Charleston Culinary Tours
Charleston Culinary Tours is a privately held, owner-operated guided food and drink tour company in Charleston, South Carolina, offering walking tours, hands-on cooking classes, a historic supper club, and private culinary events to individual tourists, corporate groups, and private celebrations.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersCharleston, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Charleston Culinary Tours does
Charleston Culinary Tours is a privately held, owner-operated guided culinary tourism business based in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 2010 by Oscar Hines, Glenn Morehead, and Guilds Hollowell, the company is currently run by partners Samuel Guilds Hollowell III and Guy Hollowell, with a headcount of 1–10 employees. It sells a portfolio of nine distinct public experiences — eight food and drink tours (Downtown Charleston Culinary Tour, Upper King Street Culinary Tour, Farm-to-Table Experience, Lowcountry Boil Experience, Charleston Kitchen Experience, Dessert with Death, Death is a Drag, and the Pubs/Taverns/Taprooms Tour) ranging from $60 to $125 per person, plus the Historic Charleston Supper Club, a four-course seated dining experience held in a French Quarter dining room dating to 1805.
The operating stack is intentionally light: a WordPress website integrated with FareHarbor for booking, calendar availability, and payment processing; Google Analytics for site traffic; Jetpack for advertising; YouTube for video; and active social profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TripAdvisor, and Yelp. The company also distributes through TripAdvisor and Viator third-party marketplaces. All tours are led by city-certified guides and built around curated multi-restaurant routes through Historic Charleston, pairing historical narration with tastings of Lowcountry staples (shrimp and grits, pimento cheese, fried green tomatoes, local seafood) and chef-prepared seasonal menus.
Revenue mechanics are direct-to-consumer ticket sales (one-time purchases per departure), supplemented by private group bookings (corporate team building, bachelor/bachelorette parties, custom group tours from $25+ per person), private dinner events ($1,050 for up to 10 guests at the Supper Club venue), and gift cards. The company is bootstrapped with no institutional capital, no parent company, and no disclosed investors. Its customer base is split between individual tourists visiting Charleston and group/event buyers; the destination itself — a Top 10 U.S. travel city for 18 consecutive years — provides structural tailwind, while the single-city, small-team operating model defines its capacity ceiling.
Charleston Culinary Tours firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Charleston Culinary Tours
- Legal name
- Charleston Culinary Tours
- Website
- https://charlestonculinarytours.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Charleston Culinary Tours is a privately held, owner-operated guided food and drink tour company in Charleston, South Carolina, offering walking tours, hands-on cooking classes, a historic supper club, and private culinary events to individual tourists, corporate groups, and private celebrations.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Charleston Culinary Tours industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Culinary Tourism Services
- NAICS
- Tour Operators (561520), Tour Operators (56152)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Food, Market & Culinary Culture Tours (THAJAAAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Culinary Walking & Market Tours (THAJAGAA), Cooking Classes & Chef-Led Workshops (THAJAGAI), Private Culinary Experiences (Chef’s Table, Home Dining, Market-to-Meal) (THAJALAH)
Keywords
Where Charleston Culinary Tours is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Charleston
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Charleston Culinary Tours business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Food Tour Tickets: Revenue generated from selling tickets to various culinary tours including Downtown Charleston Culinary Tour, Upper King Street Culinary Tour, Farm-to-Table Experience, Charleston Kitchen Experience, Dessert with Death, Death is a Drag, Lowcountry Boil Experience, Pubs Taverns and Taprooms Tour, and Historic Charleston Supper Club.
- Private Tours and Events: Revenue from private group tours, corporate events, team building experiences, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and custom private culinary experiences.
- Private Dinner Events: Revenue from private dinner experiences at the Historic Charleston Supper Club venue, accommodating up to 10 guests for $1,050.
