FAQs
Restaurant Tours allows people to visit multiple restaurants, one after another, trying the best of each place at a fraction of the price, in a fraction of the time. Our walkable, self-guided food tours allow guests to visit 6 or 7 iconic restaurants, ranging from award-winning haute spots to locals-only hidden gems. Each dining destination serves a tasting menu, or a collection of signature dishes in smaller-size portions.
Restaurant Tours are based on the food tours concept, culinary experiences that have operated in cities across the world for decades. Food tours allow locals and travellers alike to taste the best restaurants in town, where they often return for full visits in the future.
Restaurant Tours was designed with restaurant owners and their staff in mind, and provides tremendous benefits that directly boost sales and profit without disrupting your regular operations:
- Bring customers directly to your door, tell new customers and locals alike your story/history, of how you were able to successfully open your own restaurant
- Upsell automatically to increase profit, Implement onsite direct Marketing & Promotional strategy
- Get discovered by new crowds without lifting a finger, benefitting from our extensive partnership network
Restaurant Touring Company is free to join and simple to use. Get set up in minutes and train staff in seconds to book in new customers.
Contact us at Info@restauranttouring.com to get started or list your restaurant and we’ll get in touch within 48 hours.
Restaurant Tours was designed by independent restaurant owners, for independent restaurant owners. We made it free to join and incredibly easy to use, requiring just minutes to get set up and no changes to your day-to-day operations.
Here’s how a Restaurant Tour works for restaurants:
- Email us at Info@restauranttouring.com.
- We’ll follow up with a phone call and arrange an interview visit to get your story, tasting menu offerings and discuss monetary details.
- We’ll create at least one tour that features your restaurant, along with 5-6 other venues near you
- Booked customers present a QR ticket upon arrival, for staff to verify. QR codes carry all customer information including any special dietary needs. (Allergens etc.)
- Staff serve each group as they would any other customer on a normal working day
- Restaurant Touring Company will issue your payment on the day the tour takes place
We take care of all setup for you, front-of-house staff need to greet and serve tour guests as they would do during your normal day to day service. QR tickets can be scanned using one of the restaurants own mobile devices or The Restaurant Touring Company will supply you with a hand held QR Reader for the duration of the tour.
Tours are designed to have little-to-no impact on your regular operations. There are only a few things to take into account:
- Since customers pre-pay for their tour and The Restaurant Touring Company pays you directly, your staff won’t have to issue a bill to guests, unless they order additional food and drink during their visit
- Since tasting menu portions are smaller than normal, your kitchen staff should be trained in how to prepare those orders
The Restaurant Touring Company is currently operational in the Birmingham, with future expansion plans forthcoming for the wider West Midlands region.
If you’re located outside of the Birmingham area, we’d still like to hear from you.
Email us at Info@restauranttouring.com
Food Tour guests are a mix of tourists and locals, with a shared love of great food. Their goal is to discover new restaurants and return to their favourite places over and over again.
A great way of exploring a new destination for travelling tourists.
Restaurant Tours are designed to bring in new customers without affecting your existing business. People typically go on food tours to discover new restaurants, rather than visit places they’ve already been.
The tour ends back at the meet up point: Five Ways Tram Terminus.
Yes, Restaurant Touring is completely free to join. There are currently no membership fees, subscription fees, or any other out-of-pocket expenses, making Restaurant Touring a risk-free experience.
Restaurant Tours only require a hand held QR Reader for welcoming guests, this can either be a company mobile phone or a hand held QR reader which TRTC will supply for the duration of the tour, it is very simple to use and possible to work with virtually all restaurants, regardless of your POS system, reservation system or any other platform.
The Restaurant Touring Company welcomes independent restaurants of all types, spanning casual to fine dining, quick service to full service and cuisines from across the world. Bars and other drink-forward establishments are equally welcome to list on
Partners should be located in highly-trafficked areas with multiple restaurants within walking distance of one another. Multi-unit concepts are allowed if they’re unique to the area they serve. All partners are required to have valid licenses, permits and health inspection records.
Guests browse The Restaurant Touring company’s website and choose the tour they wish to participate in, fill out the form to include details of any special dietary needs or allergens etc.
They then complete payment and receive a confirmation email shortly thereafter containing their QR code ticket that will hold all information from the submitted form.
You’ll constantly be updated of the number of guests expected at your restaurant before the tour date. No other action is needed on your end.
Tour guests will present their confirmation email containing their QR code for staff to verify upon arrival. This acts as their ticket to show they’ve pre-paid, and includes details such as their tour date, any special dietary needs or Allergens information they selected when booking.
