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|Strategic Crisis Management |
|Culinary Tourism for Unique Positioning of Ontario in a Global Marketplace |
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Table of Contents
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|Executive Summary |3 |
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|Introduction |4 |
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|Sustainability of the Culinary Industry |4-6 |
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|Potential Food Shortages |6-9 |
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|Threat of Competition |9-12 |
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|Food Born Illnesses |12-14 |
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|Conclusion |14 |
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|Appendices |15-17 |
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|Works Cited |18-20 |
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Executive Summary

Since its true birth as an industry in 2003, culinary tourism has continued to expand its size every year, with this quick growth this industry has left itself without an extensive background in crisis management, and in some people’s eyes is a sitting duck. The industry over the years has come face to face with some very serious potential crises that threatened to derail its steady expansion. First, being the sustainability of this industry in Ontario that depends greatly on the idea of staying local and building partnerships with local farmers and local culinary product producers. A connected crisis is the potential food shortages from reliance on imported ingredients in their menus. Seasonal menus for regional areas that draw from what that area produces during that season can not only decrease operational overhead, but also stand as a marketing tool. Marketing is the key for Ontario’s Culinary Tourism industry emergence on the international stage, where competition is at its highest. Competing for that tourist’s dollar on a daily basis not only with in your own local area, all the way up to the international stage, competition is fierce and the ability to stay one-step ahead is crucial. This is a natural occurrence, competition in this industry is a looming crisis and with the ability to build relationship with other regions to form a grid work of mutual support and stability. But, in recent history the crisis of food born illnesses has been in the forefront of this industry. With the outbreak of listeria in maple leaf food products and the e coli in spinach products the reliance on imported products entwines itself into a serious crisis that would cripple this industry. By relying locally on products in the surrounding area the ability to monitor the care and quality of the product is easier. Also, with the high standards and regulations that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has set in place the occurrences of these food born illnesses can be greatly decreased. Crisis Management is key to the prevention, proper handling and repositioning that Is required after an industry or individual is hit with a crisis, and with the proposed recommendations and regulations already in place the ability for the Culinary Tourism Industry to survive these crises is on the rise.

Introduction

In any environment, crisis is unpredictable and can strike anytime. Recent scenarios in the Culinary Tourism landscape include food contamination, financial crisis, strikes, natural disasters, and threats of competition. In any case no matter what the situations or the level of its severity, the repercussions from these is a serious threat to the Culinary Tourism Industries bottom line as well as its reputation. The worst possible time to make crisis management decisions is during the disaster itself and organization should be equipped with the know-how to handle such situations in order to mitigate loss. Culinary vacations are becoming increasingly popular and are being offered in a variety of places (International Culinary Tourism Association, 2010). In one of the latest Hollywood movie successes, Eat Pray Love, the experience of a middle aged American woman, who is going to Italy for one month to engage in eating every dish the boot-shaped country has to offer, is documented. It is a true story and underlines the impact that food can have on holiday choices. Therefore food does not only sustain to regional identity but can also be used as a marketing tool. Especially in countries that are already famous for their traditional cuisine. However, food can also negatively influence the image of a destination. BSE, for example, caused a major food crisis in the UK, which led to a decrease in tourism demand (Sharpley and Craven, 2001). The international culinary tourism association (2010) defines food tourism “as the pursuit of unique and memorable culinary experiences of all kinds.”

