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Business Voices is the Juneau Chamber of Commerce podcast focused on the people, ideas, and decisions shaping Juneau’s economy.
Each episode features thoughtful conversations with local business owners, civic leaders, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers who are working to build a stronger, more diverse, and more resilient business community.
This show reflects the Chamber’s larger mission: to support entrepreneurship, encourage responsible and sustainable development, improve the business climate, and help make Juneau a better place to work, live, shop, and invest.
Business Voices is a forum for insight, leadership, and shared perspective, connecting the people who care about Juneau’s economic future and the quality of life that makes this community worth building.
Welcome to Business Voices Juno, the podcast of the Juno Chamber of Commerce hosted by executive director Becca Parks. From entrepreneurship and leadership to growth, resilience, and innovation, this podcast shines a light on the businesses and voices helping define Juneau's economic future.
Speaker 2:Hello. And I am so excited to welcome you, Midgey Moore, from Juneau food tours onto the podcast. Thanks for coming.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you. I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as I've shared with you, food is one of my favorite things, and I think most important for community building. So I have just really been looking forward to this. We usually like to start out, can you just tell everyone who's listening a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3:Sure. My name's Midgey Moore. I own juneau food tours. And coming November 1, we'll celebrate our twelfth anniversary of Thank feeding people in you. It's been exciting.
Speaker 3:It's been really exciting. It's been quite the journey. A lot of evolution, a lot of going forward and backwards and stuff. But a lot of people think we just do food tours for visitors, which is definitely the big push of our business. But we have a lot of other little special things that we do as well.
Speaker 3:But the most important thing that we do is bring people together over food. And I think that is the most common way to do it.
Speaker 2:And how did that start? Were you a family dinner when you were a kid?
Speaker 3:What What did say, a fun question. So it all started really when I was a kid. My parents were excellent cooks. And so I was kind of a food snob from being eight years old. But when the other kids were outside playing and doing all the fun things outside, riding bikes and what have you, I was actually inside watching PBS cooking shows because I just thought it was fascinating.
Speaker 3:Always sponsored by Viking River Cruises, which my life goal was to go on a river cruise. And thanks to my business, I got to do that in 2016. So it was pretty cool. But yeah. And it always just I had this affinity for food.
Speaker 3:And as I got older, my friends would invite me to their houses for dinner and I would kind of manipulate it to go to my house because my mom was a better cook. And I was just like, I'm terrible. I'm just terrible. But the thing that I loved is how family dinners were so important in our households. And they still are, even with just my husband and me.
Speaker 3:Dinner time is at the table. It's not on the couch. It's not standing over a sink. Mealtime should be precious and should be important to anyone, whether you're alone or you have 25 people in your family. And I think that that's what started with me was that I just really appreciated how important meals were and food is.
Speaker 3:And then when I moved here in 2009, I started a food blog called Meals with Midgee that just took off. I was very fortunate. Capital City Weekly picked it up in the Juneau Empire. It ran for about six years. And during that time, I was able to get a job working for Travel Juneau as the manager of their visitor centers.
Speaker 3:And at that time, I had about 150 to 160 volunteer staff, which were fabulous. They were the cream of the crop of Juneau. They're just wonderful. And then but I kept doing my blog and stuff. And then when I started my business actually, what happened was my best friend worked at Travel Juneau at the time too.
Speaker 3:Shout out to Elizabeth Arnett. And she did the marketing. And she said, you need to start a food tour because she would take these travel writers around. And this was the summer of twenty fourteen. I I was like, I have a job.
Speaker 3:She goes, no. Every writer is asking me about it. So then I did some thought and some research, and then I asked some of my mentors. And I said, what do you guys think about this? And they said, well, you've been telling the story of Juneau food scene and all the different things about food for six years.
Speaker 3:It's the natural transition for your career. So I talked to my husband about it, quit my job, and started my business 14. And then we fed our first guests in May 2015 when the ships arrived.
