Developing a Culinary Tourism stratergy and Action Plan

Whether it is developing a regional concept or developing a concept on a site, success revolves around having a strategic and action plan. That plan may need to be shared with stakeholders including financial partners that may need to be engaged to make sure the development achieves its objectives in the timeframe proposed. There are various ways to put a business plan together, but the owners of the venture need to define ‘The Vision’ and ‘The Values’ if they are expecting ‘buy in’ from outside parties. According to the ‘Ontario’s Four-Year Culinary Tourism Strategy and Action Plan 2011–2015’34 there are ten success criteria that have to be built into a strategic plan. Those criteria are: 1. Leadership. 2. Market-ready products and resources. 3. Integrated business strategy. 4. Partnership and community-based collaboration. 5. Financial support and performance measures. 6. Destinations with good access from key origin market. 7. Sufficient market intelligence. 8. Culinary tourism resources distinctive to the region. 9. Destination with multiple food tourism experiences. 10. An effective marketing organization. This priority list could be used as the headings in developing the strategic and action plan for a business. Our advice when developing a strategic and action plan is to approach it as follows. Step One Carry out a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. What are the genuine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the venture? This needs honesty and a number of the team engaged in the project should be involved in the development of the plan.
Step Two List the strategies that need to be carried out; at this point do not prioritize them, but get the list out so that this can be shared with the working party. Once everyone has seen the list, then ask individuals to put them into order of priority and then obtain a consensus on the priority list. Step Three Have a document that reads as follows, so it is easy for all parties to read and understand: Overall Objective Strategic Plan Action Plan Timeframe Person Responsible Step Four Write your business plan, including the conclusion and summary, at the beginning of the report. The summary is the last thing that is written, but the first thing that is read by an outside party. Its aim is to draw the reader into the project. The key to any business is to stand back, look at the opportunities, and be a realist. There are huge opportunities in food tourism, but businesses will still fail if they do not do their homework and plan to be successful. Taking time at the start of the venture can save time later on in the project. Successful businesses have a clear understanding of the consumer and what that consumer wants and more importantly what they do not want. The next chapter will focus on the culinary tourist and their changing needs and wants.