- Gift Cards: Sale of gift cards for culinary tour experiences.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Charleston Farm-to-Table Experience - Most Unique tour showcasing Lowcountry seasonal bounty |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Downtown Charleston Culinary Tour - Best-selling tour |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Charleston Lowcountry Boil Experience - Hands-on cooking |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Upper King Street Culinary Tour |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Charleston Kitchen Experience - Hands-on cooking class |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Dessert with Death - Ghost tour with dessert |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Pubs, Taverns, and Taprooms Tour |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Death is a Drag - Limited time ghost tour |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Historic Charleston Supper Club - 4-course journey through Charleston history |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Historic Charleston Supper Club - Private Dinner |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Private Custom Group Food Tour |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Private Tours |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Charleston Culinary Tours product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Charleston Culinary Tours operates guided food and drink walking tours, hands-on cooking classes, themed specialty tours, and seated dinner experiences in Charleston, South Carolina. Tours combine historical narration with culinary tastings at multiple local restaurants, while private offerings include corporate team-building, bachelor(ette) parties, and custom group experiences. The company also sells gift cards for its tour experiences.
Product overview
Charleston Culinary Tours operates a portfolio of culinary tourism experiences centered in Charleston, South Carolina. The core offering consists of walking food tours combining historical narrative with culinary tastings at local restaurants. The product portfolio includes eight distinct public tour products (Downtown Culinary Tour, Upper King Street Culinary Tour, Farm-to-Table Experience, Charleston Kitchen Experience, Lowcountry Boil Experience, Dessert with Death, Death is a Drag, and Pubs/Taverns/Taprooms), plus the seated Historic Charleston Supper Club dinner experience. Private event offerings encompass corporate team building, bachelor(ette) parties, and custom group tours. Gift cards serve as an ancillary revenue product. All bookings are processed through the FareHarbor reservation platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Charleston Farm-to-Table Experience A 2.5-3 hour specialty tour showcasing seasonal Lowcountry bounty and local chef creativity, combining food, history, and walking elements. Priced from $125 per person.
- Downtown Charleston Culinary Tour A 2.5-hour best-selling walking food tour exploring Charleston's Historic French Quarter and City Market, with tastings at multiple restaurants. Priced from $95 per person.
- Charleston Lowcountry Boil Experience A hands-on 2-hour stationary cooking experience where guests prepare traditional Lowcountry boil (shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes) guided by culinary storytellers. Priced from $99 per person.
- Upper King Street Culinary Tour A 2.5-hour walking food tour exploring Charleston's historic Upper King Street neighborhood, named one of America's top 10 food neighborhoods, featuring modern and eclectic cuisine. Priced from $95 per person.
- Charleston Kitchen Experience A hands-on cooking class in Charleston's historic French Quarter at the company's 19th-century headquarters, led by Lowcountry culinary experts. Priced from $75 per person.
- Dessert with Death A specialty 1.5-hour ghost-themed tour combining storytelling with desserts in a 19th-century dining room, featuring sinister stories and morbid delights. Priced from $60 per person.
- Pubs, Taverns, and Taprooms Tour A 3-hour walking tour through Charleston's pub history in the French Quarter, visiting 3 local establishments with 3 drinks included. Priced from $75 per person.
- Death is a Drag A limited-time specialty ghost tour hosted by Kira Lee, combining sweets, screams, and haunted Charleston history. Priced from $80 per person.
- Historic Charleston Supper Club An intimate 4-course seated dinner experience in a historic French Quarter dining room dating to 1805, featuring food authentic to different periods of Charleston history with guided historical narration. Priced at $85 per adult (ages 21+), BYOB.
- Corporate Events & Team Building Private event experiences designed for corporate groups, team building activities, and company holiday parties in Charleston.
- Bachelor(ette) Party Tours Private culinary tour experiences tailored for bachelor and bachelorette parties and celebrations.
- Private Custom Group Food Tour Fully customizable private culinary experiences tailored for small groups with flexible scheduling. Tours from $25 per person for private group experiences.
- Historic Charleston Supper Club - Private Dinner Private 4-course dinner experience at the Historic Charleston Supper Club venue, accommodating up to 10 guests for $1,050.
- Gift Cards Gift certificates for culinary tour experiences, available for purchase on the company's website.