Speaker 2:That is a great timeline. And can you talk a little bit about that process, finding capital and developing
Speaker 3:Yeah. So there were a lot of things that I knew that I wanted to do. One of them is at that time, there was a course. You googled it. And, oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:I can go to this place in Chicago and learn how to do food tours. This guy who had a very successful food tour company down there figured out how to train other people to do it. So it was very hot. It was one of the, like, really popular. A lot of my colleagues got started there.
Speaker 3:And through that, it was interesting because it was like a three day power course. But most of the stuff I learned, I already knew. It was just validating my thoughts. But it's also our market is so different because we're not in a landlocked city. We have people here for only a day.
Speaker 3:So pricing and marketing and getting your name out and stuff was a little bit different than it would be Chicago.
Speaker 2:Can you talk about those differences a little bit? I'm assuming you were working with the cruise lines?
Speaker 3:Yes. So I was very fortunate, very fortunate. So when I decided to do the tour, I was going to follow the template that everybody else had. Three hour tour, seven or eight locations, all this different stuff, and then price at this and all that kind of stuff. Because it was what everybody else was doing.
Speaker 3:It's like, well, why reinvent the wheel? But then I started talking to people in the cruise industry. And having worked at Travel Juneau gave me a really good insight in the visitor experience. Plus, my husband has his charter company, and that gave me the insight into being a tour operator. So I was able to get a lot of good information.
Speaker 3:And one of the things that I got really lucky with, and I'm always going to be so grateful, is the folks over at Princess Cruise Line said, We'll sell your tour right now. We'll do it right now. And I thought I'd have like two years. And so I had a little bit of a panic attack because I was like, Holy cow, that's real big. Because I'm thinking, I just want to do baby steps.
Speaker 3:But it was just the biggest win for me. I had a friend come talk me off the edge. He's like, alright, tell me how much you think everything's gonna cost. Let's price this out. And so he walked me through it.
Speaker 3:And so I was able to get my tours on Princess Cruise Lines the very first year, which really made it. So instead of feeding like, I would imagine 50 people if I was lucky, we did well over 500. And for my first season, I thought that was a huge win because I had one goal. The only goal I had was be in business for the next year. And then my husband, he was like, Oh, well you have to work during the winter.
Speaker 3:He didn't like the idea of me doing nothing all winter. So I was like, Hey man, I'm building an empire here. I do not want a winter job. And so I created a new tour just for locals in the wintertime and it sold really well. And so I was like, Oh gosh, I'm working during the winter.
Speaker 3:But it was fun. It was a prohibition tour. It was loads of fun. But the difference in the marketing and things like that is a cruise passenger is here for a day, and they are really trying to pack as much in that day as possibly can. And the big draws are bears, whales, and glaciers.
Speaker 3:You know, fishing, whale watching, flight seeing, any of those experiences are the ones that are on the top of their list of things to do when they come to Alaska and Juneau particularly. So where does a food tour slide in there? Well, I just you know, like, the stars were all in alignment. Food travel was definitely trending. And so I got in there right at that time where food travel was starting to become an interesting topic and travel writers were really interested in it.
Speaker 3:And here's this little lady in this small town in Alaska who's saying feed the world, you know? And And in 2013 at the Alaska Travel Industry Association's convention, there was someone from the World Food Travel Association who attended and said, Well, Alaska's not really a dining destination. And I was like, Hold my beer. Because I think Alaska is pretty darn tasty and people need to know about it. And so that's what helped me was working with Travel Juneau.
Speaker 3:I was a member of the chamber, working with Travel Alaska and all the associations, the DBA, being a part of these collective voices of the food of Alaska and specifically its capital city. And so people loved it. The writers loved it. So I was in New York Times, The Guardian, What was the one that everybody can't they just can't get over it? Was a fashion magazine.
Speaker 3:But all these different things and they're just like, Holy cow, how did you do that? And I was like, Timing. And also travel Alaska, travel That was their jobs, is to bring writers and talk about our city. So I was really very fortunate. And then after that, it got to the point where I have to hire staff.
