.
Johnson then led the tour group for the breakfast essentials of pastries and coffee at Le Macron French Pastries.
On the way over to the final eatery, Johnson shared how the area was supposed to be "St. Amand Key," named after a homesteader of the island, but instead a misspelling on the deed led to "St. Armands Key," which stuck.
The tour ended with mini donuts from Meaney's Mini Donuts as Johnson explained how donut holes came to be.
Robinson said people can continue to dig deeper into the history of the Circle in the dinner and lunch three-hour tours. Tour guides lead guests through four of the famous restaurants of St. Armands and how they connect to the story of John Ringling.
Along with their classic lunch and dinner tours, the team brainstormed unique ways to experience the cuisine of the area such as the brunch tour, “Taco Tuesday” tour and “Wine Walks.” The company also offers unique historical and ghost tours, such as the Wild Women of Sarasota, which Robinson leads.
Key Culinary Tours also expanded past just offering walking tours. They recently partnered with a local trolley company to offer tours that cover larger areas.
“What better bang for your buck than to be able to try sick food offerings, learn about the neighborhood that you're in, learn about the history of the city and have fun at the same time?” said Robinson. “What better combination of things to do than that?”
