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Tru Bahamian Food Tours Open For Business in 2021

a piece of cake

 

We love what we do. We love your face the first time you try Switcha, your surprise at seeing Max the parrot at the Towne Hotel, teaching you about Conch, and showing you the real and authentic side of The Bahamas! And that’s why we are so excited to be officially touring again in this new era.

Tru Bahamian Food Tours and our partners started reimagining the world and modifying our businesses during the downtime – and we’ve come back better than before. 

If you have ever been on one of our tours – particularly either our Bites of Nassau Tour or Savor Old Nassau Tour – you will understand how crucial the stories of the families we partner with are. Our vendors, their families and backgrounds add not only historical context but a beautiful personal touch to that bite of delicious goodness you are enjoying at the moment. Case in point – knowing that Mrs. Wallace from Bahamian Cookin’ sources sea salt raked from salt ponds from her hometown of Ragged Island makes that bite of steamed chicken come alive in your mouth.

Our success is conjoined to their success and we have been delighted to sit down with them to hear how they have been weathering the pandemic with all of its challenges and opportunities. 

 

Graycliff

 

Mario Carey standing in front of a crowd

 

The Garzaroli family of Graycliff’s Group of Companies were extremely active, not only in spearheading resort & activity sector recovery but also in their deep care for the community. Recognizing that so many Bahamians were going hungry, they and the volunteer team of their chefs used their restaurants to prepare meals and feed in excess of 40,000 meals for 9 weeks in May and June in partnership with Better Homes Realty.

The Graycliff property is adjacent to the communities of Grants Town and Bain Town where so many disadvantaged families reside. The children of Grants Town & Bain Town were moved to a virtual learning platform with all schools in the country. Sadly, their families did not have the necessary resources like computers, tablets and wifi at home.

Graycliff, in partnership with Travis Robinson, the local MP, sourced computers, tablets and PPE equipment turning the Lionfish Restaurant and Giotto’s Piazza into a classroom where the community kids could continue their education and receive a hot meal daily. Who wouldn’t want the Graycliff Property as their playground?

Paolo Garzaroli has been hard at work continuing the manufacturing of rum and cigars – ensuring that orders were filled and stores off-property were kept well stocked.  Never letting any downtime go to waste, Paolo’s innovative mind has been creating exciting new projects and products ready to be rolled out when we see a resurgence in tourism in the months to come.

Bahamian Cookin’

We’re proud of our partners and how they started innovating – with Cookie and Mrs. Wallace of Bahamian Cookin’ modifying their storefront to focus on takeout and transitioning to outside seating. They didn’t stop there, as BC created an online presence offering delivery options. In their downtime, they researched and created new cocktails.  

 

Towne Hotel

The Towne Hotel never closed its doors and welcomed stranded sailors for months before saying goodbye to these guests when the airlines resumed flights. They were one of the first hotel properties to receive the Clean & Pristine award from the Ministry of Tourism & Aviation and the Ministry of Health – as part of our government’s efforts to present The Bahamas as a responsible, safe destination for travelers. 

 

Athena Cafe

 

a man that is standing in the water

Captain George Moussis on the Snappers!

George Moussis of Athena Cafe has been tenaciously adapting his restaurant operations to take advantage of any opportunity for business and maintaining employment for his team. Before outdoor dining was permitted – he pivoted quite quickly and focused on take-out and pickup options, crafting a speciality menu just for this purpose and started to put together specials which kept residents in lockdown with smiles on their faces.

Local and visitors alike regularly check Athena Cafe’s Facebook pages for what he is going to roll out next.

 

Tortuga Rum Cake Factory

 

a cake sitting on top of a table

 

Tortuga Rum Cake Factory went into innovation overload during the shutdown.  In case you didn’t know, Tortuga Rum Cake Factory Bahamas is the only Factory outside of Jamaica which bakes the rum cake on island.  Can you resist the smell of a baking cake? We can’t! 

They decided to go into the manufacturing of rum purely to imbue the locally baked cakes with buttery rum filled goodness.  What began as a way to plug a hole in the supply chain quickly morphed into Genuinely Bahamian Luna Rum, Nassau’s newest locally produced rum.

The pandemic also brought opportunity – when hand sanitizer was not to be found at any local wholesaler or retailer, Genuinely Bahamian started manufacturing hand sanitizers. No one wants the smell of pure alcohol, so the team started experiencing with aromas and flavours.  Bam! Luna Rum rolled out a family of flavoured rums. 

 

Tru Bahamian Food Tours

On our side, we have successfully launched our newest tour, a two hour Historical Nassau Walking Tour – Lunch and Landmarks, a leisurely 2-hour walking tour pairing the city’s most iconic landmarks with a traditional Bahamian lunch.  Missing the Bahamas and not sure when you’ll be able to travel here? Our team used the shutdowns to create a new virtual experience: Tales of Food, Culture & History in Nassau, Bahamas. 

The grass hasn’t been growing under our team’s feet either.  Our guides have been using this time to hit the books, enroll in new programs and design startup businesses while constantly honing their storytelling & guide skills.

Whether you plan on coming to the Bahamas sooner or later, we’ll be here waiting to welcome you back!