Speaker 3:I had to hire staff the first year because I planned on doing all the tours myself, but then I had to hire staff. And now I have a full time year round employee. And then I have my guides, where we call our culinary hosts, and I have about 12 to 15 of them. And so every once in a while, I'm on a tour. I try really hard not to be.
Speaker 3:I want to work on the business that's in it. But if I get to do a tour, it's super fun. I just did one last weekend. It was really fun. And it's just great way to experience a community.
Speaker 3:And being able to tell that story is such a privilege.
Speaker 2:Do you have a food experience in another place that is like formative that you really remember that's
Speaker 3:Yeah fun to think actually I went on Flavors. Flavors of San Juan food tour in San Juan. My husband and I went
Speaker 2:Which San Juan? We've got a couple.
Speaker 3:San Juan, Puerto Rico. Okay. Yeah, we were on a cruise and it was so cool. It was really cool because I was like, this is neat how they tell this story. But it was very hands on and it was the food was really cool.
Speaker 3:And I mean, I really paid attention to how they did it, but also just the storytelling. And over the course of the year now, I've become a mentor. I coach other operators, food and otherwise. But the big thing that I tell people regardless of what your tour is, what is the story that connects those people to your community?
Speaker 2:Do you remember a snippet from that story?
Speaker 3:What are the yeah. Actually, the cats. It was really cool. So they have cats everywhere. And so much I think they had a rat problem or something.
Speaker 3:And so always bring in cats. And then the cats were all feral, and they went crazy. There's cat sculptures everywhere in honor of all these cats. And I just thought that was kind of cool. My husband, my favorite thing was that he had never really done food tours.
Speaker 3:Food is not his thing like it's my thing. He just loves that I can cook. But he likes good food, but he doesn't like he'll eat a hot dog boiled in water. And that's where I'm like, Ah! But he still talks about that tour because they had grouper ceviche.
Speaker 3:And he was just and some people just won't see ceviche is a love it or hate it. There's no middle ground. And so he's like, I'll eat yours if you don't want it. You know? And it was so cool for me to see him get so engaged with food because he's just like, that is one of the best things I've ever eaten.
Speaker 3:And I was like, how amazing would that be to hear that when people come here? And they do. They say that. They say that about many of our tastings. And so it's just really exciting to be able to be a part of that story.
Speaker 3:But I learned it from being a good listener. And what are your stories? What are the stories? You know, and I never make it about me. It's not about my team.
Speaker 3:We are the conduit to the stories, to the people that make juneau so delicious.
Speaker 2:So then I'm gonna ask for another story. Is there a visitor to juneau that you can remember that got turned onto something
Speaker 1:Oh,
Speaker 3:was let's exciting see. For Yeah, I'm trying to think. We've had so many fun ones. One of my favorites I did recently was I did a Jeep tour. We have a Jeep tour as well.
Speaker 3:And I did it with a colleague, his name's Jeff Volker. And he owns Underground Donut Tours. And he and his mom came to visit last year. And I loved it because we're colleagues. I don't really know him that well.
Speaker 3:And I said, hey, man. Let me let me just pick you guys up. I'm gonna take you out on a tour in the Jeep and everything. And then him coming and seeing juneau and see it, and like we go out to the shrine and different places and stuff. But then I took him to Tracy's, and then I also took him to the crystal for the ceviche and the blueberry mojito.
Speaker 3:And he was just blown away. He's like, Who knew? And I said, I did. And I said, You know, man, you made billions out of donuts. Look at when I'm doing fish.
Speaker 3:And we joke about it and everything, but his just this guy who's like a leader in culinary industry and everything, just being so amazed by how good the food is here. And he still talks about it. And he still texts me like, how's it going up there and stuff. And that really resonated with me. But the big, big one, Gordon Ramsay.
Speaker 2:Were you part of that?
Speaker 3:I was. It all started actually. I always tell my husband, I was like, This is the biggest feather in my cap. I think I've peaked my career with Gordon Ramsay. So I had been in business, I think it was like 2019.
