CHICAGO’S ‘FOOD LOVERS’ TOUR COST $532 FOR CHAIN RESTAURANTS AND FREE SPOTS, PROMPTING TWITTER MOCKERY!
DOWNTOWN — A “Foodie Lovers” tour promised to take visitors to see some of Downtown’s most famous sites and to try its iconic foods. The tour, which cost more than $500, was advertised as a way for visitors to get a taste of the city’s best-known dishes.
The hitch: The “all-inclusive” tour’s stops were all free to enter. The food it would provide isn’t exactly $500 fare.
The tour was supposed to take visitors to the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower, and Buckingham Fountain. It would also include a Portillo’s hot dog, a small Garrett’s popcorn, an Al’s Italian beef sandwich, a slice of deep-dish pizza, and a Do-Rite Donut. In addition, bottled water would be included.
The price tag: $532.50 per guest.
This naturally caused objection from Chicagoans.
“We can take you to all these places for just $5,” the CTA wrote on its Twitter.
The tour, which was shared by sportswriter Matt Lindner in a tweet, went viral after he simply captioned it with the word, “Don’t.” Hundreds of people replied to or shared Lindner’s tweet, expressing their own outrage at the content of the tour.
The tour that got shared on social media was listed on FeverUp, which is a website that sells entertainment tickets around the globe. The tour tickets were selling at an alarming rate, and by Friday morning, they were all gone.
A spokesperson for FeverUp, when asked for comment, redirected requests to Viator, another online marketplace for tours. The spokesperson said that FeverUp is currently in talks with Viator and that they are hopeful a deal can be reached.
The high cost of the tour is due to a technical error that did not lower the per-guest price when more people were added to the reservation. The $532.50 price on FeverUp represents a private tour for just one person.
The tour, which was originally posted on Viator, has now been reposted on the site. The price for one person is still listed as $532.27—just 23 cents less than the original price. However, you can now pay a total of $638 for two people.
The tour operator ForeverVacation sets the itinerary for Foodie Lovers, Natale said. Based in Indonesia, ForeverVacation lists the Foodie Lovers tour at $239 per person on its website.
It seems that the inflated cost for Foodie Lovers on other sites may be due to a third party reselling our tour. When asked for comment, representatives for ForeverVacation said that they did not have any further comment at this time.
“But if you’re looking for a real food tour, I’d suggest starting [on the South Side] with tavern-style pizza at Vito & Nick’s, then a taco crawl in Pilsen, followed by Harold’s. After that, you can head Downtown for the tourist staples like Garrett’s popcorn and a bottle of water,” Lindner said.
Veeck recommends avoiding large websites with many listings for tours that cost more than $200, and instead booking a tour from a local provider. Among the offerings: a tour from the Chicago Architecture Center, Mike McMains’ “ugly buildings and city rats” tour, and Mahogany Tours led by local historian Shermann “Dilla” Thomas.
“I don’t understand why the Foodie Lovers tour would include seeing the Buckingham Fountain in December,” Lindner said. “The water is already turned off by that time of year.”
All of this really spoke to Chicagoans, Lindner said. There are so many tourists that come and won’t venture far from Michigan Avenue. If you’re doing a foodie tour and just offering chain restaurants in the Downtown area, you’re not giving people the full experience.
Read More: Block Club Chicago