The Secret’s out: how one startup is conquering the culinary world

Most people dream of eating their way around the world. Oliver Mernick-Levene has built a business doing just that—and turned it into the largest food tour experience company on the planet.

Secret Food Tours, the travel tech company he co-founded in 2013, provides high-end food tours and experiences in 100 cities and is growing at a rate of 30 cities per year. Guests are treated to a three-hour walking tour, tasting local specialties at hidden gems while learning the cultural and historical stories behind each bite.

“People say we have the best job in the world,” says Mernick-Levene, 38, “and they’re probably right.”

It all started in 2013 over a few drinks in a pub in Shoreditch. Mernick-Levene, then in his mid-twenties and working in PR, got talking to Nico Jacquart. “We just started talking about business,” he recalls. “I’d been showing people around London for fun, but always struggled to find a truly great food experience.”

That casual chat turned into a global idea: immersive, story-driven food tours that showcased the real flavours—and people—of a city, and Secret Food Tours was founded. Mernick-Levene started running tours in London, while Jacquart launched them in Paris.

By 2019, Secret Food Tours had expanded to 60 cities, powered in part by a £1 million investment in 2018 from Andrew Wolfson’s Pembroke VCT, which has since put in a further £1 million.

Today the business runs tours in 100 cities (at the time of writing) and recently bought Canada-based food tour company Local Food Tours, as part of their broader growth plan through acquisitions.

Mernick-Levene, who grew up in Harrow and went to JFS – the school he credits for fostering his entrepreneurial spirit, admits not everyone believed they could scale that quickly while sustaining the quality. “A lot of people doubted us,” he says. “But we were always obsessed with authenticity.”

Then the pandemic hit.

“It was heartbreaking. We’d reinvested all our profits in 2019 and were just about to recoup it all in 2020.” With borders closed and travel halted, the business ground to a halt.

Mernick-Levene and his team mothballed operations and pivoted. “We started doing virtual tours, which just about kept the lights on. We weren’t even making £10,000 a week – we were used to making £30-50,000 a day—so that was a shock. They were very dark times.”

The founders redesigned the business model, making it more tech-focussed and relaunched in 2021, with Pembroke rebacking them and committing their second £1 million. “They didn’t have to do this. Many people didn’t believe that tours would ever come back but I was very bullish they would.”

And, “in a nice case of full circle,” says Mernick-Levene, “Pembroke is part of Oakley Capital, which is co-founded by prominent entrepreneur and investor Peter Dubens, who also went to JFS.”

Today, Secret Food Tours are three times bigger than before the pandemic, attracting up to 400,000 customers a year. The business employs 80 staff and has over 500 guides worldwide.

In 2024, the company hit sales of £17.9 million, growing at such a pace that it was recognised on The Sunday Times 100 ranking of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies and recently (June) named in the Deloitte EMEA Technology Fast 500, ranking number 17 among the fastest-growing tech companies across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Earlier this year, the founders sold 40 percent of the business to Harwood Private Capital invest alongside Growth Partner, a venture capital firm backed by Richard Harpin, the founder of Homeserve and one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs.

The duo also own five restaurants in Paris. “People think that’s impressive, but it’s not that which is impressive – they only work because of the tours. It’s the tours and the people that go on them that matter.” The most popular tours? “There are the ones you might expect like Paris London and Rome but also ones you wouldn’t; Austin, Bologna , Copenhagen and San Antonio (Texas). A lot places we were told wouldn’t work but they do. Food tourism is only getting bigger.”

According to Grand View Research, the global culinary tourism market was estimated at $1.5257 billion in 2023 and projected to reach $40.5 billion by 2030 19.7 percent annual growth rate. Key trends driving this growth include the increasing popularity of food festivals, culinary trails, and social media’s influence on travel behaviour.

Despite the growing trends, authenticity remains at the heart of the company’s mission. “We don’t take people to the beach in Barcelona. We take them to family-run cafes. Some of these places now make hundreds of thousands from our tours,” Mernick-Levene says. “We’re helping small businesses survive.”

Secret Food Tours prides itself on sticking with hidden gems, even when they become famous. “Everyone knows Bread Ahead’s donuts in Borough Market, but they’re still one of the best things on our tour. We won’t stop just because something’s no longer a secret.”

The company’s research team scout new destinations by embedding themselves in local food culture—sampling, testing, and scripting entire tour experiences. “We send our people to two or three destinations a year, and they get to be creative, explore, and help us build the stories we tell,” he explains.

The founders are on track to have 100 cites on their books by the end of the year. As for Israel, Mernick-Levene says they were planning to launch their pre-pandemic but “the timing isn’t right at the moment. Still, I did a food tour in Tel Aviv once and the food was incredible.”

For someone who once just liked showing friends around London, it’s been quite a journey. “It’s an unusual business, I admit,” says Mernick-Levene. “But I love it.”

secretfoodtours.com