Speaker 3:So it'd been a few years. And I get this random email. And it's like, Hey, we've got a celebrity chef. He's coming to town. He really is interested in doing cooking alongside a chef there.
Speaker 3:And he really would like to talk to you, his production crew. And I was like, Cool. So we set up a phone call and everything. And they're from UK. And her name was like Ginger or something.
Speaker 3:It was a really cute name. And I had her on speaker phone, and my husband happened to be sitting there. And I said, We're going over some of the logistics, and I'm trying to get them to come in May because it's beautiful here in May. And they had to come in February. Sometimes.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I was like, Yeah, right. Of late, maybe not so much. So they were coming in February. And so we were working out some logistics and everything.
Speaker 3:I said, You know, I just have to ask, why juneau? Why did reach out to me? And she said, we googled food in Alaska. We googled food in Alaska. And because of that, all roads pointed to Juneau and to you.
Speaker 3:And I felt like I had done my job, that I got the word out that Juneau was delicious, that we have these amazing food things here, and that we really bring it. And so then he cooked with chef Lionel Udipa, who owns Red Spruce. He's just a sweetheart. I love him to death. One of the most unsung heroes of the food scene here.
Speaker 3:Quite a few. And he it was just incredible. And so I got to go to the lunch that they made and everything. Gordon Ramsay is very charming. He's really, really nice.
Speaker 3:He's very funny. He's got a very good dry wit. And one of the things he made, because they had cocktails made with juniper gin from Amalgam. And one of the things he also made was a cured salmon with the gin. And so they had us critiquing when the chefs weren't there.
Speaker 3:And they were filming it. And I said, gosh, I'm just not tasting a lot of the gin in the fish. And I said, I thought that it would be a little more prominent because it is a pretty impressive flavor. And so when he comes in, they've got the camera on me and they say, Midgey, how about you tell Chef Ramsay what you thought about the fish? And I'm like, I loved it.
Speaker 3:Loved it. And he goes, No, darling. Tell me what you really thought. And I said, Well, I didn't feel like it had a lot of the gin flavor. There was not a lot there.
Speaker 3:He holds up a glass of the cocktails. How many of these if you had love? I mean, was just really funny. I was like, Touche. Touche.
Speaker 2:Well, there's a reason he's gotten to where he
Speaker 3:is. Right? Exactly. He was really, really nice. Just stopped and took photos with everybody, was very kind, really cool with Lionel.
Speaker 3:He even did on his personal Instagram videos of being in Juneau. Shout outs to places that he went. Loved Imboca a Lupo rightfully so. Even Grant was my husband, of his charter captains. And he asked my husband, he's like, I went to this really good Italian restaurant last night but I can't think of the name of it.
Speaker 3:Grant goes, I know he'll know! Because it was all over Instagram too that he was there. And I said, Oh yeah, was in Boca Cola Lupo. And so actually I'm at a store and my phone rings. Hey honey, what's up?
Speaker 3:He goes, got someone who wants to talk to you and it's Chef Ramsay. I'm like, Ah! But he loved Juneau so much. And I think one of my favorite things was the day that we filmed, it was so cold. It was 12 degrees.
Speaker 3:Wow. And they cooked outside in about two feet of snow. There were some locals that very graciously allowed the use of their homes, so they had big kitchens and space. But the neat thing was he went outside and he filmed all the area. And it's just beautiful, sunny, pristine, snowy day.
Speaker 3:And all the cooked stuff is out there. And he said, this is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. And he zoomed in on Lionel Cooking, and he goes, And that's one of the most impressive chefs I've ever worked with. And I'm like, ugly crying. Because I was like, Oh my gosh, this is what I want.
