City council is being asked today to contribute $25,000 so Tourism Windsor-Essex Pelee Island can start marketing the region as a culinary destination.
Rino Bortolin, owner of Rino’s Kitchen, says the benefits far outweigh the initial investment.
“This is a no-brainer because this area is ripe to explode,” Bortolin said. “With the wineries, the geographical location and other tourism attractions, it’s a unique spot. People don’t even realize what we have here.”
After recent splashy announcements promoting a cargo hub at the airport and big sporting events, Mayor Eddie Francis wants city council to embrace the next big push in Windsor’s economic transformation – culinary tourism.
“From the farm to the table, from our agricultural industry to our restaurants … we have a strong, strong, strong local culinary experience, but I feel it’s never been strongly marketed,” said Francis.
The mayor likes the way word is getting out about the area’s burgeoning wine industry and he wants the same to happen with the local food sector so the two can combine and Windsor and Essex County can be marketed as a “destination experience” for traveling foodies.
“One of our strong points is the rich culinary experience in this region,” said Francis, who authored the report going before council on Monday.
Part of the effort, said Francis, would be to compile a catalog of the different culinary experiences available here and then have a one-stop source for that information for potential visitors, as well as for local people.
Bortolin said Windsor is a unique destination because it’s a border city.
“Not many cities in Canada that have a population of 200,000 people can boast a customer base of two to four million people,” he said.
Match that with our rich multicultural diversity, Bortolin said, and there’s a vast array of culinary choices available in Windsor.
“You go to a Canadian city with a similar size or even bigger, you’re not going to find as good a restaurants,” he said. “London, Ottawa and Calgary, they don’t compare to our restaurants. There are some good restaurants to go to, but not multiple restaurants that are this good.”
When Bortolin sits in front of city council on Monday, one of his primary topics will be local food.
According to the restaurant owner, 90 to 95 per cent of the food that ends up on his customer’s plate is grown locally. Last year he took to the county and searched out farmers to partner with.
“If you spent $100 at my restaurant, I would guess $99 would stay here in the county,” Bortolin said.
But he said many local restaurants in Windsor find it hard to get food grown or produced within 30 to 40 kilometres. Most businesses make the easy phone call to big delivery companies rather than partnering with local farmers. However, he said, this is an infrastructure problem that’s not always the fault of other restaurant owners.
The Windsor Regional Culinary Tourism Experience Development Project will itemize a full inventory of culinary destinations located within the region.
Bortolin said local business owners, farmers and butchers are not being connected. He hopes the dots will be linked after the final report is released.
“This study will look at expanding our footprint in the culinary tourism aspect,” Bortolin said. “We have all the things that would make it a huge attraction.”
-With files from Doug Schmidt
jboyce@windsorstar.com or on Twitter @BoyceWillBBoyce
Local wineries have produced a Stowaway 1812 wine. They are Cooper’s Hawk Vineyard, left, Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery, Oxley Estate Winery, Colio Estate Wines, Smith and Wilson Estate Wines and Pelee Island Winery. (DAN JANISSE / The Windsor Star)