Tour guests should be treated as walk-ins. As long as they arrive during a valid time, you should seat them at the next available table. If no tables will be available for an extended period, you should ask them to return at later time or offer to treat their visit as a to-go order.
All restaurants on the tour will be within a maximum of 10 minutes walking distance between venues and the tour can be completed in any order so if one venue is full they can quickly find another that will be able to accommodate them.
Guests will access their tasting menus on their phones once seated. There’s no need to provide menus unless requested.
Tasting menus typically feature a selection of signature items served in smaller portions. Many restaurants list 2–4 options, though this can vary based on your menu and operational needs.
Tasting menu items should be representative of your restaurant as well as easy to execute in smaller portions back-of-house. Slider-sized burgers, single tacos and half-size pastas are a few examples of tasting menu choices.
Guests visit 6-7 restaurants on most tours, typically with one small alcoholic or soft drink at each. Unless you’re serving only drinks or only desserts, we recommend that your tasting menu equates to ~1/3 of a full meal.
Guests will have told The Restaurant Touring Company their allergies and dietary restrictions upon booking, this information would be stored within their QR code ticket.
Once QR code has been scanned your restaurant can address these issues in the usual way it does with standard guests.
Most restaurants have solutions in place to deal with common diets and allergies
Yes, included alongside your tasting menu, a small alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage is included on the tour. You can also sell drinks separately as upsell items, which guests can purchase while in your restaurant.
Guest no-shows shouldn’t affect you at all likewise if a guest cancels, we will always inform you immediately if there is a change in numbers or anything that might affect your pre-tour planning.
Guests can receive a refund if they cancel with enough advance notice, You can find our full refund policy on our website.
Kid policies allow you to regulate parties seeking to bring children, as well as communicate whether guests must be of legal drinking age. You will be responsible for enforcing your kid policy, and you have the right to refuse service to violators without issuing a refund. You’ll have the option to choose from one of the following kid policies when creating your listing:
All ages
All ages welcome. This is the default policy for most of our restaurant partners.
Youths and up
Children ages 3+ allowed
Pre-teens and up
Children ages 8+ allowed
Teens and up
Children ages 12+ allowed
Adults only
18+ allowed
21+ only
21+ allowed
Custom
Specify your minimum age requirement and any other conditions
Pet policies allow you to regulate parties seeking to bring animals into your restaurant. You will be responsible for enforcing your pet policy, and you have the right to refuse service to violators without issuing a refund.
You’ll have the option to choose from one of the following pet policies when your listing:
No pets allowed
No animals permitted, with the exception of registered service animals. Owner may be responsible for providing proof of service animal registration upon arrival. This is the default policy for all restaurants
Quiet dogs only
Dogs allowed under the condition that they don’t bark, bite or create any kind of disturbance to other guests or staff. Registered service animals permitted.
Most pets allowed
Most traditional household pets allowed, provided that they are well-trained. Contact restaurant for special circumstances.
Custom
Specify your own pet requirements and other conditions
Expected duration is the average amount of time that guests will spend at your restaurant during their tour. This mostly includes time to get seated, place orders, enjoy the tasting menu and savour the moment after finishing. Expected duration helps guests plan logistics around their tour.
Most restaurants have an expected duration of ~25 minutes, with some full-service restaurants lasting longer and some fast-casual restaurants taking less time.
While we don’t anticipate tour guests lingering longer than desired, we’ve created an optional time limit policy that outlines how long tour guests can spend at your restaurant during their tour.
Your time limit should always be longer than your expected duration, so guests should never feel rushed. You will be responsible for enforcing your time limit in the unlikely event that a tour guest stays for too long.
Customers pay The Restaurant Touring Company for their tours upon booking. The Restaurant Touring Company then issues payment to you shortly after each tour date. You do not collect payment from customers directly, unless they order additional food or drink during their tour.
We offer several payout methods:
- Electronic payment through Apple Pay, PayPal, Visa, Google Pay or another related platform. In many cases, there are no processing fees.
- Telegraphic Bank Transfer.
If you require a different method of payment, we’d be happy to work with you in making an alternate arrangement.
Yes, is is completely free to partner with The Restaurant Touring Company and requires no out-of-pocket expenses. We’re happy to support local, independent restaurants as a completely risk-free platform.
Guests browse The Restaurant Touring company’s website and choose the tour they wish to participate in, fill out the form to include details of any special dietary needs or allergens etc.
They then complete payment and receive a confirmation email shortly thereafter containing their QR code ticket that will hold all information from the submitted form.