Speaker 3:I want people to see it through those eyes because that's what I see every day here. So that was probably the best story that I experienced was having Gordon Ramsay come and being so happy that he was here.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a pretty good experience. I mean, I've got goosebumps thinking about it. And just thinking about those meals that I've had too out on camping trips where you're sitting on a beach somewhere and just in awe of the food that we're able to eat that is provided by the place that we live and the scenery we're eating it in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we're so fortunate. And don't take it for granted. It's really funny people ask me on the tours like, why is Alaska seafood so much better? And I double down on it. And I was like, well, it's not farmed.
Speaker 3:I said, but that the fisheries are managed so stringently that yeah, sometimes it can be a really pain in the neck. But they have a long game. And the long game is we don't over fish. And so we sometimes begrudgingly adhere to it, but we will always know what that big picture is, is that we never not want to have king salmon or crab or any of the other wonderful species of sea life that live here that we get to nosh on. So, we sometimes get a little cranky about it, but we understand the long game too.
Speaker 2:I know it's hard to play favorites. Do you have a favorite bite of food that you have had in Juneau?
Speaker 3:Oh gosh, that is a tough one because so many good things. Okay, so my all time favorite thing, my favorite protein, crazy enough, not fish. I love fish. But I love duck confit. And when Lionel was the chef at Salt, duck confit was one of the key things
Speaker 2:I on remember those fries.
Speaker 3:Yes. And he knows, Lionel knows how much I love duck confit. And so he actually had an appetizer that it was almost like a charcuterie platter with like little because he would make his own pickled things and and stuff like that. And then he would have the duck and then some cheeses and had a little bread and stuff like that. That was like my favorite thing I ever ate.
Speaker 3:I mean but I mean, then I go, well, Bo, he does the collars. You know? He does the salmon collars, and they're so amazing. You know? They're so so so rich.
Speaker 3:And he's introduced me to a lot of foods that I didn't know about and that was really cool. Beau made, one time he made like a lamb, What was it? It was like almost like a bologna made with lamb kind of thing. And I was like, Okay. And I always, If he puts it in front of me, I am totally gonna try it.
Speaker 3:I never say no. And I was like, Holy cow, you got me to eat lamb. He, you know, he made this beautiful seared octopus. And it's so But I have to say that duck confit is the best I've ever had because I just love it so much. But also Lionel, like Beau, won the Great American Seafood Cook Off.
Speaker 3:And his entry was a risotto with king crab and he did a vanilla oil drizzle. There was something about that. And then he had the smoky salmon roe on it, and it was the sweet and the smoky and the savory and the salty in one bite. And it was just like the perfect bite. I was like, I don't if you're listening, please make that again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my mouth is watering. Okay, we're gonna have to stop talking about food for a couple minutes, so I can make it to dinner. And go back to the business itself a little Sure. So it is amazing, you bring all these people in, they get to experience Juneau. But then you have options for locals as well.
Speaker 3:I do. So the food tours, we've been doing those again since 2015. And it changes almost every year. We have partners that either change owners, it's not working out for whatever reason, the route will change. And a lot of that is based on feedback from my guides.
Speaker 3:My guides really tell me a lot about the flow and then of course customer feedback. But the guides really are gauging everything. They're the boots on the ground. They're the ones telling me what's working and what's not working. And that is super important.
Speaker 3:So that really is a big evolution.
Speaker 2:I wanna pause just because now I'm like, oh, I want that job. How how do you find your guides?
Speaker 3:They're all locals. I we start looking around March, February, March, and it's a part time gig. And but we always are looking for at least two to three people who can work relatively full time Monday through Friday. And that would be two tours a day. Not necessarily every single day, but being available for that.
Speaker 3:But we have we always hire only locals. And so it's really fun. And it's one of those opportunities to actually be a part of an amazing industry, but only do it for three or four hours and then you're done. You know? So yeah and you are hired I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Back to So
Speaker 3:the tour yeah so the tour does evolve and then we have our Jeep tours And our Jeep tours are four hours. And we have three Jeeps. And they're door to door. And those are the ones that really work out a lot for people with mobility issues. It's been really challenging for a lot of people to be able to get off the ships and go experience Juneau.
