Michelle Bergey travels to eat. And she is always looking for help from locals who are familiar with the area. “Food tours are the best way to travel,” she says. “To be honest, I do a food tour every time I travel.” So it’s only natural that she should be called the co-owner of a food tour company Lost disk with her brother and sister-in-law. Brian Bergey and Ruixi Hu are touring in China, where they live, and in Cambodia. Michelle runs the Portland tours.
Many people ask Bergey why visitors need a guide to go to restaurants. She tells them that a tour is beyond the food itself. “You also get information about the city, about the restaurants and the owners,” she says. “You even meet some of the owners.”
Lost Plate opened in 2018. By 2019, Bergey offered three different Portland tours. Due to COVID, Lost Plate is currently only offering one Portland tour – food carts, pods, and patios – which Bergey runs himself. The 2.5-hour tour stops at six food trucks in Cartopia and Hawthorne Asylum, a stand in the Morrison Market Food Hall, and ends at a local brewery. The cost is $ 69 per person and includes about a mile of walking.
To find good restaurant partners for their tours, Bergey does research and eats a lot! She says. All businesses must be locally owned. “The best places not only have great food, but also have a history and connection to the city of Portland and the community here.”
The pandemic brought many changes to Lost Plate, such as: Bergey added a health and safety page to the Lost Plate website. And the clientele has changed.
“In 2018 and 2019 it was a good mix of international and national,” says Bergey. “Last year everything was inland, mostly on road trips from the west coast. And then this year we will be domestically, so to speak, everywhere. ”But they all have one thing in common:“ Food tours are really something for gourmets and people who travel to eat. I mean, especially on my tour today, I always ask, ‘Why Portland? Why are you visiting here? ‘ And one guy said with all his might, ‘Because of food. I want to eat.'”
Despite worries in 2020 and 2021, Bergey is optimistic about food travel. She has booked a holiday in Italy for gourmets this year. And she looks forward to leading as many visitors as possible through the culinary wonders of Portland while building relationships with restaurants that are mutually beneficial. “We bring them new customers and they offer our customers an experience,” says Bergey. “I think the best thing about Portland is the people, the community, and the food and drink. We try to show that on every tour. “