You’ll constantly be updated of the number of guests expected at your restaurant before the tour date. No other action is needed on your end.
Tour guests will present their confirmation email containing their QR code for staff to verify upon arrival. This acts as their ticket to show they’ve pre-paid, and includes details such as their tour date, any special dietary needs or Allergens information they selected when booking.
Tour guests should be treated as walk-ins. As long as they arrive during a valid time, you should seat them at the next available table. If no tables will be available for an extended period, you should ask them to return at later time or offer to treat their visit as a to-go order.
All restaurants on the tour will be within a maximum of 10 minutes walking distance between venues and the tour can be completed in any order so if one venue is full they can quickly find another that will be able to accommodate them.
Guests will access their tasting menus on their phones once seated. There’s no need to provide menus unless requested.
Tasting menus typically feature a selection of signature items served in smaller portions. Many restaurants list 2–4 options, though this can vary based on your menu and operational needs.
Tasting menu items should be representative of your restaurant as well as easy to execute in smaller portions back-of-house. Slider-sized burgers, single tacos and half-size pastas are a few examples of tasting menu choices.
Guests visit 6-7 restaurants on most tours, typically with one small alcoholic or soft drink at each. Unless you’re serving only drinks or only desserts, we recommend that your tasting menu equates to ~1/3 of a full meal.
Guests will have told The Restaurant Touring Company their allergies and dietary restrictions upon booking, this information would be stored within their QR code ticket.
Once QR code has been scanned your restaurant can address these issues in the usual way it does with standard guests.
Most restaurants have solutions in place to deal with common diets and allergies
Yes, included alongside your tasting menu, a small alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage is included on the tour. You can also sell drinks separately as upsell items, which guests can purchase while in your restaurant.
Guest no-shows shouldn’t affect you at all likewise if a guest cancels, we will always inform you immediately if there is a change in numbers or anything that might affect your pre-tour planning.
Guests can receive a refund if they cancel with enough advance notice, You can find our full refund policy on our website.
Kid policies allow you to regulate parties seeking to bring children, as well as communicate whether guests must be of legal drinking age. You will be responsible for enforcing your kid policy, and you have the right to refuse service to violators without issuing a refund. You’ll have the option to choose from one of the following kid policies when creating your listing:
All ages
All ages welcome. This is the default policy for most of our restaurant partners.
Youths and up
Children ages 3+ allowed
Pre-teens and up
Children ages 8+ allowed
Teens and up
Children ages 12+ allowed
Adults only
18+ allowed
21+ only
21+ allowed
Custom
Specify your minimum age requirement and any other conditions
Pet policies allow you to regulate parties seeking to bring animals into your restaurant. You will be responsible for enforcing your pet policy, and you have the right to refuse service to violators without issuing a refund.
You’ll have the option to choose from one of the following pet policies when your listing:
No pets allowed
No animals permitted, with the exception of registered service animals. Owner may be responsible for providing proof of service animal registration upon arrival. This is the default policy for all restaurants
Quiet dogs only
Dogs allowed under the condition that they don’t bark, bite or create any kind of disturbance to other guests or staff. Registered service animals permitted.
Most pets allowed
Most traditional household pets allowed, provided that they are well-trained. Contact restaurant for special circumstances.
Custom
Specify your own pet requirements and other conditions
Expected duration is the average amount of time that guests will spend at your restaurant during their tour. This mostly includes time to get seated, place orders, enjoy the tasting menu and savour the moment after finishing. Expected duration helps guests plan logistics around their tour.
Most restaurants have an expected duration of ~25 minutes, with some full-service restaurants lasting longer and some fast-casual restaurants taking less time.
While we don’t anticipate tour guests lingering longer than desired, we’ve created an optional time limit policy that outlines how long tour guests can spend at your restaurant during their tour.
Your time limit should always be longer than your expected duration, so guests should never feel rushed. You will be responsible for enforcing your time limit in the unlikely event that a tour guest stays for too long.
Customers pay The Restaurant Touring Company for their tours upon booking. The Restaurant Touring Company then issues payment to you shortly after each tour date. You do not collect payment from customers directly, unless they order additional food or drink during their tour.
We offer several payout methods:
- Electronic payment through Apple Pay, PayPal, Visa, Google Pay or another related platform. In many cases, there are no processing fees.
- Telegraphic Bank Transfer.
If you require a different method of payment, we’d be happy to work with you in making an alternate arrangement.
Yes, is is completely free to partner with The Restaurant Touring Company and requires no out-of-pocket expenses. We’re happy to support local, independent restaurants as a completely risk-free platform.