Speaker 3:And so we've been able to help fill that gap and that's been really cool. One of the big evolutions of the food tour is that it is wheelchair accessible. That we have taken out pretty much any stairs or any barriers to that. So that's been really nice. And then we have our wildly elegant events.
Speaker 3:And those actually a lot of locals hire me for. And they're custom curated experiences based on what do you want to do? You know, it's everything. We just did a couple in May. We did a company party for 125 people.
Speaker 3:And I brought in Lionel. He made amazing ribs and tacos and things for the company based on their meal preferences. We decorate, we clean it up. We all you have to do is show up, have fun, and leave and leave everything else to me and my team, and we'll take care of everything. So so that's super cool.
Speaker 3:And then we did another one at someone's house. It was a gentleman's sixtieth birthday. And so we brought in a chef and did all kinds of food stations. We had a raw bar with salty leaf oysters and sushi. And then we had a grill station with food and stuff from the different things that they wanted.
Speaker 3:So we had a girl station with sliders. We had charcuterie and desserts. Gentleman was so sweet. He actually had a specific chocolate cake that his mom made him like every year for his birthday. And he gave us the recipe.
Speaker 3:And then I hired one of my friends who's a baker and said, you duplicate this but in cupcakes? And so she did a trial run-in. I took them over to them to let them try them. They loved him. So we had a cupcake station and dessert station.
Speaker 3:Because we wanted everybody to be able to mingle and walk around and have the food. And it was an indoor outdoor thing. We have a tent and stuff. Turned out it was just an incredible weekend weather wise. So it was yeah.
Speaker 3:So it's things like that. We did a wedding reception at Au Crek. I think it was the Raven Pavilion. And I brought in the guys from Spotted Prawn who are again, underrated, unknown, incredible chefs. We are very lucky to have those fellows.
Speaker 3:And they did skewers and all these different foods and salads and things and everybody loved it. And again, they come, they have fun, we clean it all up and leave. And I sweep it, we haul all the trash out and everything. So it's just one of those things that I really, it's just what do you wanna do? What is this imagination or this thing look like to you?
Speaker 2:What's your relationship with the restaurants and chefs like? Are they finding you? Are you going out and finding them?
Speaker 3:I find them. Usually the request will come to me. I have had a couple come from a chef that says, hey, they really want a bigger event, I just do the food. And that's cool. I love that.
Speaker 3:But a lot of times, they it's people contacting me directly. And then I a lot of times, they just don't even know what they want. I mean, I've had them like, oh, we're gonna be in an Airbnb. There's 14 of us. Would you like a private chef?
Speaker 3:I can arrange for that. You know? And so I did a cooking class out at Skaters Cabin. You know, we can do a lot of different things. And as long as we follow the permitting rules, we're very you know, they don't care.
Speaker 3:Like, no glass, none of that stuff. Clean up. Don't damage the building, that kind of thing. And we, of course, follow all the rules. But it's been such a fun way to have people experience Alaska and be here.
Speaker 3:Like if someone reached out to me, a local, and said, Hey, I wanna do something at Skaters Cabin in February. I have portable heaters. Let's do it. Let's make it happen. We put carpet in, we do twinkle lights.
Speaker 3:It's magic. And I was like, Absolutely, we can do that. I never say no. I always say, Let me see what I can do.
Speaker 2:I love that response. So then what's next? You've sort of evolved from the early cooking classes in food tours, sheeps.
Speaker 3:So we had a storefront. We did for, you know, COVID happened. And after my mini panic attack, I was like, all right, well, what am gonna do? Because I need a funny job and I don't want a funny job. So I have to figure out what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 3:And, so I created Taste Alaska, which was gift boxes filled with Alaskan made food products. And that opened up a whole different world for me as far as if you know, our motto was like, if you can't come to us, we'll come to you. Alaskans particularly were so kind. And when the word got out because I reached out to all of those travel writers that came on my tours and and wrote about me and said, this is what we're doing during COVID. And I got in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and all that.
