We originally scheduled this for a Saturday while visiting family. A couple of days before, we were told that the Saturday tour had been cancelled, but we could have a refund or rebook for Friday or Sunday. We were able to make Sunday work, but I think that this is why we wound up with 20 people on the tour, which to be honest, is too many. As someone who has gone on many food tours (nearly 4 dozen), I think 6-12 would be ideal.
Our guide for the day was lovely. It was only her second solo tour for this company, but she was sweet and did a good job of wrangling us. She did say in the beginning, almost apologetically, that we’d be getting about 4 donuts between the stops. Now, 4 donuts and a coffee with a little history/culture and VIP, cut-the-line service for $30 seems reasonable to me. However, we didn’t get 4 donuts worth, we didn’t get to cut the line everywhere, and while it was nice to get to try a few more flavors than we might’ve on our own, we didn’t really get to pick, so in the end, I felt that we could’ve done this tour on our own, within about the same time frame, and for less cost. And none of the four in our party actually got coffee because we felt like it would take too long, so I think that should be something people pay extra for on their own.
Usually, I like taking friends and family on tours in their own cities because they usually learn something new, but I don’t think that was the case on this tour. Of course, some of the touring bits may have been cut because of the stupid long wait at Blue Star. Apparently, even though they are able to order ahead, Blue Star still makes the guide wait in line to pay, so we wound up outside waiting for 40 minutes. If they want to be snobby, I say drop them. They’re good, but there’s a bunch of locations. At the airport this morning, there was zero wait; I wish we’d gone somewhere else that’s only in Portland or just had more samples at the other stops.
We went on a Sunday, which meant that we started at Sesame (instead of Coco), then Blue Star, Nola, and finally, Voodoo. We had 2 donut holes, a bite of fritter, a quarter of a donut, a bite of La’ssant, a whole beignet, a bite of cannoli, and 2 quarter-donut chunks. I’d say that’s about 3 donuts worth if you’re rounding up. The one saving grace was that I asked before getting to Voodoo the best way to get half a dozen to take home to family (I was willing to wait in the line, just didn’t know the best time to do it); our guide brought me up to the counter when she picked up our order and I was able to sneak it in, which is not something I think you could do for everyone in the group, even though this was the kind of perk that would make this tour truly great.
Suggestions:
1) Drop Blue Star or have someone else wait in line so they’re ready when the tour arrives.
2) Make coffee extra
3) Let people make requests on the online form
4) If BS stays, take the donut holes from Sesame, so we have something to snack on outside while everyone’s waiting.
5) Give everyone doggy bags. Offer a sample (at least a quarter) of one thing on the tour and then half a doughnut (or a whole one per 2 people) to take home in a nice box, so everyone winds up with a nice assortment at the end and you cut down on the cutting and serving time.