When examining the possibility of Ontario as a candidate for culinary tourism in the scope of the global marketplace, a potential issue which arises is the question of its sustainability. Sustainability in the field of tourism is protective of its product, the destination, conserves resources, respects the cultural traditions of people and aims to be a quality experience rather than one of monetary gain (“Center for Sustainable Destinations”, 2010). With the recognition of the culinary tourism market making a significant economic impact on Ontario since 2001 by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation (“Culinary Tourism in Ontario”, 2005), it becomes apparent that in order to continue to promote such a rapidly growing industry, steps to ensuring the sustainability of new and existing ventures in the province need to be taken. One key feature in establishing a sustainable industry for culinary tourism in Ontario needs to come on the part of farmers, maintaining methods of treating the land on which they farm and the items which they produce, sustainable in their own regard, ensuring that a sufficient amount of food items will be available for restaurants and other food and beverage suppliers. A major issue which is often associated with unsustainable farming comes from land degradation, the result of intense farming practices which seek to maximize crop yields while paying little or no regard to the health and productivity of the soil on the land (Williams & Weale, 2005). Examples of such reckless farming are often observed in nations where the rural inhabitants are uneducated in proper farming procedures to maintain the land and continue to be able to cultivate crops there. One such example of this comes from the Southeast Asian nation of Laos, where population growth lead to the conversion of a great deal of farmland into residential areas, leaving the little land which remained to be met with atrocious levels of over-farming. This in turn lead the government of Laos to hastily employ untested and flawed methods meant to conserve the farmland which remained, leading to food shortages within many regions (Giordando, Keohavong, Lestrelin, 2005). Taking from this example, the importance of a properly implemented and accurately tested system of creating sustainable agriculture in Ontario should be implemented in order to avoid such circumstances. With culinary tourism seeking to grow as an attraction in Ontario there is a need for more sustainable methods of farming which are more effective than our current practices, in which we use 38% of the world's total land mass for agriculture alongside 70% of the consumption of our planet's fresh water according to the United Nations Environment Programme (Notaras, 2010). Within the province businesses who wish to promote themselves as attractive locations for culinary tourists should seek to associate with farmers who are educated and informed in leading methods of sustainability when farming. There are numerous associations in the province and across the nation which promote sustainable agriculture and farming, providing information and educational tools for farmers to care for their farmland including the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario and the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, along with diplomas and degrees in sustainable agriculture available from schools such as University of Guelph and Trent University (“Sustainable Agriculture Education and Training”, 2009). By utilizing these resources which are available on a national level, farmers can ensure that they will be able to continue to provide quality food and beverage products to culinary tourism businesses on a long-term scale and maintain a high standard of excellence in their industry. Furthering this idea, certification of sustainable farming practices could be issued through a government channel which culinary tourism businesses could request in order to consider a farmer as a potential source for products. In order to have a positive impact on culinary tourism in Ontario and maintain this steadily growing field of industry, a part must also be played by culinary tourism destinations such as restaurants and owners of other culinary attractions. What is likely the most publicly discussed method of creating a sustainable business in the food and beverage industry is through purchasing goods through local channels, which can have an impact on a single business, region, or entire province by reducing the need to import goods or services (“Culinary Tourism in Ontario”, 2005). Where a local initiative is one which is defined as portraying an expression of a community or locale, an incentive into the development of such businesses can allow for the integration of a self-sustained system of food, beverage, and other products directly available to Ontario businesses in the market of culinary tourism (“Culinary Tourism in Ontario”, 2005). Having businesses buying local produce and other food items from farmers which are local also has the potential to ensure even greater revenue for the province as well, through the experiences shared with tourists and customers about the locales in which the food was grown and produced and the way it made its way to the place where it is being enjoyed (Wu, 2011). Sharing the experiences associated with food is considered to be an integral part of the culinary tourism experience and were these stories not to be relayed to consumers venturing to Ontario to a destination such as Toronto, they may not be aware of the many differing, more agricultural regions of the province which are often overlooked, such as Prince Edward County, Stratford, or the Niagara Region. Ignoring this key aspect of culinary tourism could leave potential tourists to other regions of Ontario ill-informed and focused on more urbanized and well-known areas of the province, causing potential revenue to be lost in other culinary destinations. Having businesses purchase their goods locally is an excellent way to create a sustainable market for fresh, quality products throughout the province of Ontario and creates channels which can draw more revenue from urban areas to more rural communities. Income is often reduced due to high costs of importing ingredients from international retailers, in order to combat this loss of profit on the part of culinary tourism destinations business should opt to receive supplies from local retailers. Growing locally also reduces the amount of chemical treatments which need to be applied to crops, and can reduce the potential of liabilities from culinary tourism consumers because of harmful chemical compounds or hormones which may be present in their meals (“Why Buy Local and Organic Foods?”, 2007). The idea of buying locally grown and produced goods is not a new practise for many Ontario based culinary attractions and tours, but during the often harsh winter months this can become impossible to do for many while still trying to stay on budget. For that reason, many culinary based companies import goods from around the world in an attempt to remain competitive year round. Statistics Canada found that in 2010 Ontario imported seven and a half billion dollars in produce and live animals/animal products (2011). The amount of money being spent on these products imported into Ontario has continued to grow with the increased popularity of globalization. Statistics Canada has also found that the amount of Ontarians partaking in the farming industry has now substantially dropped -15.9% (2001). Ontario continues to have the largest amount farms, roughly sixty-thousand, in all of Canada which boasts well for the culinary tourism sector, but due to high importing there is still potential for crisis. Many Ontarians, whether they realize it or not, have already been negatively affected by companies whom import agricultural-based goods from around the globe, leaving the buyer helpless to increasing prices or even unable to purchase said product all together. These issues become magnified when looking at their negative impact on the culinary tourism industry. America continues to be a top exporter of these agricultural-based goods to Canada, but with major freezing occurring in Florida, many crops are being lost at the expense of the consumer. An example of this would be how a 25-pound box of Florida tomatoes has spiked to $30 US, up from about $6.50 to $7 last year. The shortage has also driven up the price of Ontario greenhouse tomatoes to about $26 per 15 pound box, up from $20 in 2009 (“Fresh Plaza”, 2010). With Canada relying heavily on the American market to help set pricing standards on these kinds of produce goods, many culinary tourism sites in Ontario may not be able to handle the increasing costs. A great way for businesses to handle these exuberant price increases is by operating on a seasonal menu list that focuses on local product. Ontario produce is a year round operation, which suffers due to many crops being seasonal, but still offers the opportunity for culinary tour operators to pick and choose cost efficient products to sell. The importance of local foods should not be lost on culinary tour operators because, for the most part, when a tourist comes to visit a destination they are expecting an authentic cultural experience. Culinary arts can be seen as a defining cultural aspect, one which is unique to the region the culture resides from. Crops such as carrots, beets, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, parsnip, onion, and broccoli can all be grown during the winter and fall seasons while being paired with the variety of livestock Ontario has to offer. Not only will this provide tourists a more authentic culinary experience, but will also allow culinary tour operators to save money on importing goods which suffer from high flocculating price points. Ontarians have a variety of tools at their disposal to guide them in successfully purchasing and obtaining local produce while meeting all regulatory requirements. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Farming, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) helps to build a stronger agri-food sector by investing in the development and transfer of innovative technologies, retaining and attracting investment, developing markets, providing regulatory oversight, and providing effective risk management tools. The ministry also helps enable rural Ontario to build strong, vital communities with diversified economies and healthy social and environmental climates (“Service Ontario”, 2010). OMAFRA also has a service helpline and a detailed website to help keep its local communities in the know. If business operators are looking to link up with farmers in an attempt to build a partnership or even for a last minute sale of hard-to-find products, they use the Ontario Federation of Agriculture which is the largest general farm organization in Ontario, representing 37,000 farm families. They are a dynamic farmer-led organization working to represent and champion the interests of Ontario farmers (“Ontario Federation of Agriculture” 2011). These two organizations help in aiding culinary tour operators with the right resources to get their businesses off the ground while continuously providing important information which can be important for menu planning. For some culinary tour operators the use of these third party organizations is not required because of the Ontario Food Terminal (OTF). Built in 1954 due to the overcrowding of the St. Lawrence Market (the original food terminal), the OTF remains the largest food terminal of its kind in Canada and third in North America behind Chicago’s and Los Angele’s. The terminal is conveniently located outside of Toronto and is 1,740,000 square feet with ample room for cold storage. The food terminal allows buyers the opportunity to haggle and bid over prices of produce from Ontario and the rest of the world. The OTF helps in simplifying the once confusing buying process into a no middle-man sale. It allows buyers to pick where their products come from and, in its most minute form, have a say on the pricing through quantity versus demand. The main problem for this, in regards to crisis, is that it leaves many buyers with zero security on pricing from day to day. This could cripple a culinary tour operator whom may rely on specific dishes, with very specific ingredients, to bring new customers in and keep old ones coming back. Another great tool to get around increase costs due to weather or demand, which many big-box grocery stores use, consist of contracts with price guarantees on them. This practise often involves the buyer paying an above average price on the goods with that price locked in for a certain time period, dependant on the buyer/seller relationship, which than protects the buyer from any price increases with a money back guarantee. This tool also works well for buyers looking to purchase goods from outside Ontario so as to protect their business from a food cost crisis. Sometimes, however, a guaranteed contract ends up hurting the buyer because if prices drop, due to a variety of reasons, they are still paying the locked in price agreed to before the costs decreased. For this practise to be used successfully buyers should be conducting proper research into the buying and selling trends of the good they are interested in as to properly forecast its future prices.