Speaker 3:So we had a banner year that year. And so we actually moved from our offices that were upstairs in a historic building to our storefront that we had on Shattuck Way. And I stayed there for five years. And just this spring, I closed the storefront. And I'm really focusing less on retail, no more shipping or anything like that because I want to focus on delivering tasty experiences and and and having people embrace Alaska, whether you're a local or a visitor.
Speaker 3:I just want you to feel special, And I want you to know that you are special to me when you're my client. And just tell me what you want. I'm gonna make it happen. And the neat thing is, being in the industry as long as I have, I know everybody. It's
Speaker 2:like, oh,
Speaker 3:you want a flight scene tour and have a basket lunch? We can do that. You know, it's like, I will make it happen. I will do everything in my power to make it happen.
Speaker 2:So I wanna end with two questions. One is, because you know everybody, you've been in the food industries for so long, there anything you see that helps lead to success? If there is somebody who's just moving here or considering it that wants to get into the scene.
Speaker 3:I would say this, the food scene here is always open. We love new people in this industry here. We love new flavors, new styles. I see things waxing and waning in food. Certain restaurants have sold, so menus are changing.
Speaker 3:Certain restaurants just didn't bounce back. Certain restaurants are still not getting their feet under them. Then there's just the ones that are hard and fast, been around for a good while. But the cool thing is the evolution of menus and tastings and things like that to keep the locals interested. So I would say one of the big things that really started successfully was food trucks.
Speaker 3:Food trucks are a great way to get your foot in the door to start something in the food industry. Another thing is looking at, you know, if you don't have an idea yet, work for somebody who does and learn. Don't steal their ideas, but learn. Learn because I have met people and, I'm from Georgia, so we say it. Bless your heart.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh. I've always wanted to start a food tour. That looks so fun. And it is fun. I'm not gonna lie, but you have no idea how many moving parts there are.
Speaker 3:When you have to partner with half a dozen or more people in order to make one product work. And if one of them closes and you don't know about it and you've got 50 people to feed that day, you're doing a little hop skip. So it's those kinds of things. For anybody trying to enter the industry, learn about the industry. There's doors open all the time.
Speaker 3:There's space available for food purveyors and restaurants. And I think one of the things I would love to see more of pop ups. Think pop ups would be super awesome on First Fridays. I think I would like to see the city be a little more lenient with some permitting type things to allow for that growth and that opportunity for entrepreneurs. Because I think it's one of those things that can make a big difference in people staying here.
Speaker 3:When you look at Lionel and Dave, they both grew up here. And they came back. Beau has made a life here and he's not leaving. These people, these are the young people of our community who have made a life here because of food. And I would like to see more and more of them do that.
Speaker 3:Those guys, Ian and Seth at Spotted Pride, you know, they're from Maine, but they have put down roots here. They loved Juneau. They're not going anywhere. Food brings you together. It is a, you know, nucleus.
Speaker 3:And I think it's so important that we keep fostering that.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to have another meal with you. So my final question is, is there if you could bring any flavor, genre of food to Juneau that's not here yet, what would you love to see on the scene? Greek.
Speaker 3:Think that we have a very subtle Greek community here. And I think they need to shine. All right. I think we need Greek food here. I think that Juneau is a good place for it, especially because we have places like Juneau Greens and some other really great local gardens now.
Speaker 3:I think Greek would be, it would do very, very well here.
Speaker 2:Okay. Yeah. Hope someone out there hears the call. With that, thank you. Midgey Moore from juneau food tours.
Speaker 2:And if folks want to learn more about the business and about you, where can they find you?
Speaker 3:You can reach me through my email, which is m I d g ijunofoodtours dot com or you can even text me or call me (907) 723-5244.
Speaker 2:And I'll say they're in the directory at junochamber.com too.
Speaker 3:Yes, you will.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much and like I said, I can't wait for our next meal.
Speaker 3:Me too. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to Business Voices Juno. Subscribe everywhere you listen to your favorite broadcast. Share the episode and learn more about the Juno Chamber of Commerce at juneauchamber.com.