Companies that use Charleston Culinary Tours
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Charleston Culinary Tours technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Charleston Culinary Tours partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- FareHarborcoreFareHarbor provides the booking and reservation platform embedded in Charleston Culinary Tours' website, handling calendar availability, booking flow, and payment processing for tour reservations.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Charleston Culinary Tours competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Lowcountry Walking Tours: Direct peer — Charleston-based walking-tour operator offering historical, ghost, and food-adjacent tours in the same neighborhoods as Charleston Culinary Tours. Closest local competitor for the same Charleston tourist audience.
- Bulldog Tours: Direct peer — Savannah-based operator running historical, food, pub, and ghost walking tours, very similar portfolio breadth to Charleston Culinary Tours (downtown food, pubs/taverns, ghost-themed tours). Closely matched in business model and experiential product mix.
- Stroll Savannah: Direct peer — guided walking tours in Savannah covering food, history, and pub crawls with a small-team DTC model. Comparable in tour length, ticket pricing, and DTC booking flow.
- Savannah Taste Experience: Direct peer — a Savannah-based culinary walking-tour operator offering multi-stop food and beverage tours with similar pricing and DTC booking model. Highly comparable in product format, target customer (tourists), and historical-narration overlay.
- Taste Carolina Food Tours: Direct peer — operates multi-stop culinary walking tours across North and South Carolina cities. Highly comparable product format and target customer, and is the most obvious multi-city analogue if Charleston Culinary Tours were to expand geographically.
Broad incumbents
- GetYourGuide: Broad incumbent — global tours-and-activities marketplace that lists Charleston culinary experiences and competes for the same tourist search demand. Comparable as a marketplace layer rather than as an operator.
- Old Town Trolley Tours: Broad incumbent — large, multi-city sightseeing tour operator with a strong Charleston presence. Not a culinary-tour specialist but competes for the same Charleston visitor attention and hotel-concierge bookings.
- Viator: Broad incumbent — Tripadvisor-owned tours-and-experiences marketplace that resells Charleston Culinary Tours' inventory alongside competing culinary tours. Relevant as both a distribution channel and a competitor-discovery surface.
Emerging players
- Ghost City Tours: Emerging player — operates ghost-themed walking tours in multiple U.S. cities including Charleston. Overlaps with Charleston Culinary Tours' specialty ghost products (Dessert with Death, Death is a Drag), though focused purely on paranormal rather than food.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Charleston Culinary Tours social profiles
Digital presenceCharleston Culinary Tours financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Charleston Culinary Tours leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Charleston Culinary Tours funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Charleston Culinary Tours M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Charleston Culinary Tours
What does Charleston Culinary Tours do?
Charleston Culinary Tours operates guided food and drink walking tours, hands-on cooking classes, themed specialty tours, and seated dinner experiences in Charleston, South Carolina. Tours combine historical narration with culinary tastings at multiple local restaurants, while private offerings include corporate team-building, bachelor(ette) parties, and custom group experiences. The company also sells gift cards for its tour experiences.
Is Charleston Culinary Tours a public or private company?
Charleston Culinary Tours is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Charleston Culinary Tours founded?
Charleston Culinary Tours was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Charleston Culinary Tours based?
Charleston Culinary Tours is headquartered in Charleston, United States, in the North America region.
How does Charleston Culinary Tours make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Food Tour Tickets are the primary driver. The others are private Tours and Events, private Dinner Events and gift Cards.
Who are Charleston Culinary Tours's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Lowcountry Walking Tours, Bulldog Tours, Stroll Savannah, Savannah Taste Experience and Taste Carolina Food Tours. Broad incumbents are GetYourGuide, Old Town Trolley Tours and Viator. Ghost City Tours is listed as an emerging player.
Does Charleston Culinary Tours have an API?
No public API is recorded for Charleston Culinary Tours.
What industry is Charleston Culinary Tours in?
Charleston Culinary Tours's product category is Culinary Tourism Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAJAAAG, Food, Market & Culinary Culture Tours, with a secondary code of THAJAGAA, Culinary Walking & Market Tours. Its NAICS code is 561520 and its SIC code is 7900.