​Musings About Large Multinational Companies

I started Off The Beaten Path Food Tours in 2017, as a love letter to neighborhoods of Boston. It's a hybrid of a mission-forward business and an arts organization as it doesn't make much money for us but we are able to channel money into independent consultant guides and restaurants that are funky and interesting small businesses.

COVID was difficult for the business. We had to close down everything, and we slowly worked hard to reopen tours and start new ones. Juggling new parenthood, working largely remotely at night, and working all of the time, we were able to put forth a great effort to grow the business.

Recently, we made a big push to redo the website. It cost a lot, we spent countless hours updating it, and I put in the intellectual capital to learn a new software, Gutenberg, to help it run more efficiently and smoothly on WordPress.

With the girls entering Kindergarten, we have big plans to expand the tours and regain the areas we have lost including private tours, a new Fenway Tour, starting Quincy Food Tours, and re-starting Lowell. 

Imagine my surprise when my guide called me up that she had unexpected guests on her Harvard Square Food Tour. She checked the ticket over and over to understand what was happening. Turns out, even though I've been running these tours since 2017, Secret Food Tours which runs an international company and has no local ties, decided to create their own Harvard Food Tour. They saw our success and wanted to squash us. Looking at their website, I realized they did a rushed job with strange restaurant choices that weren't even shown correctly on their website or photos, fake and probably paid reviews, and NO partnerships with these restaurants they go to - they basically order off the menu without building relationships or content. I verified this with Wusong Road, who unfortunately told me recently they don't want to be on any food tours but much to my surprise are on the Secret Food Tours tour without their knowledge. Wild.

A month later, I notice some confusing items in my feed including TripAdvisor/Viator showing a Harvard Square Donut Adventure that's not my Harvard Square Donut Tour! I spent two years creating the tour, starting it in 2024. I did notice a drop in sales for both of these tours recently. I started googling myself again and noticed Underground Donut Tours, which does donut tours in multiple cities again with no ties to our local economy, tried to copy my tour by offering their Harvard Square Donut Tour.

So, think about it. Does Harvard Square really need two Donut Tours? And two Food Tours? No. Do these companies need to come into the market due to demand? Especially since ours are unequivocally BETTER, more THOUGHTFUL, CHEAPER, a greater VALUE, better and more delicious FOOD, and an overall better experience that improves our local economy all-around. 

The answer is: these big guys saw me, got jealous, and wanted to squash me. What do they have? They do have the larger website with the stronger backlinks that's potentially been open more years than me. They have a larger budget to run search ads to run above my tour search in Google.

And what's the point? Can't they just stay in the Boston market running run-of-the-mill tours in the North End with guides that report to some office in another city or country?

The same year, a shady sleazy subpar guide of mine also stole my concept and is running copy-cat tours himself. He's googling me and trying to run everything out of my playbook. It's frustrating, it's unfair, and he has to live with himself. 

​Sadly, Google isn't "fair". They don't prioritize originality. They don't reward the honest, hard worker. Tell me, dear readers, what would YOU do in this situation? How do we remain competitive in a tough market? How do I boost morale for my disappointed guides? How do I continue to promote these partners if fewer guests are booking? How do I stay up late working hard when so much is now against us? Have you been in a similar situation?