DINING FEATURE
BY KAREN CHANEY
TOP THREE REASONS Here are three reasons to go on a Lone Star Food Tour.
Patrons get to try three restaurants in the time it would take to try one.
Two cocktails are included.
Learn the restaurant's backstories.
Brisket quesadillas from Urban Rio are a popular dish on the tour.
Lone Star Food Tours stops at several restaurants, including Urban Crust. (Photos Courtesy Lone Star Food Tours)
Shelly Francis started Lone Star Food Tours in downtown Plano in May 2022.
Lone Star Food Tours Traveling tours feature Dallas-area restaurants, retail, art, more S helly Francis, founder of company partners with all indepen- dent restaurants. The company has also launched two separate tours in Frisco.
destination, not just a place you drive through on the way to a larger city,” she said. The tour costs $109 per person, lasts two and a half hours, and is geared for participants at any tness level. Francis said she feels lucky to have carved out this new career path. “I’m learning that I’m not too old to learn something new,” she said. “I’m 62, and I hope people won’t be afraid to try something new.” She said she feels skills she honed as a former teacher, such as storytell- ing, have been bene cial. “I get to be their entertainment for a little bit and make them happy,” Francis said.
Lone Star Food Tours, said she wasn’t looking for a new career when she took a food tour with her daughter in Dallas, but that is exactly what she found. “It was while on the tour I thought, ‘This is fun; I could do this,’” she said. Soon after the tour, Francis approached her longtime friend Stephanie Baldwin to see if she’d like to be her business partner. Baldwin was intrigued with the idea, and the duo started researching the concept by taking food tours. Lone Star Food Tours opened in 2022 with its rst tour in downtown Plano. Francis said the downtown Plano tour is unique because the
The Plano tour often makes a stop at Bar Ranch Steak Company.
Lone Star Food Tours 972-876-7077 www.lonestarfoodtours.com O ce hours: Mon.-Fri. 10:45 a.m.-5 p.m. Tour times: Wed.-Sat. at 10:30 a.m. Other tour times are available upon request.
“The food in downtown Plano is amazing—it’s second to none,” she said. Lone Star Food Tours owners have formed relationships with four downtown Plano restaurants: Urban Rio, Urban Crust, Bar Ranch Steak Company and Vickery Park Tavern. Each tour includes visits to three of these restaurants. Francis added the history in down- town Plano along with the shopping options also make the tour a hit. “After one of our tours, we hope guests realize Plano is a food
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PLANO SOUTH EDITION • JUNE 2023
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