Keeping it local and making sure that shortages do not happen are keys is keeping the Culinary Tourism concept to Ontario in the now; travel and exploration of this province has included discovering the “tastes” of our regions mounted in Toronto. Which is actually quite a contradiction to what other people and cultures may assume about Ontario; that is there is no real food based background. However, In 2001 the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, and the Wine Council of Ontario commissioned the writing of the Wine and Culinary Tourism Strategy Report as a direct result of the growth in the wine and culinary sectors in Ontario during the 1990s. The 2001 Report identified wine tourism and food tourism as important economic drivers that would help increase tourism specifically in the Region of Niagara and the City of Toronto. The report mentioned other Ontario regions such as Essex County, Pelee Island, and the burgeoning wine region called Prince Edward County as having the potential to establish a culinary tourism market. During the years following, a committee of industry volunteers, from the GTA and Niagara, formed a committee known as the Ontario Culinary Tourism Advisory Council (OCTAC) with a mission to act as advisors to the Ministry on culinary tourism in Ontario. One of the OCTAC recommendations to the Ministry was to create an industry-based culinary tourism strategy and action plan that would be implemented by industry, supported by government and most importantly represent all regions of the province. Therefore building a following within the GTA and Ontario as a center for culinary tourism that would not simply co exist in one area of the province or country.
The focus of this report was to produce a number of strategies that would become the base of a successful implementation of provincial strategy while being supportive of regional and local culinary tourism strategies and activities. The competitive aspect within the culinary field that has begun to emerge is the competitiveness between the provinces and regions but no so much between other countries around the world. All countries worldwide are known for their particular twist on culinary tourism due to different cultures, backgrounds, heritages and various foods grown and spices indigenous to that particular country, region or part of the world. Being this as it may, Canada has now seen itself as a large enough entity on it’s own to compete within it’s own borders.
This is completely plausible because Canada is so large and each province and region on it’s own has many varieties of food ingredients that the others may not have, which in turn create different flavors, authenticities and cooking styles native to that particular region or province. Based on the given definition for culinary tourism and the literature review of successful culinary tourism regions, a list has been created to help identify emerging culinary tourism destinations in Ontario. Limited similarities on a micro-level make it difficult to compare regions, and the distinction between emerging and established destinations is vague and not at accurate as one would hope. For example, Niagara is the most established culinary region in Ontario, and has long been recognized for its wine industry as well as its production of fruit. However, on the international level, Niagara is only an emerging region. A culinary strategy has been developed for Niagara Region to guide its continuing development as a culinary destination. Niagara is also a gateway for tourists from the United States with attractions such as Niagara Falls, the two Casinos, theaters, golf courses, and other tourism-related activities. Because this Region draws more than 15 million visitors per year, there is a great likelihood of untapped potential for expanded culinary tourism in the region, given further product development and promotion. Prince Edward County is a newer culinary tourism region. Like Niagara, the region has completed a culinary tourism strategy and could be considered more developed than the term, ‘emerging’, based on the current marketing of existing culinary tourism products. Prince Edward County, also a producer of wines, ciders, fruit beverages, and agricultural products has created a Taste Trail to promote Prince Edward County as a region. Some examples of regions in Ontario that are truly at the beginning stages of development are; Muskoka, with its strategy and recently completed regional inventory. Ottawa – Kingston corridor is also another emerging area or region.
There are about ten different aspects in which emerging culinary tourism sites in Canada have to be aware of on the level of competitive threats within this industry, these are;
1 - Leadership,
2 - Market ready or near market ready culinary products and resources,
3 - An Integrated Strategy,
4 - Partnership and Community based Collaboration,
5 - Financial Support and Performance Measures,
6 - Destinations with good access from Key origin Markets,
7 - Successful Market Intelligence,
8 - Culinary Tourism Distinctive to the Region,
9 - Destination with Multiple Culinary Tourism Experiences,
10 - An Effective Destination Marketing Organization (DMO)
With all of these factors to consider, all culinary tourism operating businesses must be very aware of the potential consequences that could happen should they not be prepared for the threats that accompany competition in this area of Culinary Tourism. As it is an area of tourism that entrepreneurs or business people should not enter into lightly as it does contain it’s own serious and consequential level of competition. However, one cannot discuss the threats to competition without mentioning Porter’s 5 Competitive Forces:
1 - Bargaining Power of Suppliers
2 - Bargaining Power of Customers
3 - Threat of New Entrants
4 - Threat of Substitutes
5 - Competitive Rivalry between existing Players
The model assumes relatively immobile market structures. This is hardly the case in today’s aggressive markets. Technological breakthroughs and dynamic market entrants from start-ups or other industries may completely change business models, entry barriers and relationships along the supply chain within short times. The Five Forces model may have some use for later analysis of the new situation; but it will hardly provide much meaningful advice for preventive actions.
