Foods of New York Tours

What Foods of New York Tours does

Foods of New York Tours is a private, founder-owned food and culture walking tour operator based in New York City, founded in 1999 by Todd Lefkovic. The company designs and delivers scheduled 3-hour walking food tours across NYC's most historic neighborhoods—including NoLita, Greenwich Village (two variants), Chinatown, and Chelsea Market & The High Line—plus half-day bus trips to Brooklyn and a separate walking tour in Beacon, NY (Hudson Valley). Its product portfolio consists of seven core public tour SKUs plus customizable Private NYC Food Tours for corporate outings and special occasions, with per-ticket pricing between $80 and $159 per person.

The business operates a lean technology stack centered on a WordPress CMS website with FareHarbor embedded as the booking and reservation management layer for calendar display, ticketing, and payment processing. Supporting integrations include Google Analytics for traffic analysis, Microsoft Clarity for heat-mapping and session recording, YouTube for video content, Google Maps for directions, Google reCAPTCHA, Microsoft Ads and Google AdSense for paid acquisition, Drip for email marketing automation, Podium for reviews/messaging, Atlassian Jira Service Desk for support, and Call Tracking Metrics for phone attribution. There is no mobile app, no public API, no proprietary ML or AI components, and no patents or trademarks on file.

Revenue is generated entirely through transaction-based streams: ticket sales for scheduled group tours, custom private group bookings (sold via inquiry form, with bespoke pricing), and digital gift cards/certificates. Customers are acquired predominantly through earned media—TripAdvisor (8,000+ reviews and a #1 food tour ranking), Google (400+ reviews), Yelp (450+ reviews), and extensive press coverage (NY Times, USA Today, Travel Channel)—supplemented by an extensive blog, organic Facebook/Instagram presence, a structured Influencer Ambassador Program targeting creators with 10,000+ followers, and paid search/social. Customer segments are split between individual tourists/visitors to NYC (primary) and corporate/private groups (secondary).

Name

Foods of New York Tours

Legal name

Foods of NY Tours

Website

https://foodsofny.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Foods of New York Tours is a private, founder-owned food and culture walking tour operator in NYC, founded in 1999. It runs curated walking tours across historic neighborhoods—Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Nolita, Chelsea Market—and day trips to Brooklyn and Hudson Valley for tourists, corporate groups, and private celebrations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Food & Cultural Walking Tours

NAICS

Tour Operators (561520)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Food, Market & Culinary Culture Tours (THAJAAAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Walking City Tours (Highlights & Orientation) (THAJAAAA), Neighborhood & Local Life Tours (Communities & Hidden Gems) (THAJAAAJ)

Keywords

• Food walking tours
• Guided culinary tours
• Neighborhood food tours
• Private group tours
• Cultural sightseeing tours

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Guided Food Tour Tickets: Customers purchase tickets for scheduled walking food tours across NYC neighborhoods including Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Nolita, and Chelsea Market. Revenue is transaction-based per participant.
2. Private Group Tours: Customizable private tours for corporate outings, birthdays, and group events. Flexible pricing based on group size and customization requirements.
3. Gift Cards and Certificates: Prepaid gift certificates for tours sold to customers as gifts or for personal use.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Foods of New York Tours operates guided food and cultural walking tours across NYC's historic neighborhoods (Greenwich Village, Nolita, Chinatown, Chelsea Market) along with half-day bus trips to Brooklyn and a Hudson Valley day trip. Each tour pairs curated tastings at local, family-owned establishments with neighborhood history and storytelling delivered by expert local guides, and is sold as a fixed-duration ticketed experience (3 to 4.5 hours) per person.

Product overview

Foods of New York Tours operates as a single unified tour operator offering curated food and cultural walking tours across New York City's most historic neighborhoods. The product portfolio consists of seven core walking/day trip tour experiences (including NoLita's Past & Present, Heart & Soul of Greenwich Village, Chelsea Market & The High Line, Flavors of Chinatown, The Original Greenwich Village, The Best of Brooklyn bus tour, and Gourmet Beacon Food Tour), supplemented by Private NYC Food Tours for customizable group experiences. Additional offerings include Gift Cards & Certificates and an Influencer Ambassador Program. Tours range from $80-$159 per person, with durations spanning 3-4.5 hours. The company handles all planning, reservation management via FareHarbor, and provides expert local guides who share neighborhood history and food traditions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 10,000+ 5-star reviews across TripAdvisor (8,000+), Google (400+), and Yelp (450+)

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration13 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• FareHarborcoreTechnology or IntegrationBooking and reservation management platform embedded on website. Handles calendar, availability, and payment processing for tour bookings.
• Local NYC Restaurants and BakeriescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork of local, family-owned food establishments featured on tours. Companies partner with these businesses to showcase authentic NYC food without tourist traps. Featured establishments include artisanal shops, historic eateries, and neighborhood favorites.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• EatWith: Online marketplace for chef-hosted dining experiences and food tours in cities worldwide. Overlaps with Foods of New York on culinary experience product and tourist buyer, but operates as a marketplace rather than a single-operator brand.
• Withlocals: Global marketplace connecting travelers with local hosts for food tours, tastings, and cultural experiences in 90+ cities. Comparable curated local-experience offering and tourist customer, though platform-mediated rather than proprietary product.

Direct peers

• Delicious Italy: NYC-focused Italian food tour operator featuring Little Italy and Greenwich Village tastings. Directly overlapping itinerary, customer segment, and pricing — close substitute at the neighborhood-tour level.
• Wall Street Walks: NYC-based walking tour operator providing Financial District and themed neighborhood tours with experienced local guides. Competes for the same guided small-group tour customer, primarily visiting tourists and corporate groups.
• Underground Donut Tour: Multi-city food walking tour operator running themed tastings tours in NYC and other US cities. Directly comparable transactional per-ticket food tour model and target tourist segment, sharing review-driven discovery channels like TripAdvisor and Viator.
• Urban Oyster: NYC-based tour operator running food, drink, and history walking tours (often themed around craft beer and historic neighborhoods). Overlaps with Foods of New York on delivery mechanism (guided small-group walks), pricing band, and customer profile.
• Big Onion Walking Tours: Long-standing NYC walking tour operator offering themed neighborhood walks with historian guides. Closely comparable delivery model (guided small-group walks) and customer segment (visitors seeking cultural/historical context), though not food-focused.
• A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours: NYC-based tour operator running Brooklyn-themed bus and food tours with similar neighborhood storytelling and tasting formats. Competes directly for the same tourist customer base and corporate outing budget in New York.
• Moishe's Walking Tours: NYC-based walking tour company offering themed historic and neighborhood walks, including some food-focused variants. Comparable guided small-group delivery model and tourist customer base.

Broad incumbents

• Viator (Tripadvisor): Largest global tours-and-attractions marketplace owned by Tripadvisor. Provides distribution and discovery for the company's tours via FareHarbor and offers competing operators the same channel access; relevant as the dominant distribution and competitive landscape context.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/foodsofnytours
• Instagraminstagram.com/foodsofnytours
• Xx.com/FoodsofNYTours
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/foods-of-new-york-tours

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Foods of New York Tours