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”.