Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Schillizzi.
Hi Matthew, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The seed of being a Food Tour Guide got planted in my head when a high school friend came to visit me in Philadelphia and we did a food tour together. She’s the one who told me she could see me doing that, and I held onto that. It just goes to show that your friends know you better than you know yourself sometimes. Because my story completely changed after that.
Originally growing up in North Jersey, I moved to Philadelphia for college at Temple University. My undergrad is in Music – I play the marimba – and my Master’s is in Higher Education Administration. I feel like having a performance background and years of professional experience in a large organization (university) setting have prepared me well as a business owner of a tour company.
Years later, I emailed a local food tour company, and the timing happened to be right and they hired me. I remember feeling like an imposter giving my first tour. I kept thinking these people had probably spent more time in Philadelphia than I had. But I knew the material, and I can add a lot of personality, and learned that confidence, backed by accurate information and good stories, can take you far.
City Food Tours has been running since 2007. I joined in 2016 just as a fun weekend gig, and then bought the company from the previous owners just two years later. It remained a weekend side hustle for me up until 2023, which was when I invested in the company’s potential and focused on the business full-time. We’ve grown tremendously and now take more than 6,000 guests per year on our food tours. We’ve expanded the types of tours we give, introduced many packages for private groups of corporate teams and schools, and became the official tour operator for the iconic Reading Terminal Market here in Philadelphia. I now have eleven tour guides and a part-time admin who help this business bring Philly’s food scene to life. And they’ve helped us earn the title of Philly’s #1 Best Tour for three years running now.
What I tell people is that I’m not the kind of foodie who cooks well or can taste a dish and name every spice. I’m the kind of foodie who looks at food as a way to bring people together. The service, the ambiance, the company, the stories all matter.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As a musician, we never fully “master” something, and skills need to be continually sharpened. This mentality has helped me as a business owner where I wear every hat: marketing, HR, finance, business development, IT. I’m stronger in some areas than others, but I’ve learned which skills to build and where to focus in order to move the business forward. You don’t have to understand everything like an expert, you just have to be competent enough in every area.
Other challenges are simply the nature of this business. We don’t control the weather, or if a restaurant’s fryer goes down, or if someone shows up an hour late. Every person who comes on a food tour arrives with their own expectations; two people can take the same tour, stand beside each other at every stop, hear the same stories from the same guide, and walk away with completely different impressions. Their mood, the parking, what they anticipated – it all shapes what they take away. I won’t pretend the occasional review that doesn’t match our tours’ reputation doesn’t sting, but I’ve gotten better at pulling out whatever is actionable in it and letting the rest go.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about City Food Tours?
We give what I call “nomadic culinary experiences”. We’re not taking you to one restaurant for a meal, we’re walking you through a neighborhood and giving you an array of Philadelphia’s flavors along the way. Sometimes that’s the food you’d expect like cheesesteaks, tomato pie, and soft pretzels, and sometimes it’s a dish from a James Beard–recognized chef. But often it’s a mom-and-pop place that locals love and visitors might walk right past without noticing it’s there.
Our most popular tours are Flavors of Philly and Reading Terminal Market. We also offer small-group adventures through residential neighborhoods and arrange private events for corporate teams, schools, and travel groups. I’m so proud to serve as the official tour operator for the Reading Terminal Market, which is one of the most visited destinations in Philadelphia.
What sets us apart is that we’re not really selling food; we’re selling the people behind it. Reading Terminal Market is the clearest example: first-timers walk in and see one big food hall, and what I want them to see is dozens of individually owned, family-run businesses, many of them on their second, fourth, even sixth generation. I have eleven guides who are proud to represent this city and who weave their own backstories into the tour, so you’re connecting with a person rather than a script. And we work closely with chefs and restaurateurs that love to step out of the kitchen and meet our groups. And it’s usually very meaningful for them because it’s a break from the daily grind and a chance to share what their food means to them.
What I’m proudest of is the reach. We take more than 6,000 guests a year, and some even come from outside the country. We actually work closely with our Convention & Visitors Bureau to familiarize travel operators from around the world with Philly’s food scene. Those people go home and talk about Philadelphia, and the impression they carry is partly ours to shape. We want to be ambassadors for this city. And we want every partnered restaurant and small business we visit to come out ahead for it.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I’m not much of a risk-taker. But owning a small business is its own ongoing risk; you can plan carefully and still have no idea what’s coming, and tourism in 2020 taught us all this lesson.
Pricing:
- $25 for our Reading Terminal Market Overview Tour (offered daily)
- $59 for our Reading Terminal Market Ultimate Lunch food tour (offered weekdays)
- $49-59 for our Flavors of Philly food tour
- $99 for our Historic Happy Hour food tour
- $109 for our Sips of Fishtown tour
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.phillysfoodtour.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cityfoodtours_philly/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cityfoodtoursphilly/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/city-food-tours-philadelphia/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/city-food-tours-philadelphia
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@cityfoodtours?_r=1&_t=ZP-92KPRScZFeh
