Amy Whitfield on building her confidence to try again – and it’s paying off.

Tell us about yourself and the story behind your business.

I’m Amy Whitfield, 35-years-old and I live in Seghill, Northumberland with my husband Andrew and our 2-year-old little boy Archie.

I run Triple A Food Tours, the North East’s only on-foot food tour. Prior to this, I was a  property auction specialist which was a role that I got into after the closure of my clothing boutique, based in Tynemouth. Throughout my career, I have always been involved in a sales role. 

I have always been ambitious and wanted to do something on my own. But most of all, I can’t sit still! So it was whilst on maternity leave in 2018, I began to think about the future and what it was that I really wanted to do. The birth of my son started to make me feel differently about my career, I didn’t want to be at a desk job, working until late and seeing Archie for 10 minutes before bedtime.

One of my absolute passions is and always has been food (in particular cheese). Eight years ago, we visited New York and it was there that we first discovered food tours. We did a walking tour around the meatpacking district of the city, trying such a diverse range of foods. I remember saying to Andrew that Newcastle didn’t have anything like this and it would be great if there was a food tour or something similar on our doorstep.

It was whilst in-between feeds and afternoon naps that I started to put together the idea of my first food tour “A Taste Of Newcastle” – I call this type of working environment “business when the baby sleeps”.

Tell us more about your past experience with the closure of your clothing boutique knocking your confidence – how have you managed to overcome that?

In 2013 I opened up The Dressing Boutique based in The Land of Green Ginger, Tynemouth. This was a dream come true for me. The concept for the business was one size fit clothing using loose fabrics such as silks and linens, something that was popular at the time.

What I loved about my garments was that ladies from a petite size 8 could wear something the same as a lady who would maybe be a size 20. When customers tried on an item, we would chat together about how to wear it and I absolutely loved the feeling of helping make women feel good about themselves, something that I am extremely passionate about.

I would often hold fashion shows at local hotels and bars where I would use customers as my models. This business really was my baby and I had a great relationship with my regular customers. Unfortunately, in 2016 I took the decision to close the business. This was mainly due to the building itself and it’s ever-changing retailers. I was finding it increasingly difficult to keep the footfall and in business, it is a vicious circle.

You need the custom to bring in revenue for advertising but at the same time, you need the footfall for the revenue. I took my personal attachment away and asked myself if there was going to be any longevity in the shop.

What is the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received?

“One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.”

I am a massive believer in learning from your mistakes and if you can do this then there was no failure at all.

When do you expect to start recovering from lockdown and how can we keep in touch in the meantime?

At the moment, we are eagerly awaiting information from the government. My partnership restaurants are hoping to be fully reopened by early July. Realistically, we aim to open in early August so that we can completely protect both our guests and our tour guides.

We have all of our tours on our website tripleafoodtours.com.

Bookings can be made for future dates here. The new tour is available to book now and will commence on Friday 4 September.

Gift vouchers available via our website.