A Victoria food-tour company whose bread and butter had been walking people through some of the most delicious stops in Victoria took a bit of a detour as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With travelling in groups put on hold by health and safety regulators, Victoria-based Off the Eaten Track veered from its course and introduced self-guided culinary tours this year.

The 10-year-old company found success with the pandemic-forced pivot, and is preparing to launch a Christmas version of its self-guided tour Nov. 19.

“We could all use a little pick-me-up this year and new technology makes doing a self-guided tour on your mobile phone fun, easy, safe, and convenient,” said company owner Bonnie Todd. “A self-guided tour allows guests to have a tour experience, but without a physical guide or big tour groups.”

Customers download the company’s tour app to a smartphone, which gives them a pocket-sized guide that will accompany them on a tour of the city and some culinary highlights.

Seven companies — Off the Eaten Track, Rogers’ Chocolates, Artisan Wine Shop, Bon ­Macaron, The Dutch Bakery, Bull & Son’s Deli and Terrible Truffles — have signed on to provide samples to touring gourmands as they make their way through the city on the Cozy Christmas Self-Guided Food Tour.

Todd said as a culinary tour operator, they had to find a way of keeping the lights on when the hospitality industry was decimated by the pandemic.

With improved technology making a seamless, self-guided tour possible, and many people hesitant to gather in large groups, this kind of touring made sense, said Todd, who used some COVID relief funding to make it happen.

She said as a self-guided tour, it came with built-in flexibility, given uncertainties around travel and other restrictions, and the price point made it more accessible.

The cost of the Christmas tour, for example, is $35.

She said the target market in winter is local — she hopes that people will see it as a chance to get out and do something a little different while exploring their city leading up to Christmas.

A summer self-guided tour she launched in July did fairly well, she said, with about 60 people downloading the app.

She’s hoping to get about 100 this winter.

The company, which got its start in Vancouver before deciding to focus on the Victoria market, has also launched a self-guided tour of the Victoria Public Market.

Anyone wanting to try the tour can purchase it online at offtheeatentracktours.ca, or at the Off the Eaten Track kiosk inside the Steamship Terminal Building.

The self-guided tour app offers stories and history, and participants get a foodie passport for samples. Participants have two weeks after picking up the foodie passport to complete the tour.

aduffy@timescolonist