Savor Local Flavor with Savannah Taste Experience®

Savannah Taste Experience® is a food tour agency that has been delighting patrons’ palates with satisfying samples of Savannah’s lauded culinary scene since 2012.

The business began about one year earlier when brothers Stu and Donald Card visited the Hostess City with their families.

“They just fell absolutely in love with Savannah, and they noticed that there was a need for a great food tour in town,” said Ashton Greene, Director of Marketing and Merchandising at Savannah Taste Experience. “So, after thinking on it — and having a few beers about it — they decided, why not start it?”

The brothers relocated to Savannah and launched their first food tour in 2012. Since then, Savannah Taste Experience® has grown to offer three tasteful tours — two lunchtime tours and one evening tour — allowing customers to eat their way through downtown Savannah.

“The first tour that we ever started running is our First Squares food tour,” said Greene.

“It explores some of the first squares that were laid out: Johnson Square, Ellis Square, Telfair, and Wright [Squares]. As we go around to the different restaurants, we connect the history of the city of Savannah, as well as some pre-Savannah history and modern culture, to our unique food scene and community.”

Their second lunchtime tour, which is their most popular and Greene’s personal favorite, is the Southern and Secret Food Tour, highlighting foodways “that are quintessentially Southern, like biscuits and gravy” along with hidden gems like Mint to Be Mojito and their lesser-known speakeasy in the back.

“We combine the Southern food people expect with restaurants and dishes guests might not expect. . . People really respond to the dual element,” she said.

The lunchtime tours run seven days a week. Available Thursday through Saturday, their evening Walktails & Bar Bites tour is their appetizing answer to a bar crawl but augmented with food.

“Guests get to try the Chatham Artillery Punch, Savannah’s signature drink. Then they go and check out some different bars. It starts around the City Market area but we end at Zunzibar. So, you get a nice walk through the city.”

Greene advocates for a food tour as the first tour that visitors should experience upon arriving:

“The second you get in town, take the food tour because not only do you get a lay of the land with the guide right away, but you also now have five different restaurants in your back pocket that you can go back to. Sometimes we even have exclusive discounts for guests.”

Greene’s favorite thing about Savannah’s food scene is the sheer diversity.

“The thing that people are most surprised by is the fact that we actually have so much more than Southern food. I can show you Asian fusion, I can show you a new crazy, cool culinary standout restaurant. But if you want fried chicken, you’d better go to Mrs. Wilkes. I love that we’re unexpected like that,” she said. “Because we’re a port city, we have all these different international influences, so it makes our food truly unique.”

In addition to the regular tours, Savannah Taste Experience® offers private tour events for large groups called Micro Food Fests®.

They also operate a marketplace on Broughton Street that opened up in 2023, selling local flavors and artisanal goods all sourced from Southern brands. Greene encourages the public to book with them for the most authentic, local culinary experience:

“We have been running food tours in the area for almost 13 years. Our main job is to support local partners, so we’re here to promote these local restaurants, show what’s so amazing about them, and then give guests the ability to take those flavors home as well, which you just can’t get with any of the other food tours in town. We have really strong partnerships with the local restaurant scene and it shows through the way our tours are run.”

Savannah Taste Experience 108 W. Broughton St.
(912) 221-4439
www.savannahtasteexperience.com

By Chantel Britton

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