The model is based on the idea of competition. It assumes that companies try to achieve competitive advantages over other players in the markets as well as over suppliers or customers. With this as it’s focus, it does not really take into consideration strategies like strategic alliances, electronic linking of information systems of all companies along a value chain, virtual enterprise-networks etc. The various crisis spheres of activity show that there are several factors and objectives that influence competition and even the behavior of people and companies. Some of these major factors are; stakeholders, Types of consumer behavior, risk and involvement, cultural circle and membership and even crime and terrorism. The findings deduced from the various spheres of activity can change due to events and crises, which occur in the organization, and events that are associated with it. The foundation of preventative measures and preventing potential threats can help to contribute to the overall production of the company and it’s actions while coping with crises that arise. All of these aspects and factors that have been mentioned in relation with threats of competition are all essential to evaluate and analyze their suitability to consciously avoid and prevent certain crises and events from occurring.
One of these events that Culinary tourism can be affected by is food borne illnesses. There are many ways for contamination to happen from farm to table, it could be an outbreak at the farm itself, from the packaging facility, during transport, or at a food outlet. It can be difficult to track an outbreak because there are so many critical areas in the food cycle, if an outbreak can not be tracked and contained it could cause a crisis situation. The Canadian food inspection agency (CFIA) has created many different programs to ensure food safety within Canada, by breaking down the different areas that contamination can happen and creating guidelines for each area they can ensure that the proper systems are in place to prevent an outbreak. CFIA created the Food Safety Enhancement Program (FSEP) to ensure that food outlets have the correct food handling techniques using Hazard Analysis and critical Control Points (HACCP) system. (CFIA, 2009.) the CFIA also had a hand in creating the On-Farm Food Safety Recognition Program, (OFFS) which allows farmers to become certified as a safe food provider. CFIA also has an Agri-food Division which handles the food safety of dairy; shell eggs; processed egg; honey; maple; fresh fruit and vegetables; processed fruit and vegetables; and organic products marked for export, import and interprovincial trade. (CFIA, 2009) there is also the Quality Management Program (QMP), which regulates the safety of all fish and seafood within Canada. In order to monitor all of the other programs that are in place CFIA has created the Food Safety Action Plan (FSAP) whose main focus is to ensure that the preventative plans that have been put into place are working and allow CFIA to move from a reactive to a proactive state.
An important part of maintaining food safety is the identification of a possible outbreak. The first step to reporting a food borne illness is to contact the CFIA, on their website they outline the procedure for what to do in the case of a food borne illness
CFIA Notification
Notify the CFIA immediately when you suspect that your firm has sold, distributed or imported a product that may pose a serious risk to consumers. Provide the CFIA with the following information:
• a detailed description of the nature of the problem
• the name, brand, size, lot code(s) affected
• details of complaints received and any reported illnesses
• the distribution of the product - local or national
• when the product was distributed (specific dates)
• label(s) of the product(s) which may be recalled
• the total quantity of product imported and distributed
• the name of your firm's contact with the CFIA
• the name and telephone number(s) for your firm's after-hours contact
This information is pertinent for the CFIA to develop an accurate and complete risk management strategy (CFIA, 2009)
To see examples of these forms refer to appendix A and B. After following these steps the CFIA uses Foodborne Illness Outbreak Response Protocol (FIORP) to decide what protocols should be used to establish the level of severity and the next step to take.
In appendix C there is a diagram that outlines the action that is to be taken in the event of a multi-jurisdictional food-borne illness outbreak.
1. Notify partners to identify the issue
2. Once a potential outbreak has been identified they must examine the information and determine if it could indicate a multi-jurisdictional outbreak that would require and investigation from the Outbreak Investigation Coordinating Committee (OICC)
3. if it is established that a OICC investigation is needed the senior officers of OICC would be informed and the coordination of an investigation would begin.
4. OICC would then collaborate with epidemiological, food safety, laboratory, and communication expertise and the following steps would be taken (Public Health, 2010)
a. integrated analysis;
b. risk assessment;
c. public health and food safety actions;
d. communication with the public;
e. outbreak conclusion;
f. outbreak debrief/review.
In the case of an international outbreak the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) would notify international agencies to contain the outbreak and notify the public.

Crisis Management has three stages the potential crisis, the actual management of a crisis and on to the media management and brand repositioning that may have to occur after a crises. It is important to put equal effort into each as many of the crises that may come along are considered to be acts of god and not predictable, such a as droughts, floods. The ability to have a plan if such an event occurs gives not only those that own businesses in the culinary tourism industry, but the industry as a whole has the sustainability to continue to grow and the ability to weather the storms that may come their way.

Appendices: A
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Appendices: B
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Appendices: C
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Works cited

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